Easter Wings, by George Herbert

The religious meaning of George Herbert’s poem “Easter Wings” is evident in the title, content, and form of this poem.

Easter refers to the Christian holiday which celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Jesus died on the cross, taking on the sins of the world, and descended into hell for three days, experiencing total separation from God his father. On the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead, thereby conquering sin and death. He ascended into heaven to rejoin his father.

The speaker uses two stanzas to describe two men with the same problem: sin. The first stanza discusses Adam, the second discusses the speaker himself. Adam, when he was created, was placed in the Garden of Eden “Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store”). In Genesis 3, we read that Adam lost the privilege of living in Eden by falling victim to temptation. Thus began his descent into the death and destruction brought about by sin (“decaying more and more/Till he became/Most poor”). The speaker’s life follows the same pattern at the start of the second stanza; however, he begins in a different place. Where Adam was created in perfection, the speaker, suffering the consequences of Adam’s fall, was born into sin (“My tender age in sorrow did begin”). The consequences of his depraved nature are evident in his own decline (“with sicknesses and shame/Thou didst so punish sin,/That I became/Most thin”).

The second halves of each stanza bring the hope of redemption. “With thee,” the signal phrase that marks the transition from death to life, binds the reader to Jesus. Interestingly, in the stanza about Adam, the reader still pleas for mercy on his own behalf, “O let me rise.” The speaker begs the grace of God so that, through Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ victory over all sin (therefore “victories”), he might be brought back into relationship with God. In the last line of the first stanza, “Then shall the fall further the flight in me,” “the fall” refers to Jesus’ descent into hell, meaning that through Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection, the speaker may be brought close to God. In the second stanza, this idea is expressed in the idea of grafting a wing onto Jesus’ wing. The use of the world “affliction” in the last line of this stanza hints at the verse 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Everything that afflicts, or weakens, the speaker will make him rely all the more on the grace of God for salvation and restoration.

The form of the poem follows the speaker’s line of thought. As the lines become shorter from the beginning to the middle of the stanza, the reader’s eye moves down the page more quickly, representing Adam and the speaker’s descent into sin and death. “With thee” begins the sections of each stanza that bring the speaker out of despair, corresponding with Jesus resurrection. As the speaker lengthens his lines, he soars on the wings of the one who saved him from his sin, Jesus.