Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
Oh let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne:
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine
And feel this day thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
— George Herbert
Easter Wings is a poem written by 17th century English poet George Herbert and published in his 1633 book, The Temple. It is notable as an early example of pattern poetry or concrete poetry.
Form[]
The poem consists of 2 10-line stanzas, with lines rhyming a-b-a-b-a-c-d-c-d-c, and varying in the number of feet: 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5 -
In their printed form on the page the 2 stanzas resemble the wings of a bird (or an angel) in flight. The poem was originally printed sideways, one stanza each on facing pages, and with the space between words adjusted (as below), to look even more like wings.
The poem as printed[]
External links[]
- Poem analysis at Cross-Ref-it.com
- Easter Wings analysis at eNotes
- Summary and analysis at SchoolworkHelper.net