Commentary

Undoubtedly this is one of George Herbert’s lesser-known works, yet the poem's three stanzas with their AABBCC rhyme pattern pack a powerful punch. The reason for this is that ‘The Storm’ is a very personal poem in which he bares his soul and, as he does in so many of his verses, openly addresses his God.

Herbert uses literal storms (‘windes and waters’ which ‘flie and flow’) to create a metaphor for his own inner storms. We have seen extreme examples of the former in recent weeks, and the news coverage brings home the physical and emotional turmoil they have caused so many to suffer. Fallen trees and flooding bring disruption and devastation, and can have tragic consequences.

For George Herbert, an inner storm is personified by a ‘throbbing conscience spurred by remorse’, accompanied by ‘sighs and tears’. As he brings these before God, such is the degree of his angst that a second metaphor is created: ‘assault’ and ‘beseige’ are words characteristic of a military storming - a typical Herbert pun.

The phrase ‘tempestuous times’ is alarmingly prescient for us in its literal form, as we witness increasingly the impact of climate change. And his military reference is also pertinent, in light of the current outbreak of open warfare in eastern Europe and the Levant. But as always with Herbert, there is a deeper meaning for us ‘poore mortals’ and, sadly, we see this today in rising cases of mental illness and struggles, particularly amongst younger people.

In the final stanza, Herbert is waiting for an answer to the persistent ‘knocking’ of his ‘throbbing conscience’. Just as a storm can ‘purge the aire without’, an openness and honesty in confronting and sharing one’s own inner conflicts can bring much-needed calm and consolation ‘within the breast’.

So the poem almost becomes a prayer – for George Herbert in the early 1630s, as the storm clouds of the English Civil War began to gather, and for us as a new year dawns in 2024.