George Herbert's poems are laced with Bible texts. Sometimes directly quoted phrases make obvious connections; in some poems allusions and echoes of biblical narrative create a theological structure for an entire poem; and, as in "Clasping of Hands' one phrase is traceable to several biblical verses.
It's interesting to read these biblical echoes before reading the poem.
"My beloved is mine, and I am his." Song of Songs 2.16.
"And all mine are thine, and thine are mine." John 17.10
"I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…" Galatians 2.20
"Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it…" I Corinthians 12.27
Clasping of Hands
Lord, thou art mine, and I am thine,
If mine I am: and thine much more,
Then I or ought, or can be mine.
Yet to be thine, doth me restore;
So that again I now am mine,
And with advantage mine the more:
Since this being mine, brings with it thine,
And thou with me dost thee restore.
If I without thee would be mine,
I neither should be mine nor thine.
Lord, I am thine, and thou art mine:
So mine thou art, that something more
I may presume thee mine, then thine.
For thou didst suffer to restore
Not thee, but me, and to be mine:
And with advantage mine the more,
Since thou in death wast none of thine,
Yet then as mine didst me restore.
O be mine still! still make me thine!
Or rather make no Thine and Mine!
……………………..
Now if the title was omitted you would never guess this is a poem about clasping hands. There is no mention of hands in the poem, and not even clear reference to handshakes, hands clasped in prayer, or even lovers walking together holding hands.
The biblical references suggest something much deeper than a handshake of friendship. In fact the most obvious echoes of "mine and thine" speak of the embrace of lovers in the Song of Songs, and the eternal mystery of the Trinity as mutual self-giving love.
This is Herbert in conversation with God, trying to describe God's eternal love affair with each Christian soul. Somehow he manages to turn an extended conundrum on the greatest mystery of the Faith into a theological word-maze that comes to a brilliant resolution in the last two lines.
O be mine still! still make me thine!
Or rather make no Thine and Mine!
Take time to read the last words of each line in the first stanza – now compare them with the last words in the second stanza. The possessive pronouns are reversed in the second stanza. It is a brilliant example of clarifying by confusion! This is metaphysical poetry at its most fascinating and frustrating, a kind of theological sudoku using words instead of numbers. This is the I-Thou relationship as experienced in the heart; mine and thine as mutual possession through self-giving, without loss of identity. How does that work? That's Herbert's question.
One further thought. Herbert uses the word restore as a conceptual hinge twice in each verse. In the first use, it describes his own salvation; in the second, it describes how his own salvation completes Christ's work of salvation in him.
In the second stanza restore is shorthand for Christ's Passion which restores Herbert to himself, his redeemed self, at which point there is neither thine nor mine, but a union of being in Christ.
The cross makes no sense without reference to its efficacy in restoring God's work in a new creation; that work is personally appropriated by the clasping of hands, remember the title?
The clasping of hands is the seal of agreement, with overtones of the New Covenant between God and humanity. "In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself…" The cross as God's handshake with the world, friendship restored.
And of course, Herbert knew perfectly well that clasping of hands is the symbol of prayer, long before it became a wee emoji! So, this Lent, clasp the hands and take the hand of God.
Leave a Reply