Selected Poem - 'The Rose'

Noted for its beauty and scent, the rose is a much-admired flower and is mentioned by George Herbert in several of his poems, most notably 'Vertue'. But it also bears thorns, and in his time its essence was used as a purgative.

The Rose

Press me not to take more pleasure
In this world of sugared lies,
And to use a larger measure
Than my strict, yet welcome size.

First, there is no pleasure here:
Colour’d griefs indeed there are,
Blushing woes, that look as cleare
As if they could beautie spare.

O if such deceits there be,
Such delights I meant to say;
There are no such things to me,
Who have pass’d my right away.

But I will not much oppose
Unto what you now advise:
Only take this gentle rose,
And therein my answer lies.

What is fairer then a rose?
What is sweeter? yet it purgeth.
Purgings enmitie disclose,
Enmitie forbearance urgeth.

If then all that worldlings prize
Be contracted to a rose;
Sweetly there indeed it lies,
But it biteth in the close.

So this flower doth judge and sentence
Worldly joyes to be a scourge:
For they all produce repentance,
And repentance is a purge.

But I health, not physick choose:
Only though I you oppose,
Say that fairly I refuse,
For my answer is a rose.

Commentary

This poem is written in the form of a conversation expressing a dilemma. Extraordinarily, George Herbert's solution is in a metaphor: that of the rose, gentle and sweet but painful to grasp - the conunterpoint of an alternative. We will repent if we mishandle it.

For Herbert, the natural world was God's handiwork and part of the means by which he understood his vocation and life as a priest. He could learn from the rose because he respected its beauty and origination. It was connected to everything else as part of creation.

The dilemma that the poem addresses is that of redemption. How might we live in a world which continually tempts us to compromise? What is the mechanism of restoration when things inevitably go wrong?

 

The rose is embedded in the world yet stands defiantly against it, so if the rose contains all that is valued in the world, when it is crushed or misused we feel the pain and repent the action.

The rose is able to 'judge and sentence' betweeen following the ways of God and those of the world. In this way the poem conveys Herbert's timeless ability to speak into the depths of humanity.

This is a rich seam which despite our technological advances remains relevant.

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