This is also a metaphysical conceit, though not the least vague or fantastic. The analogy of the ‘box’ of assorted sweets serves to enhance the effect of the beauty of this imagery. Not a single expression exists to confound the sense of the poem, although the last stanza is liable to have a twist in the sense of the words ‘season’d timber’ and ‘coal’.īut, perhaps, more elegantly conceived is the image of spring, comprising pleasant days and lovely roses. The words, included in the poem, all belong to common life. There is the absolute simplicity of Herbert’s poetic diction. There is neither complication in expression nor elaboration in theme. Herbert speaks out his message in a straight and simple way, with the characteristic metaphysical precision. As already indicated, there is nothing abstruse or ambiguous in the poem. This inspired Christian theme, no doubt metaphysical in essence, is expressed in a technique that is plain and elegant. This is the unequivocal lesson of Christian morality that Herbert gives out powerfully, though plainly. The entire world may be burnt down and reduced to ashes, but the quality of virtue, that a virtuous soul possesses, surrenders to no destructive or corrosive force, and survives. The poet affirms cleanly the perpetuity of the quality of virtue as a moral force to persist permanently in this mortal world.
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