While the speaker of the poem is unable to reach spiritual consistency, the form of the poem is similarly caught between consistency and change. The reader gets an uncensored view of his constantly-changing thoughts and bad health. The speaker of this poem is clearly experiencing all of these things. “Affliction” means misery, distress, or illness.
The poem ends with the speaker affirming his desire to love God while also expressing his doubts about whether or not he will be successful. On the other hand, he still has moments where he speaks to God in an accusatory tone. On the one hand, he has matured enough to learn that he can’t avoid sickness and sadness. In the final stanza, it is still unclear how much spiritual progress the speaker has made on this journey. Finally, the speaker gives up on wanting to feel good or bad. Unable to find relief, the speaker then tries to submit himself to God’s will, but just when he’s getting used to unhappiness, something worse happens. This is not what he was expecting, so the speaker begins to question God.
In the second part of the poem, the speaker begins to face sickness. He thinks that life will be an eternal springtime. When the speaker first decides to devote himself to serving God, he expects to be rewarded. The first-person speaker describes his changing mental and physical state as he tries to get closer to God. The theme of "Affliction I" is the relationship between humans and God. Equal parts serious and witty, self-assured and questioning, Herbert's poetry has appealed to people from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds. Auden, and Elizabeth Bishop all expressed admiration for Herbert’s poetry. Since that time, Herbert’s poetry has been a favorite with all sorts of readers. Fortunately, Herbert’s poems were printed. Shortly before his death, he sent copies of his poems to a friend, telling him to print them if they were useful or burn them instead. During his lifetime, Herbert never published his poetry. He was a devout man who spent the last years of his life running a small country church. Herbert wrote devotional poetry, meaning poetry that focuses on religious themes. "Affliction I" is the first of five poems with the same title. His single collection of poems, known as The Temple, was published in 1633 after his early death at the age of 39. “Affliction I” is one of 17th-century English poet George Herbert’s most memorable and loved poems.
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