Finding Wisdom: George Herbert’s Response to Proverbs 9 in “Church-musick,” “Christmas,” and “Love” (III)

Shakespeare’s Prince Hal jokes that “wisdom cries out in the streets and no man regards it.”¹ In the narrative portions of Proverbs, particularly Proverbs 9, personified Wisdom does indeed “cry out,” inviting seekers to come to her house and promising benefits for those who find her.² Although the narrative does not depict anyone “regard[ing]” Wisdom’s invitation, we can imagine, both by incorporating the general truths and promises found in Proverbs and by examining three poems in The Temple, what it might look like narratively to respond to Wisdom, not in an abstract, but in a more personal way.³

While the narrative of Wisdom in Proverbs is not entirely linear, the basic structure is this: Lady Wisdom builds her house and has meat and wine ready to serve at her table (9:1–2). From the highest places, she sends out her invitation to the “simple” to “come hether [hither]” (8:1–3; 9:3–4). The prudent young man will heed the invitation, seek Wisdom, be in attendance at her door, and follow her path to life (8:17, 33–34; 9:6).

George Herbert’s “Church-musick,” “Christmas,” and “Love”(III), which are not typically considered together, share a narrative pattern containing characteristics that echo Wisdom’s narrative in Proverbs.⁴ The poems’ narratives are told from a first-person perspective and involve only two characters, the narrator and a host.⁵ In this pattern, a world-weary narrator comes upon a host who is prepared for the narrator, welcomes him inside, and provides relief for his spiritual and emotional wounds. As a result, the narrator enters into a reciprocal, revitalizing relationship with this divine host.

Several elements of Herbert’s host figure resemble the portrayal of Wisdom in Proverbs, suggesting it as a model for the poems. As with Lady Wisdom, Church Music and Love are personified characters with feminine attributes.⁶ While not a personified figure, the male host in “Christmas” (“him” [l. 7]) is presented along with Church Music and Love in the traditionally feminine roles of healer and provider (particularly of nourishment).⁷ The host of “Christmas” also shares in Church Music’s role as supplier of lodging and in Love’s identification as Lord. This identification of the host with Christ is a further reason for comparing these poems with Wisdom’s narrative.

Even though the word “wisdom” is not used in “Church-musick,” “Christmas,” or “Love” (III), Herbert’s uses elsewhere indicate his familiarity with the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs and the common interpretation of this figure as Christ. For example, Herbert opens his poem “Submission” with “thou art my wisdome, Lord” (l. 1). Moreover, when he speaks of the “Wisdome, which first broacht the wine” in his poem “Divinitie,” he is almost certainly referring to Christ.⁸ Given church tradition, as well as Reformation-era interpretations of the personified Wisdom figure from Proverbs, Herbert’s connection of Divine Wisdom with the Lord, specifically with Christ, is to be expected, a point reinforced via the Geneva Bible’s marginal notes and page headings for Proverbs 8. For instance, Wisdom speaking at verse 27 is identified as “the Sonne of God, which is ment [meant] by this worde Wisdome,” while the interpretive note on Proverbs 9:1 (“Wisdome hathe buylt her house”) reads “Christ hathe prepared him a Church.”⁹

The “Argument” that prefaces Proverbs in the Geneva Bible, with which Herbert would have been familiar, refers to the narratives of the early chapters as “depe mysteries, to allure the haerts [hearts] of men,” so that they will more readily accept the instructions that follow.¹⁰ Herbert similarly primes his readers to respond to his poems, leading Chana Bloch to note that for Herbert “reading the text in the right way means reading oneself into the text.”¹¹ In this light, “Church-musick,” “Christmas,” and “Love” (III) each present “the believer in the act of responding” to Scripture, and their first-person narration allures readers by inviting them to join in the story and participate...