George Herbert (1593-1633)
The Pearl
MATTHEW xiii
1I know the ways of learning; both the head
2And pipes that feed the press, and make it run;
3What reason hath from nature borrowed,
4Or of itself, like a good huswife, spun
5In laws and policy; what the stars conspire,
6What willing nature speaks, what forc'd by fire;
7Both th'old discoveries and the new-found seas,
8The stock and surplus, cause and history;
9All these stand open, or I have the keys:
10 Yet I love thee.
11I know the ways of honour; what maintains
12The quick returns of courtesy and wit;
13In vies of favours whether party gains
14When glory swells the heart and moldeth it
15To all expressions both of hand and eye,
16Which on the world a true-love-knot may tie,
17And bear the bundle wheresoe'er it goes;
18How many drams of spirit there must be
19To sell my life unto my friends or foes:
20 Yet I love thee.
21I know the ways of pleasure; the sweet strains
22The lullings and the relishes of it;
23The propositions of hot blood and brains;
24What mirth and music mean; what love and wit
25Have done these twenty hundred years and more;
26I know the projects of unbridled store;
27My stuff is flesh, not brass; my senses live,
28And grumble oft that they have more in me
29Than he that curbs them, being but one to five:
30 Yet I love thee.
31I know all these and have them in my hand;
32Therefore not seeled but with open eyes
33I fly to thee, and fully understand
34Both the main sale and the commodities;
35And at what rate and price I have thy love,
36With all the circumstances that may move.
37Yet through the labyrinths, not my grovelling wit,
38But thy silk twist let down from heav'n to me
39Did both conduct and teach me how by it
40 To climb to thee.
Notes
1] The title is from Matthew 13:45 (the one pearl of great price).
head: source.
2] press: printing press and/or wine press.
5] policy: statecraft.
stars conspire: i.e., astrological knowledge.
6] forc'd by fire: i.e., through alchemy.
8] stock and surplus: "the learning which we inherit, and that which we add to it" (Beeching).
12] returns: replies, retorts.
13] vies: rivalries.
whether: which.
16] unbridled store: abundance.
32] seeled: closed; the eyes of young hawks were sewn up during part of their training.
34] full terms of the sale, including the advantages.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: George Herbert, The temple. Sacred poems and private ejaculations, edited by N. Ferrar (Cambridge: T. Buck and R. Daniel, 1633). STC 13183. Facs. edn. Menston: Scolar Press, 1968. PR 3507 T45 1633A. Also The Bodleian Manuscript of George Herbert's Poems: A Facsimile of Tanner 307, Introduced by Amy M. Charles and Mario A. Di Cesare. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, 1984. PR 3507 T45 1984 ROBA.
First publication date:
1633
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 3RP 1.212-13.
Recent editing: 2:2002/2/13
Rhyme: ababccdede
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