To view more poems I have examined, click HERE.
The Altar
by George Herbert
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.
The Altar by George Herbert was published in 1633. It is a 16 line poem, in one stanza, intentionally constructed to be in the shape of an altar. Poems wherein the text is written to take a specific shape are called “shape poems.” Fitting with the title, the subject matter of the poem concerns building an altar (not literally) out of one’s own heart.
The poem’s rhyme scheme includes 8 couplet rhymes: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH.
The meter of the poem is interesting. The first two lines and the last two lines are in iambic pentameter. Lines 3, 4, 13, and 14, are in iambic tetrameter. The middle 8 lines are in iambic dimeter (meaning there are four syllables / two beats per line.)
Lines 1-4:
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same.
This stanza sets out the subject of the poem. The Speaker, addressing God, tells Him that he possesses a broken altar – his own heart. As we will see as the piece continues, it is the Speaker’s intention to build the altar. By placing ALTAR in all-caps, the Speaker further emphasizes the subject of the piece.
The Speaker tells us that the altar will be cemented with tears. This indicates that though he face pain or toil, he will sacrificially build anyway. Not only that, the pain and toil is what allows the altar to stay together.
Lines 5-12:
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
In line 5, we see the second use of all-caps, this time for HEART. We should remember that heart and altar are one and the same, and they are the subject of the piece.
These lines tell us more about the construction of the Speaker’s altar. He says that only God can cut the stone. Only God can shape the Speaker’s heart to be an appropriate altar. Hearkening back to the first four lines, then we understand that the Speaker knows this process will bring about tears, and he welcomes that process.
The Speaker wants his entire heart to be constructed to be an altar – a place to praise God. Only God can do this work of construction. The Speaker submits to God, whether that submission cause pain, hardship, or tough discipline, trusting that what God makes him him will be better than what he is at the start.
Lines 13 – 16:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.
The last four lines complete the shape poem’s altar.
The lines provides a third example of all-caps writing, in the word SACRIFICE. This fits thematically within the poem’s subject matter. An altar is a religious place of worship where sacrifices might be made. A fourth and final example of all-caps use occurs in the poem’s final line, wherein the word ALTAR is again capitalized.
The Speaker is still addressing God in these lines. He desires to take part in God’s sacrifice. The poet is a Christian, so this refers to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a cross. The Speaker states his intentions, in the poem’s last line, that his heart – his altar – belong to God. The Speaker is offering his own heart – a sacrifice – in exchange for obtaining God’s sacrifice on his behalf.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The Altar is a famous example of both shape poetry – as a form – but also Christian poetry more generally.
Who is George Herbert?
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as “one of the foremost British devotional lyricists.” He was born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University’s Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. He sat in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.
After the death of King James, Herbert renewed his interest in ordination. He gave up his secular ambitions in his mid-thirties and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the rector of the rural parish of Fugglestone St Peter, just outside Salisbury. He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill and providing food and clothing for those in need. Henry Vaughan called him “a most glorious saint and seer”. He was never a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.
