George Herbert and His REDEMPTION

[imatitle]

REDEMPTION
HAVING been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th' old.

In heaven at his manour I him sought:
They told me there, that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.

I straight return'd, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of theeves and murderers: there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, & died.

I have liked this poem since the first time I read it, perhaps, one of the reasons of my liking it, was my inability to grasp the allegorical meaning.
Who are the Rich Lord, the Tenant; What is the old lease, What is the new one?
Is this relation a mortal-immortal one, a creation-creator; Herbert being the tenant and God being his Rich Lord? This seems simple enough, and leaves much unaccounted for. Why does the tenant find his rich Lord in a progression of murderers and thieves? What is the significance of the suit being granted as the rich Lord dies?
Am I missing out on something? Or is this poem closed for definite or at least plausible interpretations?

[Virgil]

I'll have to give this some thought Imatitle. I do think God is the Lord and the narrator is the tenant. My first impulse is to say that the old lease is his earthly life and the new is the heavenly life. But I'm not sure. I may come back to this tomorrow.

[Virgil]

This is such a marvelous poem. I've completely fallen in love with it. Imatitle, I think the key to understanding this is realizing the metaphor at it's heart: One cannot purchase one's way into heaven and that redemption is not purchased but through Christ's cruxifiction.

[Il Penseroso]

Hmm, it seems rather simple to me (compared with other Herbert I've read, which I've liked, even as an atheist). My interpretation is in line with Virgil's.

[Virgil]

Hmm, it seems rather simple to me (compared with other Herbert I've read, which I've liked, even as an atheist). My interpretation is in line with Virgil's.

Oh I agree it's not that complex, but I think that language is excellent. These lines in particular:

HAVING been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th' old.


I straight return'd, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;


At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of theeves and murderers: there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, & died.

[McLean]

REDEMPTION
HAVING been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th' old.

In heaven at his manour I him sought:
They told me there, that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.

I straight return'd, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of theeves and murderers: there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, & died.
--------------------------------------------------

At the time, Lords were very wealthly land owners.
This one was a robber baron type. The young man who wishes to make
good is held down by usurious rates on his tenancy; the rates are
too high, and the young man may be bound to the Lord, that is, he
cannot move away.

The Lord has never done a good turn for anyone in his life.
His companions are all brigands and theives.
Now that he is on his death bed, he is afraid that he will burn in Hell for
all eternity.

Now comes this young man asking for a simple relief. Perhaps the young
man is an angel, sent to the Lord for the purpose of allowing him one more
chance at redemption.

So, being used to bribe others, even at Court, meaning the King, or the king's
underlings, he jumps at the chance to do one good deed and redeem himself,
so he can go to heaven.

Events like that, or the granting of land or profitable enterprises to the Church
were fairly commonplace in England in those times, in order to make up for a
dissolute life.

[h2oplr11]

imatitle

Herbert is trying to make the point that this is not how you would expect God (the rich Lord) to grant your simple request. You wouldn't expect God to be in the midst of those types of people being executed so that you could "thrive"; but He did. That is how Christ "dearly bought" the "lease" of all; He paid with his life - John 3:16-18

Virgil is right. It's all in the last line: "your suit is granted". Christ grants us access to God through his New Covenant ("small rented lease") and HE "cancell(s) th old" (Covenant) THROUGH HIS DEATH. See Hebrews 10:11-18

The reference to "theeves and murderers" is a reference to the way in which Christ died for us - on a cross, with a these types of men on crosses beside him. - Luke 23:32

[JBI]

I do not know, the rent to me seems to rent a place where they are together (dare I say a Temple?) - a small part of God's creation in his scheme - the world,the cosmos, as it is figured, leased for the duration of his life - the closeness assumed, and the deal is through the intervention, Christ, and by extension, the temple - the house where they connect, that he is a tenant of, and the collection of his poems.

As for the last 3 lines, to me, if I am not misreading, they are of the Bible - Jesus, who is the Lord, as well as God, grants him the connection through death, and thus, the temple, and the man's place, and his connection to God/the lord is solidified.

I would suggest the question of how does this relate to the text of The Temple given its position near the front - I think it establishes the central question of the temple, and the place of God, Jesus, and religion within the sphere of the individual.

As such, The Redemption seeks to address the role of Jesus' sacrifice in creating a space within the world where the tenants, those who were born, can engage with God, the creator, and be redeemed.


I will confess though that the thickness of Christian theology confuses me a great deal in Herbert, as I am not so familiar with it as I aught to be.

[OrphanPip]

It's also just an elaborate pun, redemption in the period could also mean a return of money or buy back of something you had sold.

So the sonnet begins with the speaker seeking out a rich landlord to settle some previous business deal, and he looks everywhere to find him. Then the turn occurs when he goes to the low places and he finds the Lord amongst the drudges of society, so it then becomes a religious allegory.

Edit: Emphasizing the position of God amongst the common people is a subject close to Herbert's heart as well. This was a well placed man bound for great position in London who chose to go off to a life of relative modest means as a minister to a country parish.