George Herbert's "Easter Wings" delivers a religious message of hope and salvation in an extremely well-crafted poem. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker addresses God, who created and gave so many things to man, for man has lost everything and has now fallen into a state of decadence and deprived existence . The speaker then asks if he can rise as the birds do and join the Lord, and wishes to sing of God's victories and his own glorious triumphs. Thanks to all this, the speaker will be favored in his flight. The second stanza begins with the President saying that, even from a young age, his life has been mired in sorrow mixed with illness and shame. Nevertheless, the Lord has punished sin, but now the speaker has become weak and thin. The President asks to unite with Christ and feel victory over sin. The President says "For if I set my wing on yours" (Line 19), Imp meaning: "To repair a damaged feather in (the wing or tail of a trained hawk) by attaching part of a new feather” (Imp def .2). This use of the word leprechaun shows that an old part of the speaker is being replaced and renewed by God. Through this release from affliction, the Speaker can now be raised close to God. Herbert shows that Christ freed man from the struggle against sin, with its affliction and weakness, and that through this man can rise again and draw closer to God. Herbert presents the battle between man and sin, and God's final victory over sin and the elevation of man. come out of this battle to be Him. The Speaker laments the fall of man (Adam) from the perfection that was the Garden of Eden: Lord, who created man in wealth and store, / Though foolishly he lost the same » (Lines 1-2). The fall of Adam is presented as the beginning of the deterioration of the human being...... middle of paper ...... "Easter Wings" is a powerful poem to read because it speaks directly to the deepest functioning of the human being. the human soul. Works Cited Cording, “George Herbert.” Padgett, Ron, ed. Poets of the world. Flight. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. 438. Print. Eliot, Thomas S. British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Flight. 2. New York: Scribner, 1979. 119. Print. Gottlieb, Sydney “George Herbert”. Reisman, Rosemary M. Canfield., ed. British, Irish and Commonwealth Poets. 4th ed. Flight. 2. Pasadena, CA: Salem, 2011. 618. Print. Herbert, George. “Easter wings.” Greenblatt, Stephen and MH Abrams, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Flight. 1. New York: WW Norton &, 2012. 1709. Print. The Holy Bible. Trans. Daniel I. Block et al. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2003. Print. New living translation. “Imp.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, nd Web. April 14. 2014.