South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

Virtue
By George Herbert
● Meanings
● Stanza 1 explanation
● Stanza 2 explanation
● Stanza 3 explanation
● Stanza 4 explanation
● Theme
● Questions
. Explain ‘the bridal of the earth and sky’?
. What figures of speech are used in this poem?
. What is the use of refrain in a poem?

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky;
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye;
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.
South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie;
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,

Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.

Meaning:
Shall : expressing a strong assertion or intention.
Weep : shed tears.
Thy : your , dialect form of your
Thou : you , dialect form of you,
Hue : a colour or shade.
Bids : an attempt or effort to achieve something.
Rash : acting or done without careful consideration of
the possible consequences;
Gazer:
Wipe : clean or dry (something) by rubbing with a cloth,
a piece of paper, or one's hand.
Compacted : firmly packed or pressed together;
Ye : you
Virtuous soul : morally excellent
Season'd timber :
Chiefly: mainly.

Stanza:
First stanza:
South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

● George Herbert’s poem ‘Virtue’ is a poem related to

the spirit. It talks about how to nurture the soul in order
to gain immortality. To begin with, Herbert first refers to
the “Sweet day”. Readers can see that the poet begins
each stanza with the word “sweet”. So, he is also
accepting that the beautiful things of nature are sweet
to look at with worldly eyes.

● He paints a beautiful picture of a morning (or day) that

is cool, calm, and bright. So, it can be a reference to a
spring morning. In the following line, Herbert uses a
metaphysical conceit in “The bridal of the earth and
sky.” In this way, the “day” is compared to a priest. The
marriage between the earth and sky takes place in its
presence.
● In the third line, the poet uses a symbol of transience,
a “dew”. He personifies it and invests it with the idea of
weeping. According to him, the dew will weep the day’s
fall at night.
● The last line emphasizes that the day must die. It is a
cycle that none can change.
Second Stanza:
● The poet addresses that the rose colour is very hot
and expressive and that expression seems to
resemble an angry and brave individual.Here,the poet
uses metaphor of worrying soldiers who has put up his
own flag with its own distinct colour against the
opponents and challenges them in the battle field.
● But the poet says that every bravery and beauty and
confidence has to come down in the end and the
South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

beauty of the rose itself communicates to the

appreciating gazer that its beauty is temporary.
● It is actually standing upon the same ground in which it
has to die
Third stanza:
● In third stanza,the poet says that season of spring is
a sesson of greenery,flowers and sweet smell because
of European winters and he knows very well that with
other countryment that spring is a valuable period of
the year and they know forehand that they have a very
limited time for happiness and delight because as
soon to be an end.so, that is why the poet seems to be
very much appreciative towards the period of felicity
and pleasure.
● He uses a metaphor of a box full of sweet delights
which is given to us for the time being.
● The poet says that the process of poetry is like making
music and every language including the language of
poetry have its own pauses and stops which makes
any language meaningful and understandable.It is
taoist philosophy which not only gives importance
to substance but it also gives importance and
credibility to emptiness and silence.We cannot
tolerate intermittent flow of words in the language and
these stops and pauses stand for death.And all that
makes death itself important and natural to us.
Fourth stanza:
● The poet says that the difficulties and the
harsh reality of life turns a virtual individuals into
an impenetrable personality that no sin and evil
can go inside his heart.He become insulated from
South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

the outside and no difficulty can decrease the

intensity of faith in him.He transform himself
everlasting human being when his faith never dies
with him.
● The poet uses a simili of season woord which is
far more durable and viable as compared to
fragile coal or carbon.Such kind of person cannot
actually dies

Theme:
The transience of earthly beauties:
" Virtue "focuses on the theme of the transience of
the earthly beauties.Through,the examples of a "sweet
day","sweet rose" and "sweet spring",the poet tries to
convince the readers that although nature has captivating
beauty still all these are temporal and and ' must die'.

Virtue is eternal:
The main emphasis of the poem is that virtue is
the thing to be desired as it is eternal.A sweet and virtuous
soul is going to live forever.The poem suggests that
humans should try to achieve a virtuous soul instead of
focusing on earthly beauties.

Questions:
1. Explain ‘the bridal of the earth and sky’?
He paints a beautiful picture of a morning (or day) that is
cool, calm, and bright. So, it can be a reference to a spring
morning. In the following line, Herbert uses a metaphysical
conceit in “The bridal of the earth and sky.” In this way, the
South Asia University English : Poem(Virtue)

“day” is compared to a priest. The marriage between the

earth and sky takes place in its presence.

2. What figures of speech are used in this poem?

● Personification
The dew shall weep
Hue is angry and brave
Hue bids the rash gazer
Day,rose and spring will lie.
● Metaphor:
Sweet day as the bridal of the earth
Sweet spring as a box where sweets compacted lie.
● Simili:
Sweet and virtuous soul like season'd timber.

3. What is the use of refrain in a poem?

Refrain is a poetic device that uses repetition to place
emphasis on a set of words or an idea within a poem.
In poetry, a refrain is a word, line or phrase that is repeated
within the lines or stanzas of the poem itself

Each stanza ends with the phrase "must die".It is kind of

refrain.The last stanza differs from this scheme.