Heavenly Possession on Native American Bodies

Natalie Diaz’s “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” focuses on the ironic Othering of White Anglican settlers who seek to possess the body of Native Americans in order to silence their identity within America. Natalie Diaz in “Back to the Body: An Interview with Natalie Diaz” by Abigail Meinen had mentioned the alphabet itself is a body, “carrying our bodies… the risk of feeling on the page” (Diaz). This alphabet is used in Diaz’s poem where the title itself corroborates Native American retaliation against Christian colonization from Whites. Abecedarians can mean a “novice who is just learning” such as the alphabet, or its adjective of something being in alphabetical order; in other words, to be orderly under English rules. Though an abecedarian examining “Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation” with its grammatical errors create that irony of how the speaker is learning the English language, yet it also reflects the speakers colonization by English settlers whose home has been invaded by the control of Anglicanism. Diaz mentioning they couldn’t be “fully” in their body reflects this idea, the home being where the body is born, and that freedom to return to the body is prohibited because of this Anglican identity being enforced upon Native Americans.

The title brims with irony further with “Anglikan Seraphym” – seraphim is one of the orders of angels encircling God’s throne, yet the first line states “angels don’t come to the reservation… Gabriel? Never heard of him” (Diaz 1, 7). It establishes how the reservation itself is firstly a body of Native Americans who hold their own cultural identity that becomes an Other by Anglicanism. This is shown through the historical reference to the first American colonizers who came to America, “remember what happened last time some white god came floating across the ocean” (18-19). The colonizers themselves were mostly Anglican puritans who came to establish their homes on American soil, and under Manifest Destiny expanded westward while perceiving Native Americans as barbaric who needed to be “civilized” through religion. The focus on Anglicanism, a branch of Christianity, reflects how the desire to return to the body before Anglicanism had colonized Native Americans, in which the body of the poem struggles while using terminology such as “Indian” or the title itself attempting defy against that control through the grammatical errors as an expression of the body. 

The Othering comes from the angels themselves and who they target. The angels are symbolic as being White Christian people, “Pastor John’s son is the angel—everyone knows angels are white” (16). This furthers the identity of angels being white Anglican puritans who sought to colonize Native Americans. The identity of angels also are limited to only Whites, in which not only are Native American subjugated by this “Anglikan Seraphym” who do not allow other ethnic identities to be seen as omnipotent beings close to God, but other ethnic minorities ranging from Christian missionaries to the slave trade to change America into a body of Whiteness.

However, the speaker utilizes Christiantiy to display the hypocrisy of this colonization upon Native Americans, “we’re better off if they stay rich and fat and ugly and ’xactly where they are—in their own distant heavens… they’ll be marching you off to Zion or Oklahoma, or some other hell they’ve mapped out for us” (23-26). Christianity is presented ironically with the speaker displaying the pride and gluttony of Anglicans, the opposite of Christian beliefs. Hell also being used resembles the speaker acknowledging Christianity attempting to repress Native American identity, but furthers the irony as hell becomes the white population in which these religious connotations derive from. Thus, it is the angels, the White Anglican colonizers moving from England to colonize in America whose soul haunts America to possess the body of Native Americans, and silence their identity.

-Phillip Gallo

For the Love of God!

“Like This” by the poet and Sufi mystic Rumi, is a sensual, heart touching, and an open poem that holds a beautiful and loving tone through its English translation. It clearly tells the loving relationship and admiration of the poet to their object of affection through varying literary devices most notably through allusions/ metaphor.

Allusions seen within the poem pertain mainly as a tool to compare the love felt towards two people with that of miracles performed by Jesus from curing a blind man to rising from the tomb. The use of religion in this aspect, from the translation, shows minimal input of the Islamic religion but more so of Christian references. I would be lying to say I am well read and informed about the Islamic religion but unfortunately I am not, which would be helpful in this case, but after reading the article “The Erasure of Islam from the poetry of Rumi” I was able to look online for other translations in English of the poem and saw how religion is actually heavily added to the poem when comparing each one from the other. One I found online was actually longer and had in almost every stanza a mention of some divine being or act to compare with love. But going of the poem assigned, I see the allusion of religion as a comparison of the nature of existence and human experience to that of Jesus resurrecting (coming to life) to even alluding to a possible one sided love of two biblical figure, (to note again I am not well versed in the Koran or even that well with the bible, I could be wrong with this second take). The poem also holds plenty of metaphors comparing the lover to many varying objects from the night sky, the moon, and the spirit/ soul but also, for the most part, comparing the love found within each other with that of miracles and religion.

The comparison of the resurrection of Jesus to that of the lovers kiss is a pretty solidifying in showcasing religion and the acceptance of Islamic spirituality as seen, “If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead, don’t try to explain the miracle. Kiss me on the lips. Like this. Like this.” (line 21-4) this is a sweet line that interlocks Islamic spirituality with that of love, and that attributes much of the openness and acceptance of spirituality to this love with ties to embracing all aspects of life, negative and positive , joyful or challenging, and overall the understanding of all experiences and richness that life has to offer. 

Alondra Garcia

Im an indecisive mess 😬

by Jasmine Carrillo

Both poems form a shape through the text. “Easter Wings” forms the shape of wings when it is turned sideways, and “The Altar” is a C ,which im assuming stands for christianity? For me, it’s somewhat difficult to understand the meaning of both poems due to the fact that I’m not very religious. Of course someone with prior knowledge of the Bible will get certain references in the poem or would understand them way better than myself.

From my understanding, the poem “Easter Wings” by George Herbert is about how god created all men without judgement. He created men “in wealth and store,” or in other words, some were poor and some wealthy but he did not care about such things. He also discusses ones sins and punishments. When doing this, it seems like it switches to the sinners point of view and he goes on from they’re showing how sins push someone to be better because they repent. I feel this shows the basic gist of christianity because it talks about the creation of man, their sin and trying to better yourself after.

In “The Altar”, I feel as if Herbert is trying to depict the crucifixion of christ. Line 2 give me an image of Christ himself on the cross and I feel like this is what Herbert is aiming to do. Later in the poem in lines 14-16 I think the speaker is showing the praise towards Christ’s sacrifice and showing how blessed they feel. I feel like this illustrates the Christian society very well as well.

In all honesty, my understanding of both poems is kind of a blur. I want to be 100% sure of their meanings before I come to a decision.

I SURRENDER

Diane Tarabay-Rodriguez 

As a Christian, religious poems that talk about my personal beliefs immediately intrigue me. Don’t get me wrong, I am no expert on Christianity, but I have a clear understanding of the basic principles of my religion. Like most people, I find it difficult to understand many parts of the bible and George Herbert’s “The Altar” and “Easter Wings” made it no easier for me. Just like in many verses of the bible, I found myself pondering about how the words and the shape of the poems connection and what it all meant.

With simply looking at the title of the poem, “The Altar”, I immediately visualized the shape of the altar that was created with all the lines combined together. As I began to read the poem, I began to understand that the altar was not just ANY altar, it was a broken one. I came to the understanding that the poet was referring to himself as an altar. The altar is his body. It contains a heart and it has shed a lot of tears. In line 3, He states “whose parts are as thy hands did frame”. Through that line he is acknowledging himself as a creation of God. In the beginning, he shows that he is well aware of his imperfections. On lines 5 and 6, He states, “A HEART alone is simply a stone if”. Comes to show that a heart without God is nothing at all. He mentions this line on the most narrow part of the poem to visually show how one becomes so small without God. After, he makes the lines more wide and talks about wanting to be redeemed.

The poem, “Easter Wings”, also demonstrated a strong visual that was related to the poem. As I began to read it, I visualized a two pairs of wings. The way the poem went from wide to narrow and wide to narrow, allowed me to see the pair of wings in movement. Even the tone of my voice began to drop as the lines got thinner and it rose up as the lines widened. The poem contained a very strong religious meaning behind it. It talked about how god created man, “in wealth and store”(1), yet man still decides to fall in the hands of sin. Parts of the poem refer back to the beginning of the bible where Adam and Eve are created and given all that they need, yet still decide to go against God’s words. The poem takes a dark turn when it goes from wide to narrow but slowly rises when it reaches the most narrow parts of the poem. This is the poet’s way of showing is that no matter what mistakes people make, God always gives a chance of redemption.

After reading both poems, I felt that “The Alter” offers a more powerful Christian message than the poem, “Easter Wings”. There was a strong personal connection in the poem “The Altar”. I felt a personal connection to it because it talked about a broken person that is accepting God as their creator.

The Resurrection of Faith

The Christian message is often times shared through poetry and other forms of art; some would even say that the Bible is poetry itself. Two of the most prominent poems that share the Christian message are “The Altar” and “Easter Wings”, both written by George Herbert. Both are great poems that offer a powerful Christian message, but through mirroring the structure of the poem with the content, Herbert is able to convey a more profound message of Christianity in “Easter Wings”. Through the shape of the poem, Herbert is able to share the journey Jesus, as well as human kind. 

In “Easter Wings” the relationship between the content of the poem and the structure of wings is obvious at first glance. The poem is made to replicate the shape of wings, more specifically, angel wings, which creates a tie between the title and the poem itself. The easter wings is a reference to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. This relationship is seen throughout the entirety of the poem, and is made most obvious that the movement of the poems shape reflects the actions portrayed in the poem. In the third line of the poem, it is said that the Lord, or Jesus, is “decaying more and more”, referencing his crucifixion. This image of decay is carried over from the content of the poem to the shape of the poem, as the reader can see the way the lines start to shorten, thinning the the look of the poem itself. The opposite effect is also seen in the poem. For example, the expansion of the lines in the first stanza is seen as after the line “O let me rise” (line 7). This expansion of the lines is meant to reflect the resurrection of Jesus. 

“Easter Wings” is about the resurrection of Jesus, but it is also about the true meaning of Christianity. If you replace the presence of Jesus with the presence of anyone who has strayed away from the word of God, you can see a new yet similar story as before. The poem is about celebrating those who have been lost and then found; those who have questioned their beliefs, perhaps, but came back to God and the church. The image of straying is seen in the same line that represents the crucifixion of Jesus, but this time the image of decaying is meant to represent the sins that cause one to wander from the path of God. The image of ones return to God is seen in lines seven and eight, when Herbert writes “O let me rise/ as larks harmoniously”. This line is meant to create a picture of those who strayed from God, returning to him as they sing his praise and are welcomed back. “Easter Wings” shows that just like Jesus, some may fall, but upon their return, the church will honor them and their journey. 

Although “The Altar” shares a strong Christian message, “Easter Wings” creates a more powerful one. This is done by creating a pattern with the poem that matches the content of the poem. The literal image of wings that is created by the poem acts as a map for both Jesus’s journey and the resurfacing of Christian faith in those who stray.

Sophia Wallace-Boyd

I Have Not Gone to Church in Years

‘“In creating and exact match between the shape of the poem and its theme, George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” offers a more powerful Christian Message than his other poem, “The Altar”’

 

Why?

 

Hear me out, I know that this is for the sake of class assignments and debate and thinking exercises and whatnot, but why? I read this question, and initially had nothing. I slept on it, woke up, still have nothing. Pondered before class, and I still have nothing. I genuinely wonder what others have to say.

There is an interesting footnote for The Altar that reads, “Its placement suggests that all of the following poems are offered as “sacrifices” on the symbolic altar constituted here”. “The following poems” being the two poems in question: The Altar and Easter Wings. Specifically, for The Altar, my textual evidence for showing “more” praise lies mostly in the footnotes explaining the poem’s references such as on lines 4 and 14. Fittingly, both references (coming from Exodus and Luke respectively) are about stones. The poem is titled The Altar, is in the shape of an altar, and has references to stones in the bible, and stones are great building material for altars. To me, this poem is about strength in the faith of God and pledging love and allegiance to God:

 

That,  if  I  chance  to  hold  my  peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

Oh   let   thy   blessed   SACRIFICE   be   mine,

                 And    sanctify    this    ALTAR    to    be    thine. (ll. 13-16)

 

If the speaker were to hold their peace, they would wish that these stones do not and praise God. Then, the speaker takes ownership over the sacrifice. This sacrifice could be in reference to the constant mentioning of heart, symbolically meaning the speaker’s life, love, and praise. The speaker is willing to sacrifice themselves, which brings me back to the footnote saying that these poems are a sacrifice. The opening of the poem talks of an altar which then leads into, “Made of a heart, and cemented with tears” (l.2). All of this leads me to believe that this altar is the heart of the speaker, or in other words, the speaker is the altar, and the end of the poem is asking God to sanctify this altar. The speaker wants to be free from sin and united forever with Christianity.

 

It is hard to say whether The Altar is any better or worse than Easter Wings. Easter Wings, rightfully so, alludes to flight and ascension with God. The poem opens with the dichotomy of wealthy and poor, gluttonous and abstemious. There is a clear fall from grace seen within the first 5 lines, but then the turn begins. The speaker has fallen but wishes to be risen. Now, I considered the poem being told through the point-of-view of Jesus because the similarities are there, but ultimately I decided to look past that and instead interpret the poem as wishing to follow the steps of Jesus or rather praise how Jesus died and rose again. This is the poem about ascension into Heaven which inherently implies outstanding religious faith. But again, I am torn between looking at this from the point of view of Jesus and then as someone who is a devout follower. I believe the argument could be made for either one, and of course, for academic purposes I would choose a side, but for blog post purposes, I can be conflicted.

 

Conflicted as I am with the initial question all the way at the top of this post. I spent so much time rationalizing an argument for The Altar because on the surface, I believe it to be less obvious of a piece of appraisal for the Christian faith. Easter Wings, being in the shape of two birds flying up, mention birds, flight, falling, rising, and having Easter in the title and referenced in the poem makes much more obvious sense to say it praises Christianity. But I think there is something to be said about both. They try to do different things but have the same goal. So, I can confidently say that I am on the fence with which poem has a much more powerful Christian message. I believe one is much more obvious in its message, but that does not mean that it is necessarily better.

—Joseph Rojas

How can I not?

Vinnie Kim

The argument to say that one poem is better than the other is ridiculous because both poems talk about different things. George Hubert’s poem “Easter Wings” talks about the “joyful pain” in Christianity while “The Alter” talks about the captivating call to worship God.

“Easter Wings” creates the image of God creating man in his own image, “in Wealth and store,” yet man chooses to “decay” and fall into the hands of sin. Then the man cries out, “O let me rise… further the flight in me.” This man cries out asking to be risen up, implying that he is in the depth of sin. The man is then saved and says that his “age in sorrow ” has begun. This is important because it shows that choosing to be a Christian is not an easy thing to do, it is hard and it even says so in the Bible. This next line shows the tender love of God. “And still with sicknesses and shame. Thou didst so punish sinne,” The man is saying even with all his disease and shameful acts, God still chooses to punish sin over him. You can see where the saying hate the sin, love the sinner comes from. He then says that after this process, he is “most thinne.” This creates an oxymoron because he says this was his age of sorrow, yet in this stage he feels his victory; joyful pain. He then goes to even further emphasize this joyful pain, by saying let me mend my wing through God and that painful wound shall advance the flight in me.

“The Alter” creates the imagery of the heart and the captivating love of God. What non-believers don’t understand is that Christianity is a choice, but you are called to make that choice. The choice to name the poem, “The Alter” is very interesting because the alter is where priests/pastors would call up people who feel the calling to come to Christ. The poem depicts a picture of a broken alter, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Hubert goes to say later in the poem that nothing but God can cut/mold/anything to the heart. “No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same. A HEART alone Is such a stone, As nothing but Thy pow’r doth cut.” He then goes to say that God cuts the stone of the heart into pieces that mold into a frame. This frame is the image of the “ideal” man in retrospect to Christianity. When molded into the perfect man, the poem implies that the calling to God is so great, you have no choice but to worship him. “Wherefore each part Of my hard heart Meets in this frame To praise thy name. That if I chance to hold my peace, These stones to praise thee may not cease.” Hubert then goes to show his gratitude to the Lord by “SACRIFICING” his “ALTER” to the lord in order to be sanctified. “Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine, And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.”

To ask which poem is better was ridiculous because they were both just so different. Even the perspectives in each poem was different. Asking which conveyed a better message is liking asking which is better; anger or fear?

I believe I can fly

I agree that “Easter Wings” offers a more powerful Christian message than “The Altar” because of how the shape of the poem offers additional meaning to the words and theme of the poem. While “The Altar” focuses on the importance of worshipping God, “Easter Wings” really describes and elaborates on the various facets that go into a relationship with God and relates on multiple parts of the Bible for reference. Starting by referencing Adam in the beginning of the poem through talking of when he came into this world with everything and eventually became “most poore” through his and Eve’s sins, and connecting that with a decrease in line length for their downfall, adds an powerful dimension to the poem. As the poem grows outward again on its wings, Herbert asks for God to help him rise and to “further the flight in me.” This decay and grow in line length also reflects a similar theme in the second stanza, as the lines decrease, they talk about how sin can destroy a person, but with God, that sin can be transformed and good things await. A major theme in the Bible is being lifted and forgiven for our sins. For example Isaiah 40:31 says, “but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” Herbert seems to be using this idea when he wrote “Easter Wings,” for he mentions “for, if I imp my wing on thine,/Affliction shall advance the flight with me” (19-20). These lines focus both on the ideas of sin and the idea that with God, you can be lifted from your sins.

“The Altar” also portrays the image of the object it describes, but does not have as powerful a Christian message as “Easter Wings” does. The Altar describes the journey of creating an altar and how that relates to a relationship with God. The lines again increase in length as Herbert talks about the growing relationship with God, but it does not flow in the same way as “Easter Wings.” Having two stanzas and therefore two sets of wings, allows us to see the continual journey of being broken down and then being built back up by a relationship with God, which reflects the true meaning of Christianity.

Live and Let Die

I feel that it is important for me to address the fact that I am not Christian, so it is hard for me to really understand what sort of message is more powerful to Christians. That being said, with my limited previous knowledge and ample research, I have come to the conclusion that “Easter Wings” by George Herbert does a better job conveying Christian imagery and ideas and in a more creative way than his other poem “The Altar”.

First of all, while both poems are written in shaped verse, the image of wings is much more obvious and clear to me than the image of an altar (not just because I needed to search for what an altar looked like first). I also thought that with “Easter Wings”, the shape immediately grabbed your attentions, where as the only reason I thought that “The Altar” was in shaped verse at all was the research I did and the fact that he used shaped verse in the former. I also thought that wings, whether as a representation of birds, or a metaphor for angels is a more interesting and unique Christian symbol than an Altar, which in my opinion is very obvious. In “Easter Wings”, Herbert also breaks up the poem into two separate verses and two sets of wings, both of which represent important ideas in Christianity.

The first verse conveys the fall of man through the imagery of man decaying and losing his wealth, of ideals, knowledge, and money. Man was given all of these things by god, but they turned their back on him, and as a result, they became “poore”. The speaker is pleading for god to give them another chance to accept god and to restore the faith of mankind to help them return to their former glory. Hoping to redeem man from the fall, the second half of the first verse is a plea to the lord:

O let me rise

As larks, harmoniously

And sing this day thy victories:

Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

As we saw with the last debate, pleas are incredibly powerful forms of expression that convey a sense of desperation that is hard to reach otherwise.

The second verse focuses on the redemption of man in a response to the aforementioned plea begging for another chance. According to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ, their lord and savior died for their sins, and as a result redeemed mankind. In order to receive wings, all you need to do is accept Jesus as your lord and savior and follow his teachings, and then all of your sins will be forgiven and you can go to heaven when you die. When these two verses are looked at together, a very big part if not the most important part of Christianity is conveyed. Man was lost when they turned their back on god, but when Jesus died for their sins, they were redeemed and given the chance to go to heaven in the afterlife.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.

The title of my blog post is taken from a Bible Verse (Isaiah 40:28-31).  The verse is as follows:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

This is the Christian message that I believe Herbert does an exceptional job at portraying in “Easter Wings.” A message he portrays far more powerfully than the messages in “The Altar.”

After reading both poems, I was fascinated specifically by an element in “Easter Wings”: the paradox created by the theme of sin.  When we hear the word sin, we think of mistakes, we think of lying and cheating, we think of immoral people.  However, in “The Altar,” and in Christianity as a whole, sins are not entirely evil.  They do not solely come with negativity.  In fact, without sin, how could one form a relationship with God? It is through our sins that we are able to ask the Lord for forgiveness.  It is through the speaker’s sins that he or she is able to “rise” from his state of tenderness, and “combine” with Christ. This line is filled with Christ imagery, especially to the resurrection of Christ where he rises from the dead.

The singing lark that the speaker wishes to become is a symbol of freedom. One might imagine the speaker soaring upwards in the sky like a lark, up towards the heavens.  In order to do this, though, the speaker must embrace the imminent “fall” that comes from his sins.  The speaker suffers through sickness, shame, and sorrow as a result of his sins.  However, God does not punish the speaker for his sins; the speaker brings this punishment upon himself.  God instead punishes the sin, as noted in line 13 of the poem.  So, although sin has damaged the speaker’s wing, the speaker knows that the Lord will forgive him, and he can therefore rest upon the wings of the Lord in order to “advance [his] flight.”  Notice that this line is actually a modified repetition from line 10, where the speaker states “Then shall the fall further the flight in me.”  If you look carefully at the two sections within this poem, you will notice that numerous lines seem to parallel each other, and include large portions of repetition.  So why does this matter? Because, by the second verse, the Speaker has become the decaying man from the first verse.  He has become the singing lark from the first verse, as well.  And, by doing so, he has reached a point where he can rise, just as the Lord did.  He can become one with the Lord, just as the Lord became one with God.  This brings us back to the beautiful paradox that this poem portrays: that while sinning may seem so negative on the outside, it can be so beautiful on the inside.  We are all imperfect, and therefore we all will sin.  But the Lord knows this.  And he will forgive the sinners who ask for forgiveness.  And he will provide the speaker with wings that give him strength and bring him to the heavens, where he can combine with the Lord.  This forgiveness is what Christianity is all about. Because…

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

What could be more moving and powerful than that?