Daily Poetry Readings
Part 102 of a daily series of readings of his favourite poetry by Dr Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary. Today's poem is Love by George Herbert.
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~ Love by George Herbert ~
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
Пікірлер: 7
Simone Weil memorized this poem by heart
Acknowledging "lack" is the necessary condition of the encounter Herbert is evoking. It's also in a way the condition of appreciating the poem itself, since lack is a mode of simplicity, though one that is difficult to sustain. It is a poem of extraordinary, simple beauty. The philosopher Simone Weil, a lucid but extremely combative militant socialist raised in a secular Jewish household, knew lack because she deliberately cultivated it though personal privation and submitting herself to a regime of numbingly exhausting industrial work by way of identification with the oppressed. In I think 1938, she made friends with two eccentric Englishmen during Holy Week at the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmnes in the west of France. One of them spoke to her about the metaphysical poets and on her return to Paris she went in search of an anthology. When she read Herbert's "Love" she seems to have had a sort of encounter with the divine. She described it to a friend as the most beautiful poem in the world. Your reading of it is, as always, perfect. Thanks (again).
Well read!
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Wow, a real gem I had totally forgotten about. Thoroughly enjoyed its message and your reading of it
My favourite poem of all time. Also the sung version to the music of Vaughan Williams performed by Jess Dandy is exquisite. I have recently made a video of my own recitation using images created by AI and my own artwork. Look it up on KZread in my channel George Ewen Poems and Songs. You will also find a similar depiction of The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Enjoy. I hope!
Im quite unsure what drove KZread’s algorithm to foreground this particular poem at this time. Nonetheless, thank you Iain for enlightening my morning🙃