WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Poetry Fix: The Agony

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

“Do you want to know?” That’s the question that undergirds George Herbert’s “The Agony.” Join Erika Kyba to encounter this poem, in which George Herbert explores the metaphysics of sin and love.

Welcome to the Poetry Fix on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Erica Kaiba, bringing you your weekly fix of poetry from across time. Do you want to know? That's the question that undergirds George Herbert's The Agony. This is a poem that opens by us saying the wide variety of human knowledge, and then turning to identify the gaps in what we know. Herbert writes that philosophers, which most likely refers to natural, philosophers or scientists have measured mountains, fathomed the depths of seas, studied states and kings,

in short, attained a nearly complete intellectual mastery of the world we live in. And if Herbert felt that way in 1633, imagine what he would say of a world in which we have discovered general relativity, the speed of light, and the inner workings of a cell. But there's two vast, spacious things, as Herbert writes, that the human intellect doesn't seem to want to touch. Few there are that sound them, he writes. And those things are sin and love. We don't seem to want to think about them. Maybe we want to do natural philosophy and understand the physical world, or maybe we want to do moral philosophy and talk about the will to power, or existentialism, or metanarratives. But Herbert thinks we don't really want to talk about sin and love.

Sin is the obvious one here. Sin is icky. We don't like it. We don't want to talk about it. But love? Why does our poet think that the human mind doesn't want to sound out love? Love is on our hallmark cards, in our rom-coms, and on all the hit music stations. But maybe, Herbert suggests, not really on our minds, not something we want to fully comprehend. Should you be interested in understanding, though, Herbert extends an invitation. Who would know sin, he writes, let him repair unto mount all of it.

He's inviting us to the foot of the cross, and then asking us to look and see the effects of sin on Christ's tortured body. Herbert is inviting us to use the senses, much in the way that the natural philosopher takes stock of the world. When Herbert invites us to know love, he progresses to a much more intense experience of the senses. We go from looking to tasting, invited to drink of Christ's blood,

fulfilling the famous command of John 6 by taking part in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, Herbert writes, is liquor sweet and most divine, which my God feels as blood, but I as wine. And there you have it. Love is the culmination of everything delightful and holy, but it always demands a sacrifice. That's true on the highest level, Christ sacrificing himself for sinners, but it's true of our lives every day,

giving up our desires, biting our tongues when we're angry, and putting up with each other when it's hard for the sake of love. And Herbert believes that that's a very difficult thing to face, despite the beauty of it. And so, the question that began the poem remains at the end. Herbert has provided the full curriculum for understanding sin and love. But do we want to know? With all that said, let's dive in.

The Agony by George Trump. Herbert. Philosophers have measured mountains, fathomed to the depths of seas, of states and kings, walked with a staff to heaven and traced fountains. But there are two vast, spacious things. The which to measure it doth more behoove, yet few there are that sound them, sin, and love. Who would no sin, let him repair unto Mount Olivet? There shall he see a man's so wrung with pains, that all his hair, his skin, his garments bloody be. Sin is that press and vice, which forceth pain to hunt his cruel food through every vein. Who knows not love? Let him assay and taste that juice, which on the cross a pike did set again a broach.

Then let him say, if ever he did taste the like. Love in that liquor sweet and most divine, which my God feels as blood, but I as wine. You've been listening to The Poetry Fix with Erica Kaiba. If you enjoyed this episode, consider following The Poetry Fix on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts. And if you have any poems you want to see in a future episode, email your suggestions to thepoetryfix at gmail.com. Join me next week, and we'll be reading George Herbert's The Banquet.