religious life to a collar This collar tells us that the speaker s life is controlled by his religious duties He feels restricted angry tired and confused This is why he wants to leave his religious life He wants freedom and happiness He hits the table and says he will go out I struck the board and cried No more I will abroad Harvest and Thorn A Conceit of Reward and Pain Conceits are also extended metaphors A conceit can run through many lines and express a single idea In this poem another metaphysical conceit appears when the speaker talks about the harvest The speaker s life is compared to a harvest A harvest is the reward a farmer gets after working hard A thorn is a painful thing that hurts The speaker says he has no harvest in his life He has only thorns in his life He asks Have I no harvest but a thorn To let me blood Herbert uses the conceit of a harvest to express that the speaker feels empty and unhappy He has got no reward in return for his religious services Wine and Corn Conceit of Lost Blessings The poet then uses another conceit involving wine and corn Wine represents joy and corn represents blessing He says his sighs have dried the wine and his tears have drowned the corn Sure there was wine Before my sighs did dry it Sighs cannot dry wine in real life and tears cannot drown corn in a field But this extended comparison helps us imagine the speaker s sadness He feels his life has no joy or blessings He only feels guilt and sorrow Cage and Rope of Sands Conceits of False Restriction The image of a cage is a strong metaphysical conceit The speaker compares his religious life to a cage It means he feels trapped He wants to live freely The rope of sands is another metaphysical conceit A rope made of sand is a weak or false thing It cannot hold anything The speaker compares the religious restrictions he feels with the rope of sands It means he feels religion is weak or false He starts to convince himself that his faith is just a false cage he has built for himself from his own false thoughts So he wants to leave this cage He wants to break free of the false rope As he says Forsake thy cage Thy rope of sands To sum up Herbert uses metaphysical conceits to express the speaker s deep religious conflict The collar the harvest the dried wine the drowned corn the cage and the rope of sand are all surprising comparisons They help us understand the speaker s anger tiredness and confusion