Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FOIL by GEORGE HERBERT

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF WE COULD SEE BELOW
Last Line: AS IF GRIEF WERE NOT FOUL, NOR VERTUE WINNING.
IF we could see below
The sphere of vertue, and each shining grace,
As plainly as that above doth show;
This were the better skie, the brighter place.

God hath made starres the foil
To set off vertues; griefs to set off sinning:
Yet in this wretched world we toil,
As if grief were not foul, nor vertue winning.



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