Concrete

"The Altar"

By: George Herbert

(poem from poetry foundation.org)

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,

Made of a heart and cemented with tears;

         Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;

         No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.

          A HEART alone

         Is such a stone,

        As nothing but

               Thy pow'r doth cut.

             Wherefore each part

        Of my hard heart

           Meets in this frame

          To praise thy name.

         That if I chance to hold my peace,

         These stones to praise thee may not cease.

Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,

And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

Biographical Information

              Nestled somewhere within the Age of Shakespeare and the Age of Milton is George Herbert. There is no Age of Herbert: he did not consciously fashion an expansive literary career for himself, and his characteristic gestures, insofar as these can be gleaned from his poems and other writings, tend to be careful self-scrutiny rather than rhetorical pronouncement; local involvement rather than broad social engagement; and complex, ever-qualified lyric contemplation rather than epic or dramatic mythmaking. This is the stuff of humility and integrity, not celebrity. But even if Herbert does not appear to be one of the larger-than-life cultural monuments of seventeenth-century England—a position that virtually requires the qualities of irrepressible ambition and boldness, if not self-regarding arrogance, that he attempted to flee—he is in some ways a pivotal figure: enormously popular, deeply and broadly influential, and arguably the most skillful and important British devotional lyricist of this or any other time. Herbert is also important, especially in the seventeenth century, not only as a poet but as a cultural icon, an image of religious and political stability held up for emulation during tumultuous times. Much of his early popularity—there were at least eleven editions of The Temple in the seventeenth century—no doubt owes something to the carefully crafted persona of "holy Mr. Herbert" put forth by the custodians of his literary works and reputation.

(biographical information from poetryfoundation.org)

Explanation of Technique

              Concrete is  another type of poem that is unique. The words in the poem create a visual that can sometimes express what the poem is about. Concrete poems flourish at the effect it gives the reader's eyes with the words going along with it. "The Altar" is a concrete poem, because the words of the poem forms an image to look like an altar in a church.

Interpretation of Poem

               The poem, "The Altar", by George Herbert talks about the importance and role of the altar in Christianity. George Herbert describes the altar as a place to praise the Lord's name and the praise should be everlasting. I interpreted that from when the author says, "That if I chance to hold my peace, these stones to praise thee may not cease." 

(picture from usna.edu)

Visual Explanation

            The picture above is of an altar at the United States of America Naval Academy Chapel. I chose this picture to show how an altar looks like. The altar was the focal point in George Herbert's poem, "The Altar." Altars give people a chance to reflect on what they have done the past few days, offer a sacrifice, or to worship.