성스러운 독자와 허버트의 시적 고뇌

This essay explores the ways in which Herbert deals with the issues concerning poetic contents and the methods he should face in Temple. Herbert constructs himself as a sacred reader who experiences God's love with all his presence and should express its wonderful, mysterious life-giving power without any distortion. Especially in "Love(III)", Herbert attempts to establish fully his relationship with God based on His love, being done with the poetic difficulties and agonies he has suffered during the process of purifying himself to make his spiritual eyes open with the start of the first poem "The Alter". In "Love(III)" Herbert is invited as a guest to participate in a heavenly banquet where God serves as a warm-hearted host. However, the poet has been very hesitant or mistaken in responding graciously and properly to God's welcoming reception, feeling guilty for sin or posing the problem of worthiness and responsibility as a guest. God has expected Herbert to accept His invitation of love that is a crucial testimony for him to be redeemed through God's act of sacrifice and death on the Cross. In God's viewpoint Herbert is qualified enough to "sit and eat" His body and blood in Sacramental ceremony and through digesting the "meat" can be united with God's presence. However, Herbert decides to justify himself by performing willing rewards to God instead of acknowledging God's way of salvation. Herbert wants to become the subject of redeeming himself in the course of writing poems, refusing to stay as an object of God's grace and love. The poet continues to write a story containing his poetic agony of how he can dialogue with God as a subject to a subject, not as a guest to a host. By trying to be concerned with his incomplete actions rather than God's complete love in "Love(3)", he emphasizes the importance of human positive activities in the process of conducting exchange programs with God. Nevertheless, in this very moment, the poet is aware obviously that whatever he does for his justification, including the works of writing poetry, necessarily fails due to human mortal sin. Furthermore, he recognizes the difficulties of how he can express perfectly God's love in a fallen language. Here lies Herbert's poetic agony as a sacred reader. KCI Citation Count: 0