Having been tenant long to a wealthy
lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be
daring,
And make a suit unto him, to
afford
A recent small-rented lease, and
cancel th’ old.
In heaven at his manor I him
sought;
They told me there that he was
currently gone
About some land, which he had
dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take
possession.
I straight returned, and knowing
his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in
great resorts;
In cities, theatres, gardens,
parks, and courts;
At length I heard a ragged noise
and mirth
Of thieves and murderers; there
I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is
granted, said, and died.
THIS poem is one in all Herbert’s most masterly, the abrupt end leaving the reader with a way of astonishment. Unlike most of Herbert’s poems, which have a robust confessional element, this one is kind of objective. It will not be about what the poet is feeling or considering, but simply tells a story. In some ways, it’s just like the parables told by Jesus. For it’s a story about on a regular basis life with a deeper meaning, and one which at the tip poses a challenge to the hearer or listener about where they stand in relation to that deeper meaning.
The poem, in sonnet form, appeared in W [the first collection of Herbert’s poems, put together in 1618 when he was at Cambridge], after which in the ultimate version with one change. The lines
Sought him accordingly in great
resorts;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks,
and courts”
originally appeared as:
Sought him in cities, theatres,
resorts,
In grottoes, gardens, palaces and
courts,
which is way less musical.
HERBERT also modified the title from “Passion” to the less explicit “Redemption”; for he liked his poetry to be suggestive quite than dogmatic. Also, the word “redemption” has legal overtones, sometimes connected to land, which inserts the imagery. A chunk of land may need run up debts after which been redeemed when those debts were paid off.
The scene would have been all too familiar to people within the early seventeenth century. Most land was within the hands of huge landowners. The majority of the population were agricultural labourers. But there was also a major minority who were tenant farmers. Some had only a couple of acres, some far more, but all were characterised by being totally in the facility of the wealthy lord, who had the facility to evict or change the rent.
One tenant who was “not thriving”, perhaps since the land was poor, resolved to plead with the landowner for a lease on a special farm that he could make pay. Not finding the lord at his manor house, he looked for him where the wealthy and powerful were often to be found. Then he heard the sound of a street brawl or pub fight and located the lord on the purpose of dying, “Who straight, ‘Your suit is granted,’ said, and died.”
THERE are clues within the story to its deeper meaning. First, the lord had gone not only to purchase any old land but one on “earth” and one “which he had dearly bought long since”. It brings to mind Revelation 13.8, with its reference to “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (NIV). Then the incontrovertible fact that the lord was to not be found among the many wealthy has as background the early Christian hymn in Philippians 2.6-8, through which Christ:
who, though he was in the shape of
God,
didn’t regard equality with
God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the shape of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being present in human form,
he humbled himself
and have become obedient to the
point of death —
even death on a cross.
Then, in fact, the reference to “thieves and murderers” is a vivid reminder that Christ was crucified between two criminals. The tenant farmer sought a recent farm because he was “not thriving”, and he wanted the old lease cancelled. It has been suggested that we’ve here a reference to the brand new realm of grace replacing the old realm of the law, which was so central to the apostle Paul’s understanding of the Christian faith. But the “not thriving” may go wider than that, to seek advice from our whole human nature. In the tip, the suit that’s granted is our recent nature, which in Christ can indeed thrive and flourish.
HOW does the death of the wealthy lord bring this about? Over time, the Church has give you a variety of different pictures in answer to that query, and a part of the facility of the poem is that it leaves the reader to ponder it themselves. Whatever answer we may give you, the astonishing fact is that the Eternal Son of God got here all of the approach to meet us, even when it meant meeting human hostility.
R. S. Thomas, the Welsh priest and poet, wrote an introduction to a choice of Herbert’s poems (A Choice of George Herbert’s Verse, Faber & Faber, 1967, edited by Thomas). I believe he should have been influenced by this poem within the writing of his own poem “The Coming”. This pictures God showing the Son a globe, they usually peer at it until they see a figure on a cross. “Let me go there, he said.”
The Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth is a former Bishop of Oxford. This is an edited extract from his book Wounded I Sing: From Advent to Christmas with George Herbert, published by SPCK Publishing at £10.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.79); 978-0-281-08942-0. He reviews David Brown’s book Gospel as Work of Art, here
