Discipline

By George Herbert 1593–1633 George Herbert

Throw away thy rod,

Throw away thy wrath:

O my God,

Take the gentle path.

For my heart’s desire

Unto thine is bent:

I aspire

To a full consent.

Not a word or look

I affect to own,

But by book,

And thy book alone.

Though I fail, I weep:

Though I halt in pace,

Yet I creep

To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove;

Love will do the deed:

For with love

Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot;

Love’s a man of war,

And can shoot,

And can hit from far.

Who can ’scape his bow?

That which wrought on thee,

Brought thee low,

Needs must work on me.

Throw away thy rod;

Though man frailties hath,

Thou art God:

Throw away thy wrath.

Biography

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, . . .

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