Quote of the Day (George Herbert, on Christ and Grief)

“Arise sad heart; if thou dost not withstand,
Christ’s resurrection thine may be;
Do not by hanging down break from the hand
Which, as it riseth, raiseth thee;
Arise, arise;
And with his burial linen dry thine eyes:
Christ left his grave-clothes, that we might,
When grief
Draws tears, or blood, not lack an handkerchief.”—George Herbert, “The Dawning”

This week, I thought I would conduct a little experiment with the “Quote of the Day.” For every day this week, I’ll spotlight some verses—something that this blog, I’ve come to see, does not do enough.

My experiment was inspired by two sources. One was reading, in an essay by David McCullough in an anthology called The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian quotes the advice that one of his recent subjects, John Adams, gave to son and future President John Quincy: “Read somewhat in the English poets every day. You will find them elegant, entertaining and constructive companions through your whole life." And then this great line: “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”

(Young Adams took his father’s advice to heart—really to heart—confessing later in life, “Could I have chosen my own genius and condition, I would have made myself a great poet.” The subject of his major poetic work, Dermot Macmorrogh, Or, the Conquest of Ireland. an Historical Tale of the Twelfth Century, has great interest for me, but it’s probably just as well that he didn’t continue in this line, as reviewers were pretty savage about his work. Like his later follower in the Oval Office, Abraham Lincoln, Adams found a more natural outlet for his writing talent in prose, particularly as exercised in the law and politics.)

The other inspiration for this experiment was a short story writer-novelist-memoirist, Chris Offutt. At a writers’ workshop I attended a decade ago, he advised members of his fiction-writing class to read some lines of poetry every day, because they made you aware of the weight of words.

For the first entry this week, I thought I would start with the above quote—in the manner that John Adams recommended—with the English 17th century “metaphysical” poet George Herbert. It fulfills my own inclination toward spiritual quotes on Sunday. Perhaps just as important, for baby boomers with aging parents, it serves as a powerful reminder of what needs to be borne in mind throughout their struggles—the enduring grace provided by Christ.