Easter Wings

George Herbert’s poem “Easter Wings” is a good example of a “shape” or “pattern” poem, adopted from the ancient Greeks, in which the shape mirrors the theme. The poem consists of two ten-line stanzas of varying line lengths, which in their printed form on the page resemble the wings of a bird.

But these wings are resurrection wings. Visually, as the stanzas descend and then ascend, the wings represent man’s fall and eventual redemption. This is to say that the shape symbolizes the destruction of man, followed by his salvation through his devotion to God. The top half of each stanza focuses on the problems caused by human sin and the bottom half reflects the hope made possible by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

The poet is the obvious speaker in the poem due to the common use of “I” and “me” throughout the poem. And we can assume that the poem is addressed directly to God or Christ as the poem opens with the word “Lord”.

The first stanza or wing symbolizes the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The stanza begins by emphasizing how complete humankind was when first created by God. After their creation, Adam and Eve were believed to have experienced the “wealth” of God’s provision for them in the Garden of Eden but they “foolishly” chose to disobey God and eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Expelled from the garden and alienated from God, they, and their descendants, were condemned to poverty and wretchedness in a harsh and unwelcoming world. As a result of the Fall, the human condition deteriorated. Humans “fell” further and further into sin, continually “decaying” from their original purity, until they became “Most poore”.

Fortunately, there is hope. In the rising part of the stanza, Herbert now talks of himself rising with Christ, like “larks”. He is giving himself to God and is espousing his devotion to God in the hopes that God will allow him to once again thrive as he once did. The write uses “larks, harmoniously” to give a beautiful, resonate feel to the poem; opposite to that of words like “decaying” and “most poor” used in the first part of the stanza. The alliteration of ‘the fall further the flight in me’ reinforces the paradox of the ‘felix culpa’ or ‘happy fault’ which teaches that the fall of humankind actually had a positive outcome because it resulted in the coming of Christ to bring human beings into a new relationship with God. Man needed to fall in order to appreciate God and all that God has given him. The fall has only strengthened his resolve to serve.

Just like the first part of first stanza, the second stanza, again, addresses the sin of man. Here, the poet discusses how God has punished men for their sins. Man sinned early on and was punished “with sickness and shame”, causing man to become “thinne”. This shows the destitute situation that man has been placed in as a result of his sins. The fact that he is “Most thinne” shows the gravity of this punishment.

The second part of this stanza discusses man’s hopes for redemption and it seems like a prayer that his previous suffering may help him to fly even higher. “Imp” is a technical term taken from falconry, meaning to graft feathers onto a damaged wing to restore a bird’s power of flight. Herbert is asking that his damaged wing be repaired by grafting it onto Christ’s, and that together they may rise and soar up to eternal life.

George Herbert’s poem, “Easter Wings,” discusses man’s fall from grace and attempt at salvation. The poem provides a description of the result of man’s sins, as well as his attempt at redemption through his devotion to God. In this poem, not only the words, but the actual shape of the poem provides meaning. The poem being shaped into two sets of descending and ascending wings illustrates not only man’s journey, but also alludes to the resurrection of Christ.