the end he hears a soft voice calling him Child And I replied My Lord This shows the close connection between God and man Even when Herbert feels lost he hears God s voice and returns to faith This is a clear sign of his deep devotion Spiritual Struggle One of the most important themes in Herbert s poetry is the spiritual struggle He shows that even a religious person can feel angry weak sad or even doubtful In The Collar he feels tired of following rules and living a strict life He wants to be free as the road or loose as the wind He asks Shall I be still in suit This means he is unhappy and tired But his anger changes when he feels God s gentle voice This theme of spiritual struggle makes this poem very real Sin and Mercy Herbert admits that humans are weak and sinful But he also believes that God is full of mercy In Easter Wings he says that man lost everything because of sin and became most poore spiritually weak and low But with God s help he can rise again as larks A lark is a bird that flies high and sings sweetly Herbert wants to fly from his sin and suffering and be close to God He writes O let me rise As larks harmoniously This image shows that even after falling into sin the soul can be lifted again by God s grace Metaphysical Style and Conceits As a religious poet Herbert is deeply metaphysical He uses strange and clever comparisons called conceits to explain spiritual things For example he compares his feelings of being trapped with a cage and his feelings of religious doubts with rope of sands He says Forsake thy cage Thy rope of sands Which petty thoughts have made A rope of sand is something that looks like a rope but is weak and false The poet is thinking that his faith is just a false cage he has built for himself from his own thoughts This fine conceit wonderfully depicts the speaker s spiritual struggle Images Herbert also uses strong visual images to discuss religious themes In Easter Wings the shape of the poem looks like two pairs of wings This matches the message of the poem falling in sin and rising again through God In The Collar he uses images of wine and corn to show his life is empty of pleasure and God s blessings The image of the collar itself shows the speaker is fully controlled and restricted by his religious faith and he is having spiritual conflict In fine George Herbert is truly a religious poet His poems are simple emotional and full of spiritual meaning He shows us the struggles of being human but he always returns to God s love and forgiveness Herbert s use of conceits and vivid images makes his religious poems very interesting That is why his poems are still loved by readers today