Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Collar is a religious poem by Welsh Poet George Herbert which was published in 1633 in his poetic collection The Temple. The poem depicts the inner conflicts of a religious clergyman who has devoted his life to the worship of God but experiences a loss of faith and feelings towards his commitments. He then expresses his desire to break free of his religious restrictions and social expectations, only to return back to the path of God in the end. The Collar is Herbert’s one of the best poems.
Structure of The Collar
The Collar is a metaphysical poem and hence, it follows the basic idea of the poem in its structure too. Just like the poet wants to break free of his religious regulations and social norms, the poem doesn’t follow any specified pattern of poetry. There’s no recurring rhyming scheme in the poem yet, the last four lines offer the rhyme abab. The title itself offers a strong conceit. The Collar suggests a dog collar or the collar of a slave. The collar signifies submission and control. On the other hand, the Collar also refers to the piece of clothing worn by a member of the clergy. In addition, the Collar can also be related to its homonyms like the ‘Caller.’ At the end of the poem, God, the Caller calls the poet and the poet responds with complete submission. The other homonym is ‘choler’, or anger with which the complaint against God is being made.
The Collar is a thirty-six lines long poem with a single stanza. It is a free-verse poem that includes a dialogue between the poet’s two inner voices, sometimes identified as the heart and the will. While the will rebels against God and the “collar” or yoke of religion, the heart wins the battle, overcoming the will.
The lines are of irregular lengths. The poet uses metaphor, similies, and conceit. The poet express ‘Harvest’ as the motif of the poem. The poet complains that he has had “no harvest” except for “a thorn.” He believes that, after planting the seeds of religious devotion, he has not received the harvest he expected. When the speaker’s second voice interjects, it reminds him that “there is fruit.” The harvest, therefore, can be seen as a metaphor for spiritual “fruits” or rewards that are reaped in heaven. The poet expresses his desires and worldly striving for pleasure and gains as his “cage” as a symbol. God, then, frees him.
Summary of The Collar
Lines 1-9
I struck the board, and cried, “No more;
I will abroad!
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit?
Have I no harvest but a thorn
To let me blood, and not restore
What I have lost with cordial fruit?
The poet begins with a shocking cry without any provocation and says, enough, he will tolerate No More. He explains his situation as he has had enough and now he will revolt and run away (abroad). He further explains his dilemma and asks if it is necessary for him to “sigh and pine” and continue to suffer the frustration? The poet believes that this is not his sole purpose to want and strive for something that he cannot have. The poet shows dissatisfaction with the current direction of his life and is willing to make a change.
The poet believes that he can live his life and write his story in lines “free, free as the road.” What he means is that he is willing to break all the patterns, restraints, and norms that bind him and live a carefree life like a loose wind with an enormous unlimited world to cover.
The poet then asks if he must remain “still in suit.” Though he can break free, he is not convinced. He enquires if it is possible for him to change his life now or has he trapped himself so deep that he cannot escape the cage he created? He then compares his current life with a plant that offers no fruit except thorns. These thorns harm him alone and he bleeds. The poet says that what he loses cannot be restored though he hopes to use it to reinvigorate himself. Perhaps he can benefit from his own present suffering.
Lines 10-18
Sure there was wine
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it,
No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
All wasted?
Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,
And thou hast hands.
In the next lines, the poet remembers that he had a different life before in the past when he had wine. It would have had to have been before his “sighs did dry it.” The poet suggests that though he is suffering now, it was not like this since always and he had better times when he had ‘wine’ and ‘corn.’ These days would be before his “tears did drown it.” He feels as if his own emotional state is making his already bad situation worse.
The poet then expresses that he is striving to save this year. He asks if there is any way for him to “crown” or save his year. He does not want it to be “lost to” him. The poet is bleeding because of the thorns he has harvested but he is searching for the ‘flowers’ and ‘garland gays’ to improve his current situation and better his future. He asks if there is no hope or if he has lost everything? Then his heart answers that it is not so there is the fruit of his striving. He is determined to take that fruit along with his happiness in his hands and though he has lost a lot of time that has been wasted, he wants to make better use of his remaining time.
Line 19-28
Recover all thy sigh-blown age
On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute
Of what is fit and not. Forsake thy cage,
Thy rope of sands,
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
Away! take heed;
I will abroad.
The poet plans for his remaining time and says that his primary concern is to recover the pleasures of his past that he could have but hadn’t. He is willing to leave behind all the “cold disputes” concerning what is right and what is wrong (fit or not). He has wasted a lot of time thinking about what is holy, proper, or good. These things will no longer interest him. It is his goal to leave behind his cage and “rope of sand.”
The poet says that these confinements that he has been trapped in were made by religion and he erected them around him, confining himself. They were made by “petty thoughts” and turned into “Good cable” which was able to “enforce and draw” and turn into the “law” that he obeyed. However, now he is willing to revolt, and to break away. The poet again announces that he will depart (abroad).
Lines 29-36
Call in thy death’s-head there; tie up thy fears;
He that forbears
To suit and serve his need
Deserves his load.”
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied My Lord.
As the poem reaches conclusion, the argument of the poet becomes more fierce and then the poet offers a pleasing twist. The poet suggests that he is no more worried about death and accepts his mortal being. Rather, the poet suggests that now he is willing to tie the fact of death for his own advantage and purpose of gaining as much pleasure as he could. Like a child, the poet is complaining and as he continues to grow fierce, angrier, and wild, his inner being hears a soft sound “Child!” It is God’s calling, and the poet immediately responds, “My Lord.” Like a child, he was chastised and brought back into the glory of God.
The poet uses a lot of imagery in this poem. One such is that of fruit and harvest. The idea of fruitfulness is an obvious image of fulfillment in life. But Herbert combines this with images of freedom. The similes of ‘free as the road, Loose as the wind' brings a sense of space as well as plenty waiting out there for him. The use of verbal echoes and assonance is strong. We have noted the long i-vowel sounds. ‘Abroad' is another word that gets echoed around in assonances: ‘board', ‘store', ‘restore', ‘law', ‘draw', and so on. ‘Abroad' particularly symbolizes freedom, meaning ‘anywhere I choose to go'.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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