Inspiration from George Herbert's poem, The Collar

I have said before, and probably will so say again, that I have never been much a one for poetry. There is this one poem though, in addition to several penned by e.e. cummings and the occasional Emily Dickenson, that I have always liked: "The Collar" by George Herbert.

For all I know the poem is in the public domain and I could freely reprint it here, but I will not. Instead I will provide the link to someone else's page, and comment on a line here and there.

The first line...How could I help but memorize it? I seem to recall having memorized it the first time I laid my eyes upon it.

I struck the board and cried, "No more;

I will abroad!

Yes, and how many times have I said that very thing, if not in those same words? I've railed against constraints and longed to run away, to hide away, eventually to begin again, perhaps especially when those constraints were petty, or when conflicted relationships began to seem too much. I identify closely with the speaker's frustration. Only problem is, you can't escape your problems. They tend to follow you around as if on a leash. I'll leave it to you to decide which of the actors in that last statement was the one left on the leash. Wine that has been dried by sighs in one place is just as likely to be dried by sighs in another. Not the same wine, of course.

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....

The beat goes on. Read it aloud if you can.

Though I don't understand the contents of the entire poem, there are lines I know all too well, and they inscribe me, especially the end.

But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild

At every word,

Methoughts I heard one calling, Child!

And I replied, My Lord.

How I have raved in my lifetime. Just ask my husband. He's been here for some of it. He handles it amazingly well, as though we were made for each other.

Sheila Bender writes, in her book, Writing Personal Poetry, "Personal poems recount lived experience so it is refelt, but with resolution, rising above the tragic." She goes on to say

 A good personal poem is not one that rests with pat ideas of what life is supposed to feel like. It captures a particular life and time. It captures the poet in the process of struggling to find out what this inner experience is. If the struggle is genuinely felt, resolution will be discovered as a result of writing the poem. (4-5)

 It sounds like she's talking about therapy, doesn't it? Although I do not for a moment believe that George Herbert wrote "The Collar" with Bender's sort of introspection in mind, the poem seems to fit her bill rather well, well enough that it sprang to my mind as I struck my own knee in frustration over some petty matter this evening. I like her idea of finding resolution and rising above the tragic. I like the idea of writing words that perhaps someone else needs to hear in order for them to find their own resolution. Herbert's poem certainly does so for me, whatever his original intention.

I knew there was a reason why I liked this poem, but I had forgotten what it was. A big thank you for the existence of this blog as an opportunity to remind me.