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

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

How do you imagine God in relation to yourself? Is He a distant entity, to be admired from without? Or does He make His way into your inner soul, becoming a part of you? Tune in to hear George Herbert's answer to this question in "The Holy Communion," read and analyzed by Erika Kyba.

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. Today we're reading the Holy Communion by George Herbert. This is a meditation on the Eucharist, which plays a lot with the concept of distance. Herbert begins the poem by musing on how the Christian God chooses to reveal himself to men. He imagines that God could have presented himself to men in rich furniture or in a wedge of gold, but did not. The images that Herbert leads with are sumptuous, but they also convey a sense of distance. Furniture and gold are things that you admire from without, and the more extravagant they are,

the more distant you are from them. The finest china are not the dishes you use on the day to day. Contrast this with the Holy Communion. Herbert goes on to describe how, by the way of nourishment and strength, that creeps into my breast, now we have an inward movement. God does not want to be distantly admired. like furniture, but he wants to move closer and closer to the heart. Herbert is drawing on the theology of the Eucharist to make this point.

When he writes of nourishment and strength, he is reflecting on Christ's gift of his own flesh as food for Christians. There is a double meaning then as the communion bread provides physical nourishment, but also strengthens the soul. By the fourth stanza there is a further upheaval of the furniture imagery. So we begin the poem by imagining, what if God was removed from us as a piece of furniture that we find in a room? Midway through the poem, Herbert imagines our souls as houses containing multiple rooms,

with God able to access all of them through His grace. It's a much more intimate image. Herbert will continue playing with the image of rooms towards the close of the poem. He writes that, before sin, Adam was able to move from his earthly paradise to heaven, as if he were merely changing rooms. And in Herbert's imagination, the Eucharist unlocks that ability for us once again, giving us the opportunity to experience heaven on earth at any moment that we please. With all that said, let's dive in.

The Holy Communion by George Herbert. Not in rich furniture or fine array, nor in a wedge of gold. Thou who for me wast sold, to me dost now thyself convey. For so thou shouldst without me still have been, leaving within me sin. But by the way of nourishment and strength, thou creeps into my breast, making thy way my rest,

and thy small quantities my length, which spread their forces into every part, meeting sin's force and art. Yet can these not get over to my soul, leaping the wall that parts are souls and fleshy hearts, but as the outworks they may control my rubble flesh, and carrying thy name a fright both sin and shame. Only thy grace, which with these elements comes, knoweth the ready way, and hath the privy key,

opening the soul's most subtle rooms, while those to spirits refined at door attend, dispatches from their friend. Give me my captive soul, or take my body also thither, another lift like this will make them both to be together. Before that sin turned flesh to stone, and all our lumped eleven, a fervent sigh might be together, A fervent sigh might well have blown our innocent earth to heaven. For sure, when Adam did not know to sin or sin to smother, he might to heaven from paradise go, as from one room to another. Thou hast restored to us this ease, by this thy heavenly blood, which I can go to when I please, and leave the earth to their food.

You've been listening to The Poetry Fix with Erica Kaiba. If you enjoyed this episode, consider following the Poetry Fix on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts. And if you have any poems you want to see in a future episode, email your suggestions to the poetry fix at gmail.com. Join me next week and we'll be dipping our toes into Coleridge's Kubla Khan.