It difficult to guess what George Herbert would have made of social media allowing people to express their feelings and opinions unreservedly, so often in the form of complaints. But he certainly recognised that complaining is part of human nature, and in this poem he gives his speaker an opprtunity to express his sense of grievance.
This poem appears only in the later (Williams) manuscript of 'The Temple' and so could well have been written at a time in George Herbert's life when he was struggling with both poor health and feelings of frustration over employment. Certainly it is tempting to see it as autobiographical; indeed, in subject matter and tone it sits quite easily with five others all bearing the title 'Affliction'.
Herbert's speaker makes his position clear right from the start - he is bound to his almighty God whether he likes it or not, and he feels that he is being made to suffer because of it. All he asks is that his supplications are heard. As so often with Herbert, the poem takes the form of a conversation with God, but in the second stanza the speaker recognises that this is a negotiation in which one party holds all the cards - quite simply, he is at God's mercy.
The third stanza reveals the speaker's big complaint - it seems to him that God's only response to his devoted entreaties is to burden him with affliction after affliction; what he really needs is some encouragement, something to lift his spirits. He is fed up with constantly bemoaning the way life is treating him, and is desperate for something to be cheerful and optimistic about.
So the speaker pleads with his God to make his short time on earth easier to bear. Otherwise, he concludes, it would be better if his wretched life were brought to an end. Herbert frequently finishes his verses with an unexpected conclusion, but this one is unusually bleak, and what it reveals is almost a state of depression. But, quite clearly, underlying it is an unwavering faith.
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