Tag Archives: George Herbert

At Easter, God Pushes through Doubt

By Robin Bates | Published: April 20, 2019

Easter Sunday Sue Schmidt, occasional contributor to this blog and one of the most spiritual people I know, alerted me to this Jeanne Murray Walker poem about wrestling with doubt. Although it’s not explicitly an Easter poem, it describes God blazing up when everything seems empty—as God did on that Resurrection Sunday two millennia ago. […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Strike My Heart So the Tears Will Flow

By Robin Bates | Published: April 18, 2019

Good Friday In her poem “Good Friday,” Christina Rossetti laments that she responds to Christ’s death like a stone, not a faithful sheep. Why can’t she be like the women who wept at the foot of the cross, or Peter who wept for his betrayal, or the sun and the moon that hid their faces? […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Returning to the Misty Past

By Robin Bates | Published: October 18, 2018

John Gatta’s “Spirits of Place” is helping me understand why I have chosen to retire in my home town. Wordsworth, Stowe, Homer, and Frost help out as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

You Must Sit Down, Says Love

By Robin Bates | Published: April 22, 2018

Psalm 23 has an image which may help power one of George Herbert’s most beloved poems.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Love Was with Me in the Night

By Robin Bates | Published: December 25, 2017

May Sarton’s imagines love without weight in her poem “Christmas Light.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Let Me Not Love Thee If I Love Thee Not

By Robin Bates | Published: July 23, 2017

George Herbert, never afraid to go toe-to-toe with God, grapples with his tormenting faith in “Affliction (1).”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

My Cries Cannot Pierce Thy Silent Ears

By Robin Bates | Published: October 10, 2015

George Herbert poetry is admirable in the way he wrestles with his spiritual doubts. He may owe a debt to “The Book of Job,” where we also see such wrestling.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

A Guest Worthy To Be Here

By Robin Bates | Published: September 5, 2015

Jesus learned to accept a Canaanite woman at his table and George Herbert learns that he belongs at that table. We can use them as models as we face refugees and immigrants.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Herbert & Bronte on Spiritual Restlessness

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2015

St. Augustine, George Herbert, and Charlotte Bronte all write about spiritual restlessness.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed