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

The Night, the Temptress, and the Holy Drunkard

There is much figurative language to be found in Hafez’s poetry, specifically Ode 44. In line three, after a woman has slipped into the speaker’s room, the speaker says she has “verses on her lips”. This is a metonymy. When one hears the word, verse or in this case, verses, their mind automatically jumps to the Bible or other religious texts. The purpose of this statement might have been to hint at her drunkenness. (She was also noted to have been carrying a tilted glass which further drives this point) When one is drunk, they often slur their words, or mumble. The verses the speaker is speaking of, can perhaps be this slurring or mumbling. In the next line, the speaker says the woman has “Narcissus-eyes”. This is a metaphor. The speaker is comparing the woman to Narcissus, a character from Greek Mythology, known for his beauty and obsession with his looks. Since the speaker is talking specifically about her eyes, he might be implying they are enticing and all consuming. Her eyes hold power over him. They entrap him. In line 5, the speaker compares her lips to red wine. This is another metaphor. The most obvious interpretation is that her lips are red. Perhaps stained from the wine in her glass. But I think the speaker is also implying that her lips are delectable. They are something he wants to taste. . . something he can get drunk on. In the next line, the speaker says she is as “warm as a dewy rose”. This is a simile. The speaking is comparing the warmth from the woman’s body to the dew on a rose. Dew is another word for water. This can imply she is sweaty, and her skin is glistening. This adds to her seductive allure. In line 9, the speaker says the woman sighed between “each lazy word”. This is personification. He is personifying the word, word. This sounds ridiculous, but if you think about it, he could be referencing, once again, her drunkenness. Her insobriety is causing her to speak slowly. Nonchalantly. In a lazy manner. In the last stanza, he states her hair “filled like a flower with scent”. This is a simile. The speaker compares the smell of her hair to the scent of flowers. This implies her smell is intoxicating, and sweet. Based on the figurative language present in the poem, I believe it to be about temptation and the dangers of alcohol. The speaker is religious, evident by the references to verses, Heaven, and the gods above. Yet, he is tempted by the drunken woman who has climbed into his bed in only a shift. I would not say there is love between the man and the woman. I would argue there is lust. The speaker goes into great detail on her scent. How she sounds. On her shift and nearly naked body. I do not think the speaker is rejecting Islamic spirituality. I think he is warning his readers to be careful of temptation. Of alcohol even and how it can hinder one’s decision making. Hence the woman offering him wine. If the speaker were of clearer mind, he would know to turn her away. But he gives in to temptation. He drinks her wine and attempts to justify it by saying the gods above “ordained this wine for us”. As in, it was God who gave wine to mankind. That to refuse it, would be to refuse God. In this way, the speaker is shifting the blame from himself onto God. In Islam, alcohol is prohibited, as are sexual relations outside of marriage. This is the speaker advising his readers to be wary and cautious of such temptations and does so, through the nuanced relationship between the man and the woman.

Bella Cortez

Breathless First Love

Love poems have a way of using a lot of figurative language to describe delicate feelings in the most intricate of ways possible. Not only does it invite the audience into the poet’s mind, but it also paves a pathway of imagination and what it is like for one to feel when in love. In Ode 44, Hafez tells a story of a specific night with a woman and wine through metaphor usage for the purpose of conveying one’s deepest desires in a vulnerable position.

Hafez starts off with laying out the central setting of the poem, which I feel really helps set the scene and gives a visual to the audience of what the atmosphere is like before continuing on with his thoughts. He further continues to describe her appearance and body language by saying “Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray” (Line 4, Hafez). This word choice lets the readers know that the woman has light, yellowish colored eyes. The second part of the line, especially ‘shining”, indicates that the poet sees a sense of lust in her light eyes, waiting to essentially undress and become exposed to him. Such body language gives the narrator ideas of what the woman might want to initiate. Immediately after the observations, the woman makes a move and gets into bed with him then proceeds to ask if he’s asleep or awake. This questions forces the narrator to literally springs in excitement to show her that he was ready to move forward towards wherever these actions were leading. Hafez then writes “Of Heaven’s own vine: he surely were a churl” (Line 14, Hafez). This line is intriguing in a few ways. For one, readers can notice that the poet capitalizes the word ‘Heaven’, showing the underlying respect he might have when it comes to religion, culture, and God. Going off of that thought, this creates an almost contradicting meaning in the line because it basically shows how an un-welcomed deed is committed while recognizing the respect to the ‘All Knowing’. Such assumptions are later backed up when towards the end Hafez mentions “Foredoomed to drink and foreordained forgiven” (Line 21). The poet is aware what he is doing is a sin, but decided to do it anyways. Taking in account the story and figurative language, this love rejects Islamic spirituality because a lot of things that take place goes against the religion and one can tell that the poet/author is well aware of it, but decided to pursue the love anyways. That’s how powerful this love is for him.

Simranpreet Kaur

Metaphor Like a Trick or Real.

Ode 44 was the poem that caught my attention mostly. I didn’t really understood what Hafez was exactly comparing love to was it God and love or was he comparing woman and his Love? Hafez believed we were full of imperfections and we’re all not perfect throughout his poem he uses figurative language like metaphor and personification. This poem embraced Islamic spiritually because of the metaphors that this poem had. He uses metaphors in many lines the line that caught my attention the most was “filled full of frolic to her wine-red lips” the way he uses metaphor here is because we don’t exactly know who “her” is and he doesn’t exactly mean her lips are red this line can mean different things but it will not mean the most obvious.

Hafez represented the love between “wine” and “love” but this is also a metaphor because wine, doesn’t exactly have to be wine it can be his past lover or wine can mean something completely differently. Hafez uses another figurative language smile he compares wine and love “A double traitor he to wine and love” but what exactly is he comparing? We know his comparing wine and love but we don’t exactly know what wine is… Which is why he uses metaphors all over his poem. Another metaphor he states out is “With wine and woman brimming o’er with laughter!” now his talking about woman but he doesn’t exactly mean that wine and woman connect, it’s just a line that tries to trick us into thinking the obvious but in reality it’s just a metaphor talking about something completely different. He uses Metaphors, Stanzas, and similes to try to get us into thinking something else, when really his comparing religion and love his recognizing the imperfections of human beings because he truly believes that we’re not perfect which is why I believe that he is representing love between him and god and is embracing Islamic “spiritually” because his not actually saying it into his poem but instead uses figurative language like metaphors.

Ana Munos.

THE DUMBBELL

The Dumbbell

A broken DUMBBELL, Trainer, thy student trains,

Made of a bicep and sculpted with muscle pains:

Whose gains are as thy plans did dictate;

No other trainer’s plans could replicate.

A BICEP grown

Is more than bone,

As nothing but

Thy diet doth cut.

Wherefore each thing

Of my frail being

Meet in this gym,

to sing you a hymn:

That if I happen to keep this physique,

heeding my call, for you they will seek.

Oh, let thy blessed WORKOUT be mine,

And sanctify this DUMBBELL to be thine.

Review:

            For this assignment I took the structure of the poem “The Altar” by George Herbert and created my own rendition called “The Dumbbell”. In this poem I took the religious aspects and themes of the inspiring piece and swapped it out with exercise and physique to mirror today’s obsession, and near religious reverence, of self-image.

            The first step of this process was going through the poem and switching out key words and phrases, that are religious, with modern day exercise phrases, terms, slang, etc. that can match the original’s tone and relative importance. So, I took the word “Altar”, a very well-known religious symbol and switched it to the word Dumbbell, an incredibly well-known (if not the most) piece of exercise equipment. This also is a reference to the original poem as, this allowed me to construct this in the same shape as the original. This makes the poem even kind of seem like a case of mistaken identification of the shape, which toward the parody-like nature of it.

            Structurally, as I have already referenced before, this poem is in (roughly) the same shape of the original, just re-interpreted. I worked my hardest to keep all of the punctuation the same as well, but when It came to me writing line 14, I had to add a comma for the sake of understanding; because otherwise feel that the meaning could have been lost. In addition, I was able to keep the overall structure of rhyming in the poem. Wherever I observed that there was a rhyme in the original, I made sure that the new word would as well. However, I was not able to keep the exact same rhyme used in the original, but I tried to as much as possible.

             For instance, The ending of the 5^th and 6^th of the original respectively are “alone” and “bone” and in my version the endings of those lines are “grown” and “bone” , but in situations like the 1^st and 2^nd lines, which in the original are “rears” and “tears”, I could not find anything acceptable that ended in in -ears, so I used “trains” and “pains” (which at least keeps the -s endings)

            Thematically I feel that this poem hits the mark very well. Nowadays, the importance of religion and the church is declining all over the world. At the same time, through outlets such as social media and other broadcasted media, the importance of self-image and in turn fitness has become more and more important to people. This is why the dumbbell is being described and used as practically a spiritual totem in the modern religion of fitness.

Thank You for Reading!

Best Wishes,

Andrew Hardy

The Soul of a Stone

It would be an understatement to describe George Herbert as a devout Chrisitan; his poems are filled with all types of religious themes and imagery that allude to his personal relationship to God. However, the one that really stands out the most would have to be his poem “The Altar”, a statement from Herbert affirming the glory of his Creator. The poem begins with the protagonist offering his heart, which he initially describes as a “broken altar”, to the Lord, the same Lord who created the heart that “no workman’s tool hath touch’d the same”. The protagonist acknowledges that while his heart may be broken, it is a divine creation that no human can come close to matching, even if it is “broken”. The metaphor between the heart and the altar becomes even more reinforced when the shape of the poem is taken into consideration; the poem is shaped like an altar, a place biblically known for sacrifice. Herbert wants to offer his broken heart to God in an attempt to receive His blessing, which, in the Christian belief, is the ultimate result of worship. The interpersonal and reflectional themes of the “The Altar” differ from the theme of forgiveness found in “Easter Wings”, which I believe offers a more powerful Christian message due to the fact that the basis of most religions, including Christianity, is to help the individual find out more about human nature and navigate the paths of life. The ultimate sacrifice of the heart, a heart as invaluable as a precious stone, to God in “The Altar” demonstrates the protagonist’s full commitment to his relationship with God, a relationship that is seen as the most important thing in the world within many different religions.

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.

Undecided

After reading both poems I would disagree and say that “The Altar” and the “Easter Wings” are both powerful in their own ways. I can’t decide on which poem was more powerful because both are talking of Christianity with their own forms of powerful messages.

The way that the poem was structured not only enforced the importance of Christianity that many people relied on but showed how people hear God. In his poem “The Altar” not only do you see the image of an altar from the way the poem has been structured, but the poem itself talks of people restoring what is broken. This poem focuses on restoring from the ground “these stones to praise thee may not cease” (line 14). I get an image that we speak to god from these stones, a priest giving guidance to restore our faith, begging for the forgiveness of our sins and then we will be heard by God. The poem sees this man with power during those times and speaks to those from the lessons that God was expressing was important. The alter where men stand behind it, then are given a presence of heavy influence and power “whose parts are as thy hand did frame” (line 4). The presence of the altar is already given this authority that one is the voice of God “Oh, let thy blessed SACRAFICE be mine, And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine” (lines 14-15). Seeing the image of the altar in the poem is in itself a powerful image because many who are Cristian’s know what it means.

The poem “Easter Wings” I felt as if it was focused more on God and how he is the answer and following him is the guide to peace. The image of wings gives that appeal that we must follow where he is, “O let me rise” (line 7). Praising to God on holly days just like Easter day is when we connect to the higher up, “Affliction shall advance the flight in me” (line 20). Wings is the image of an angel, in my eyes the followers of God just is portraying where we end up even if we sin.

Christianity is such a heavy influence for many people, and we all interpret it all differently, that’s why I can’t decide on which poem is powerful. The poems all have their own powerful messages and that’s the only thing that I can agree on.

 

• Maria Mendiola

Mothra, Rayquaza, and God: Examining the Pattern Poem

a staff member from Rebirth of Mothra works on the larval prop of the benevolent monster, 1995

by Andrew Perez

George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” and “The Altar” are pattern poems, meaning that the form of the lines contribute to its subject. I stoutly refuse the proposition that the “exact match” between the shape and theme of “Easter Wings” conveys a “more powerful Christian message” than “The Altar”. The latter mentions “A broken A L T A R…made of a heart” which both identifies the speaker’s body as the tenor and positions the vehicle of the “altar” as an offering of religious servitude. This rivals, if not exceeds, the imping of “[the speaker’s] wing on [the lord’s]” in “Easter Wings”. It’s futile to elevate these two poems above each other in their endeavors, especially when they appear as sequential parts of the same work.

These two poems assign religious symbolism to their subjects through different literary modes. “Easter Wings” manifests the religious symbol and attaches it to the speaker and their subject, choosing to rely largely on aligning the human form with the mythic corpora of angels. No, the speaker did not grow wings like Mothra on the blessing of the Lord, but the image is instead meant to easily convey the spiritual biography of the speaker. “The Altar” connects the body to the familiar religious furnishing of the altar, thus using the tangible experience of the object to bolster the poem’s comparison. This makes “The Altar” a far less interpretive poem⁠— the use of the altar as a device for sacred offering, among its many other employments during the procession of a mass, appeals to the faithful realism of readers.

While I won’t choose one poem over the other, I can offer an all-encompassing judgement on both: they’re great historical pieces, but are an ancestral remnant to any non-traditional religious practices performed today. I, much like any other pre-teen child who was forcefully dragged to the steps of a church at some ungodly hour, would have rather slept in and played Pokémon Emerald than listen to the “word of the lord”. The root of this is two-fold: not only does the church refuse to evolve from the archaic and rigid traditions which dangerously antiquate the faith, but also consequently reject any worship that doesn’t involve regular Sunday attendance. These pattern poems are a staunch reminder of those geriatric institutions: any un-metered word or out-of-place syllable are in opposition to the order of the whole and must be brought back or eliminated altogether.

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