Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
                              Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
                             From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
                             If I lacked any thing.
 
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
                             Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
                             I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
                             Who made the eyes but I?
 
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
                             Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
                             My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
                             So I did sit and eat.
-George Herbert

George Herbert was a metaphysical poet who was prominent during the Elizabethan era. He was also a theologian, priest and an orator. Herbert is renowned for his spiritually inclined poems that touches upon metaphysical and philosophical topics. Most of his spiritual poems recounted his wavering, yet strong relationship with God and the internal conflicts that ensues when he thinks of a material life beyond the constraints of a religious life. His poems are allegorical, auto-biographical and an intimate reflection of his own struggles as a devotee of God.

Herbert’s Love (III) is a part of ‘The Church’, a central part of his work ‘The Temple’. In his ‘Love’ series, he explores various types of relationships and connections. Love (I) entails the relation between mortal and immortal love. Love (II) explores the connection between divine love and human lust. Love (III) is an exploration of sacred love by personifying love in a dialogue between a worshipper and God. Herbert’s connection with his god is exemplified through his lexical simplicity. Here, Herbert’s God is kind and gentle, like an inviting lover whose love compensates for human weaknesses. His worries and doubts of his love for God despite his immense faith is a common theme that runs through this poem as well.

He explicates that Divine Love is unconditional. God, for Herbert, is all forgiving and considers the distance between himself and is devotee more sinful than the internal conflicts that a devotee has. He reinforces the Christian ideology that human resistance to love can be overcome by the love and sacrifice of Christ. His allusion of God as a host has been mentioned several times throughout the bible. And similarly, the part of the speaker resisting the God’s invitation is also a recurring notion that has been shown through prophets like Moses, Isiah, and Jeremiah. But nevertheless, the God is portrayed as a kind and gentle being which represents the idea of Christ. He embraces all his devotees and forgives them no matter how sinful they are. This is referred to as ‘The mystery of God’s love’ in Christian mysticism.

Herbert’s language is very simple and it reflects the conversational tone that has been represented between the God and the Man in the Bible. His style reflects the tender ways in which the psalmists addressed the god, or how the lovers talk to each other in ‘songs of Solomon.’ This is very unlike the vengeful version of God found in other poems of Herbert like ‘Discipline’. Although the concepts in his poems seem borrowed, they are fresh and delivers the simplest poem written on the Christian tradition of ‘Holy Communion’.  Thus Love (III) can be thus considered to be a quintessential Herbert Poem.  

Reference:

• https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44367/love-iii
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446928

“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you–haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe–I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

-Heathcliff

‘Wuthering Heights’ is a 19th century gothic novel that revolves around the lives of two families: the Earnshaws, the Lintons and the peculiar boy adopted by the Earnshaws named Heathcliff. Set in the damp mysterious English moores, the story is riddled with the themes of love, revenge, and drama. It merges the supernatural with the real and creates a unique world that leaves us both horrified and curious. The novel has multiple levels of narrators ranging from the newly moved in Lockwood to Wuthering Heights’ lifetime caretaker Nelly Dean and finally to the inhabitants of both Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

“Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.”

The theme of violence and revenge runs constantly throughout Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff acts as the tool through which it is propagated. A chain reaction of continues revenge takes place when Old Earnshaw’s affection towards the foundling Heathcliff deeply upsets Hindley. After Earnshaw’s death, Hindley neglects Heathcliff and degrades him. Overcome with a desire for revenge, upon his return, Heathcliff successfully deceives Hindley into selling off Wuthering Heights. Furthermore, he also takes in Hareton Earnshaw and condemns him to a life of degradation and torture. Heathcliff also seeks revenge against Edgar for marrying Catherine and marries his sister Isabella. He tortures her both physically and mentally and even continues this mistreatment towards their son Linton, whom he uses merely as a tool to take over Thrushcross Grange. He forces marriage between Linton and young Catherine, confines her, and beats her up violently as he sees her as a proof of the union between his Cathy and Edgar. Heathcliff’s affinity for revenge and violence plays a major role in driving Catherine away from him. As he nears his death, he gradually abstains from it and is in turn able to reunite with a ghostly presence of Cathy.

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”

As for the gothic elements, the novel can be considered the prime example of a gothic novel for a multitude of reasons. The setting of the English moors in itself reflects the untamedness of the novel’s characters and their mindsets. The house ‘Wuthering Heights’ is described as being old and gloomy, similar to the ruined castle-like gothic architecture. A few characters like the tyrannies, deceitfully handsome villains, fragile women and ghosts are said to be typical to a gothic novel. Heathcliff can be seen as a gothic villain, who loses sight of all morality in mad pursuit of his passion. The character of Isabella Linton is a typical example of the fragile woman who is beautiful and innocent but is brutally exploited by the villain. Another major element of the gothic is the inclusion of ghosts and other supernatural elements. In the start of the novel, the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw appears and grabs hold of Mr. Lockwood, whom he thinks is a ‘changeling’ and is mentioned throughout the novel. The weather also contributes to the damp dark setting and constantly reflects the melancholic feelings of the characters. Typical to a gothic narrative, Wuthering Heights touches upon concepts that are considered paranoid, barbaric and the tabooed.

Reference Links:

• http://JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/29531434
• https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/