Affliction Comments

A wonderful piece of art nicely embellished with poetic rhymes.

This great poem is the story of my life

Swift changes in human's life...From Joy to Affliction. Herbert did it! .

If i love thee not. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

It reminds me of the song LET'S STOP BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE popularized by NORMAN SALEET+++++++++++++

.............wonderful stanza ★ I read, and sigh, and wish I were a tree; For sure I then should grow To fruit or shade: at least some bird would trust Her household to me, and I should be just.

Great piece of poetry, well articulated and nicely penned with beautiful rhyme scheme. Thanks for sharing.

sickened and died at 39, deserving to be bitter

A man's religion is his business, none of mine; but a secular mind with a Herbert's poetic gift would be an interesting find.

wow thats a really good poem

The poem is also interesting in how it contains elements of Moderinsm and Existentialism, and foreshadows the works of later poets like Alfred Lord Tennyson and T.S. Eliot. In that sense, Herbert finds a prominent place in the larger tradition of 'dark night of the soul' writing, from the early 16th century to the present. Also in narrativising experience through the medium of poetry, it raises questions of authorial self-construction, agency and activism. Although the issues are not explicitly explored, they are obvious to the modern reader's eye. It is interesting how Herbert posits the persona as being a 'passive' object to God's authoritarian manipulations. He claims almost to have been forced into the vocation against his wishes. Nothing in his own life validates a situation like this. This is where the question of genuineness of his doubts and woes needs examination.

so far as the title of the poem is concerned, here affliction means spiritual pangs. when the poet was directed to the grace of god, he expected a number of benefits from his grace like heavenly pleasures and so on.

very deep and touching write...well, this time it doesn't sound like a prayer, but a complaint of someone who has lost his faith and love... Powerful!