Furniture (motif)
The second stanza begins with the speaker reflecting upon “thy furniture so fine” which he looks upon and which, in the process, becomes fine to him. This is the first of many occasions in which everyday objects become a symbol of the glory of God around the speaker. Herbert is notable for a use of metaphor and symbol which is—somewhat paradoxically—connected to the most mundane of literal objects. References to beautiful domestic objects suggest wealth and luxury. The presence of these everyday objects in this poem about man and God show the speaker’s wrongheaded assumptions about the rewards that await those who dedicate themselves to religion. Later in the poem the word “household” reappears when the speaker imagines being a tree and having a bird nest in his branches. The contrast between the luxurious home goods of the first part of the poem with this more humble imagination of home reveals the speaker’s spiritual progress.
Money (motif)
In the first part of the poem words like “stock,” benefits,” and “wages” show that the speaker has the (false) idea that his relationship to God is similar to a financial relationship. He expects to be spiritually compensated for his service.
Spring (motif)
In his early stage of the journey the speaker imagines service to God as an eternal spring, filled with flowers and sweetness. The enticement into the house of God brought milk and sweetness, and this satisfaction filled life with “flow’rs and happiness,” so that it was like living eternally in the month of May. And what does May symbolize? The end of winter: cold, deathly bleak winter. The arrival of spring: warm, newly green spring. As the season of growth, spring is parallel to the speaker’s early life and to physical health. So the love of God was like always living without winter and within lush beauty and the promise of youth.
Sickness (motif)
The speaker’s main complaint to God has to do with his bad health. The middle part of the poem is linked together through references to tuberculosis, groans, coughing, and pain.
Sounds (motif)
When the speaker begins getting sick, he complains that a fever “tune[s] my breath to groans.” A musical tune travels freely through the air, but a groan comes out of the throat with an unhealthy sound. This ironic description of pain as a kind of breath is picked up again in the next stanza when the speaker uses the metaphor of being “blown through with every storm and wind” to describe being helpless. Then when the symbol of the tree appears, the speaker sighs. In this way, groaning, wind, and sighs are all linked.
Cross-bias (symbol)
Cross-bias is a term from the medieval game of bowls. Similar to bowling today, the game requires rolling a ball in a certain direction. By “cross-biasing” the speaker, God is weighing the ball down and causing it to go in a different direction. It is a symbol for the way God’s intentions overpower those of human beings.
Town and gown (symbols)
The town symbolizes a life outside of the university while the gown stands for the clothing worn both by academics in Herbert’s time and by religious figures. Herbert himself went from town to gown: he had ambitions of serving in the court of King James I. Instead he went into academia and then became the rector of a small church. For this reason, some scholars read this part of the poem as autobiographical.
Tree (symbol)
The speaker wishes to be a tree, which symbolizes righteousness and obedience to God’s will. Just as a tree can bend with the wind, so the speaker hopes to give up his own desires and follow whatever God wants.
