At this time of year, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For them, the momentous revelation of his empty tomb at dawn on Easter morning marks the point at which the prophesy that he would rise from the dead becomes a reality. His winding sheet is all that remains.
The writers of the New Testament gospels each give a slightly different account of the discovery of the empty tomb (“recollections may vary”, to coin a phrase), but on one point they are all agreed – it happened just as the sun was rising on the day after the Sabbath. So in selecting a title for this Easter poem, George Herbert was able to indulge his predilection for punning. Dawn can mean both the break of day and the onset of realisation.
Unlike John Donne, whose poem famously resented the sun rising, the feeling of the followers of Jesus Christ at the start of this new day should have been nothing but untold joy (‘mirth’). Herbert captures this superbly in his poem ‘Easter’, but here he is more concerned with lifting their understandable feeling of sadness in the aftermath of the crucifixion. He encourages them not to be downcast (‘Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth’).
The Donne verse is a typical example of the poetic style called an aubade, or morning song, which was popular at the time but was essentially secular. It was conceived as the waking serenade of a lover to his mistress, but here Herbert parodies the style while conforming to his avowed intention to devote his talents to a higher purpose. In this case, by ‘Awake, awake’ he means ‘don’t you realise what a momentous event has just occurred?’.
And, in a similarity with his poem ‘Easter Wings’, George Herbert stresses the importance of the feeling of triumph (‘victorie’) over death. No doubt he had in mind Corinthians 15:55: ‘ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
So Herbert’s urging of everyone with sadness in their heart to ‘arise’ is intended to reflect the resurrection, which should be seen as transforming and enriching the lives of those who accept it and truly believe in it. He emphasises this by using the word again, twice, in an echo of the fourth line of the first stanza.
The poem concludes with a reference to Christ’s burial clothes, which according to the gospels were all that remained of his presence in the tomb on that morning of such huge and lasting significance. Herbert sees them as a reminder, in times of grief or hardship, not only of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross but also his ability to break the chains of death. They exemplify the words of Psalm 46 – ‘God is a very present help in times of trouble’.
The composer Richard Shephard set 'The Dawning' to music. It is one of the new hymn settings of a selection of George Herbert's poems featured on the CD 'Another Music'.
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