Earthly Pleasures in Virtue by George Herbert and Go Lovely Rose by Edmund Waller
analytical Essay
764 words
Earthly Pleasures in Virtue by George Herbert and Go Lovely Rose by Edmund Waller
There are clearly opposing views of how individuals should spend the short time they have on earth. In George Herbert's poem, "Virtue", and in Edmund Waller's poem, "Go, Lovely Rose", the poets have contradicting values of what should be done with our time on earth. Herbert is a puritan who believes that earthly pleasures should be ignored, as life should be spent preparing for another world after death. In contrast, Waller suggests individuals take advantage of earth's beauty and surrender to life pleasures. Though both poems recognize the ideal world that surrounds us, "Virtue" indicates earthly pleasures should be ignored, while "Go, Lovely Rose" suggests we succumb to the bliss of life.
Herbert begins the poem with an appropriate title, "Virtue", which helps convey the underlying meaning of the poem. A short definition of virtue is moral goodness. The decisions individuals make in life should be moral and exclude earthly distractions. People should spend their time on earth preparing for the next place after death. Through the title, the author already examines how ethical decisions are the road to salvation.
The poem "Virtue" acknowledges secular wonders that surround us everyday, but the poem also recognizes that these wonders are unimportant. To indulge and be intrigued by earthly pleasures is mindless behavior. The "rash gazer" (Herbert 6) is mindlessly obsessed by the world and follows urges with no purposeful intent. Obsession with worldly pleasures is useless as it does not better an individuals soul. This behavior distracts people from preparing for the next world as earthly influences cloud the path to righteousne...
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...hysical world. While some believe there will be consequences for those who allow temptation into their life the choice is up to each individual.
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There are clearly opposing views of how individuals should spend the short time they have on earth. In George Herbert's poem, "Virtue", and in Edmund Waller's poem, "Go, Lovely Rose", the poets have contradicting values of what should be done with our time on earth. Herbert is a puritan who believes that earthly pleasures should be ignored, as life should be spent preparing for another world after death. In contrast, Waller suggests individuals take advantage of earth's beauty and surrender to life pleasures. Though both poems recognize the ideal world that surrounds us, "Virtue" indicates earthly pleasures should be ignored, while "Go, Lovely Rose" suggests we succumb to the bliss of life.
In this essay, the author
- Compares the views of george herbert and edmund waller on how individuals should spend their short time on earth. herbert is a puritan who believes that earthly pleasures should be ignored.
- Analyzes how herbert begins the poem with an appropriate title, "virtue", which helps convey the underlying meaning.
- Analyzes how the poem "virtue" acknowledges secular wonders that surround us everyday, but recognizes they are unimportant. to indulge and be intrigued by earthly pleasures is mindless behavior.
- Analyzes how herbert recognizes the consequences of indulging in worldly impulses as by doing so is a sin. herbert illustrates death throughout the poem by his repetition of the word die and by the illustration that everything comes to and end.
- Analyzes how waller sets up his poem with a suitable title that subtlety represents his perspective of how people should not deny their temptations. "go, lovely rose" encourages individuals to experiment throughout life.
- Analyzes how waller recognizes strong forces that are imposed on people. "go, lovely rose" implies we give into earthly pleasures in our surroundings.
- Analyzes how waller understands the importance of indulging in earthly pleasures and believes people must give into all the opportunities life offers.
- Analyzes how herbert and waller have radically different views on how people should respond to secular provocation.
- Compares the views of george herbert and edmund waller on how individuals should spend their short time on earth. herbert is a puritan who believes that earthly pleasures should be ignored.
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- Analyzes how herbert's most well-known work, easter wings, differs from the collar in that it is a shaped poem with the structure of the poem taking the form of bird’s wings
- Analyzes how the title of herbert's poem the collar affects our understanding of the poem as a whole. the board is the altar on which the holy communion was celebrated.
- Analyzes the meaning of the word "collar" in herbert's "the collar".
- Analyzes how the title affects our understanding of the poem, as we come to understand the tone as bitterness and choler. the word collar was often used to express ideas of discipline and obedience.
- Analyzes how the opening of the poem, "i struck the board, and cried, no more," is abrupt and dramatic and is delivered in a highly personal way.
- Analyzes herbert's desire to break free may remind the reader of the epic poem the lusiads or the travel encyclopaedia written by haklutyt as a result of his fiery passion for travel and trade.
- Analyzes how the rhetorical question posed in line three conveys the speaker's deep discontent at his life as a servant of the lord and his wish that he could abandon his priesthood and seek peace within his faith.
- Analyzes how the poem is replete with biblical christian imagery that shows herbert's struggling with his faith, extending the argument through protracted comparisons.
- Analyzes how herbert articulates his feeling that unlike jesus, he cannot reconcile himself to the mystery of suffering and death that is bound to christianity.
- Analyzes how herbert's poem, the collar, is metaphysical because of its use of religious conceits.
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