Paradise

Paradise

I Bless thee, Lord, because I GROW
Among thy trees, which in a ROW
To thee both fruit and order OW.

What open force, or hidden CHARM
Can blast my fruit, or bring me HARM,
While the inclosure is thine ARM.

Inclose me still for fear I START.
Be to me rather sharp and TART,
Then let me want thy hand and ART.

When thou dost greater judgments SPARE,
And with thy knife but prune and PARE,
Ev’n fruitfull trees more fruitful ARE.

Such sharpness shows the sweetest FREND:
Such cuttings rather heal then REND:
And such beginnings touch their END.

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To start breaking down this poem the reader needs to recognize the pattern that Herbert uses for this poem. He creatively and successfully dose an a-a-a rhyming pattern to end each sentence in each stanza. However, the unique way of doing this he drops a letter from the previous line. For example, the first stanza: GROW, ROW, OW.....he starts with Grow, then drops the G to get Row and then drops the R to get Ow (in the 17th cent. this would be the spelling for "owe"). Not only does this make the people sound better and more interesting, but he successfully does this by emphasizing the meaning in each stanza.

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I bless thee, Lord, because I GROW

among thy trees in a ROW

To thee both fruit and order OW.

In the first stanza, I feel that Herbert is mostly referring to a christian in line with other Christians. He almost seems optimistic about his belief and place in this setting. Especially in the 17th century--The society he was raised in was mostly filled with Christian believers. With the mention of trees and fruit it seems as the setting is meant to be Paradise or The Garden of Eve. A place of perfection.

What open force, or hidden CHARM

Can blast my fruit, or bring me HARM,

while the enclosure is thine ARM?

In the second stanza its hard to know exactly what the "charm" mentioned is really talking about. It could mean several different things, but if referring this poem to the Garden of Eden it seems fitting to see that it might be the charm of temptation. When Eve gave into temptation she gave up on the safety and perfection of being in the "arm" of God and all that he has blessed them with in the garden.

Enclose me still for fear I START

to me rather sharp and TART,

Than let me want thy hand and ART.

"For fear I start" could be the biblical reference to Adam and Eve being fearless to fearful after the forbidden fruit. God gave them nothing to fear from or about in the garden, but once the bite was taken, they began to have self-awareness. And the final line of the stanza refers back to the "Arm" of God. Once Adam and Eve gave in to temptation they gave up from being in God's hands.

When thou dost greater judgments SPARE,

And with thy knife, but prune and PARE,

E'vn fruitful trees more fruitful ARE.

Here in the fourth stanza Herbert has given in to the physical Paradise and discusses the spiritual Paradise of the soul. He is asking God to not spare him from His judgments or pruning for " even fruitful trees more friutful are"

Such sharpness shows the sweetest FRIEND:

Such cuttings rather heal than REND

and such beginnings touch their END.

The Agony

The Agony

Philosophers have measur’d mountains,

Fathom’d the depths of seas, of states, and kings,

Walk’d with a staffe to heav’n, and traced fountains:

But there are two vast, spacious things,

The which to measure it doth more behove:

Yet few there are that sound them; Sin and Love.

Who would know Sinne, let him repair

Unto mount Olivet; there shall he see

A man so wrung with pains, that all his hair,

His skinne, his garments bloody be.

Sinne is that presse and vice, which forceth pain

To hunt his cruell food through ev’ry vein.

Who knows not Love, let him assay

And taste that juice, which on the crosse a pike

Did set again abroach; then let him say

If ever he did taste the like.

Love in that liquour sweet and most divine,

Which my God feels as bloud; but I, as wine.

To consider how great the love of Christ is that he would sacrifice himself for us to save us from our sins is awe- and worship-inspiring (John 15:13; Rom. 5:8). I feel as though this poem is an exact illusion of the agony in the garden of Gethasmane. This brief poem explains the relationship between man and Christ's love.

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Philosophers have measur’d mountains,

Fathom’d the depths of seas, of states, and kings,

Walk’d with a staff to heav’n, and traced fountains:

But there are two vast, spacious things,

The which to measure it doth more behove:

Yet few there are that sound them; Sin and Love.

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Consider what we think about--when we do begin think more substantial thoughts, we are often simply philosophers, interested in science, politics or the economy or other things. All of those things are valuable and worth thinking about, however, Herbert is expressing that we would be better off to consider “Sin and Love" more often. Those others things are as easily comprehended, but are trivial compared to “Sin and Love”.

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Who would know Sin, let him repair

Unto mount Olivet; there shall he see

A man so wrung with pains, that all his hair,

His skin, his garments bloody be.

Sin is that press and vice, which forceth pain

To hunt his cruel food through ev’ry vein.

To understand sin, Herbert points us to Jesus’ sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane on mount Olivet. Herbert is showing how large our sins are and how far Christ went to forever forgive the sin of man. When Christ was in the garden he realized jsut how harmful our sins were/are. In reference to Luke 22:44 - "His agony was so deep that his sweat was dropping as blood." Herbert says that “sin is that press and vice” which caused Jesus to sweat blood. Our sin pressed against Christ to create torture, similar to wine being pressed from grapes.

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Who knows no Love, let him assay

And taste that juice which on the cross a pike

Did set again abroach; then let him say

If ever he did taste the like.

Love is that liquor sweet and most divine

Which my God feels as blood, but I, as wine.

To understand love, Herbert refers to Jesus’ sufferings “on the cross” on mount Golgotha. To die for us is Jesus as God's final revelation. God's love is reveled to us. In the third stanza, Herbert again takes up the theme of Christ’s blood. He refers to the thrust of the Roman spear into Jesus’ side and the blood that flowed from that wound (John 19:34). The symbol refers to wine, again; this time not to wine in a winepress but to wine flowing from a broken cask. Herbert relates the blood of Christ from that mount to the cup at the Lord's Supper. Christ’s blood on the cross reveals the depth of God’s love.

Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

In this hymn the reader is talking about his final days. He knows that he is dying and is now asking God what is to be expected. In line 1 he says he is going to the "holy room" meaning heaven or the after life and he says he there will be " chior of saints ofr evermore".
In the second stanza the writer compares the doctors to cosmographers and himself to the maps they would analyze since he is "flat on his bed, that by them may be shown that this is my southwest discovery per fretum febris, by these straits to die". He then compares his death to the soutwest discovery, because Magellan travel SW to the philippines shortly before his death as well.
In the third stanza "What shall my west hurt me? As west and east in all flat maps(and I am on) are one, so death doth touch the resurrection." Here west is meaning death and east is birth/rebrith. When you look at a mad flat then the eastern and western borders are goign to touch and therefore the reader feels a sense of relief in know that the resurrection will occur in this imagry.

4th and 5th stanzas - yeah they still confuse me so Im still working on those

Finally, the writer concludes the poem as he asked for God to fully recieve him when he passes away. "In his purple wrapped, recieve me, Lord" This is referring to the blood of Jesus when the Romans mocked him and dressed him in purple robes.

Holy Sonnet 18

Show me dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear.
What! is it she which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robb'd and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here?
Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?
Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seven, or on no hill appear?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travel we to seek, and then make love?
Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,
And let mine amorous soul court thy mild Dove,
Who is most true and pleasing to thee then
When she'is embrac'd and open to most men.

In the Holy Sonnet 18, John Donne expresses a personal struggle with the Church and its true meaning. However, towards the end it sounds a lot more like the reader is engaging or being tempted by sexual activities. It concludes by saying that Christ is going to be pleased with the reader/speaker if they sleep with the wife of the Christ --she who is "embraced and open to most men"(14). So...my first time through reading this I thought it was a poem of unfaithfulness and sexual ecstasy rather than a holy sonnet. With this being said I was not too far off from what I feel John Donne meant by the poem. When you think about it, religion and the passion for the righteous life is a state of elated bliss in itself. Truly passionate religious people are just as pleasured and aroused by there faith and acceptance to Christ as anyone would be after intercourse.

Like all of John Donne's poem's they are personal records of personal struggles towards the true meaning of God and the church. After you get past the relation to religious satisfaction and sexual satisfaction you will find the deeper meaning to the poem. The pang and anguish from the seperations of the church and what or where the true church might be.

Results to the Quiz

Classrooms are designed to help students acquire information:
-This is still valid. With appropriate texts and a knowledgeable instructor the classroom can still be a place for a student to acquire knowledge. However, due to the massive amounts of information in today's world it is quite impossible to learn EVERYTHING in the classroom.

Information is scarce and hard to find:
-Once again with the right texts for a subject you can find a lot of information. Plus, with the Internet growing everyday information is more and more easily ready for any ones use. With new knowledge coming about daily it is impossible to cover every piece of the subject. No teacher can assume he/she would be able to demonstrate that feat.

Therefore we put an expert at the front of the class
The expert at the front of the class is still needed. Students need guidance and reassurance through a journey through a course. Yes, outside material is most likely needed in any course, but without the expert at the front of the class we could have no real guidelines.

The room is essentially an information dump
Yes, this is true. However, verbal debates and discussions can work better at times than wordy blogs that are only read and then at a latter time disputed with another blog.

This classroom is not about discussing information
Yes it is! I feel that face to face contact and talking in a classroom is a much better way of learning then discussing over the Internet. We all come into a classroom with a lot of knowledge, viewpoints and opinions. If only one person were to sit and instruct his/her opinions and we were supposed to believe it then we would be in a world of trouble. Several ideas and opinions make the best discussions and most likely the most informative debates.

Trust authority for good information
Yes, I feel that you should have faith in the authority figure, but you should always be open minded to the context. The teacher or instructor should be a knowledgeable person, however, they will not know everything.

The classroom teaches “obey authority” and “follow along”
This is a great rule. I think all students should "respect" their teachers. All students should have an open mind to a teach, but should always keep the teacher accountable. No one knows EVERYTHING about anything! Students going into the classroom may not know more than the teacher, but they might have an opinion that makes the teacher think and go beyond the normal teachings for the day.