Iconoclast

ICONOCLAST

Iconoclast is the destruction of religious images: churches, temples, statues, paintings. Through Christianisty and Islam iconoclasm has been based on the exemption og images associated with idolatry. The making of portraits of Christ and the saints was opposed in the early Christian church, but icons had become popular in Christian worship by the end of the 6th century, and defenders of icon worship emphasized the symbolic nature of the images. Opposition to icons by the Byzantine emperor Leo III in 726 led to the Iconoclastic Controversy, which continued in the Eastern church for more than a century before icons were again accepted. Statues and portraits of saints and religious figures were also common in the Western church, though some Protestant sects eventually rejected them. Islam still bans all icons, and iconoclasm has played a role in the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus in India.

The odd pair of beliefs shared by enthusiasts including Cromwell and the Taliban, that while ‘false idols’ have no supernatural powers they are nevertheless so dangerous that they must be destroyed rather than ignored.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Protestant reformers encouraged removing religious images. Statues and images were damaged in individual attacks and iconoclastic riots. In most situations the images were removed in an orderly fashion by the authorities in new reformed cities and Eurpoes territories. John Calvin, Andreas Karlstadt and Huldrych were key players in this reform.

Puritans were commissioned and salaried by the government to tour the towns and villages and destroy images in churches.

The picture above is from the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht. The faces were chipped on in the sixteenth century during the Iconoclast Reformation.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

In the first stanza Herrick is talking to the young virgin and telling them to look for love and don't let it slip away. We cannot stop time from coming and we need to embrace our youthfulness and find a lover.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

Here Herrick is talking about the sun rising to the heavens and relating the setting sun to our aging cycle. Once the sun has set and the night falls and the warmth of the day has gone, much like the youthfulness in our bodies.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

He is saying that we are best at a young age. We are pure at heart and innocent. We are most lively in our youth and as time goes by it only gets worse.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry ;
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.

He finally concludes and says that we cannot be shy in our young age--we must use our time wisely and look for love while we still have the energy and youthfulness to express great amounts of love. For if we wait until we grow older we may look for love until our death.


In this poem Herrick is urging young women to marry while they are youthful and energetic. Herrick feels that we should marry young and live and grow with your partner instead of living in solitude.

To Daffodils, by Robert Herrick

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong;
And, having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as

you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

This poem is simply life and death. Regeneration. The daffodil, one of Spring's earliest blooms, is also a flower that will bloom year after year without any replanting. First life, then death, and then rebirth.

The average daffodil life can be seen to be longer than a human life. The average flowering span of a daffodil can range from 6 weeks to 6 months. After blooming the daffodil plant rebuilds its bulb. From this i think the death of the daffodil does not represent a true loss in adolescent life. I feel that the poem is trying to show pure sorrow of death. I feel that it is trying to challenge the real roots of human life. Exploring the extent to which we take our lives with as much importance as others. The daffodil is a plant that sprouts its seeds in order to create bulbs for a new life. If we look at how we help to produce new life we can see that our own ways of producing life only seeks to benefit us

How Roses Came Red

How Roses Came Red, by Herrick

Roses at first were white

Till they could not agree,

Whether my Sappho's breast

Or they more white should be.

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But, being vanquish'd quite,

A blush their cheeks bespread;

Since which, believe the rest,

The roses first came red.

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.

--

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.