I am the type of nerd who knows that the 17th-century Christian poet George Herbert wrote a set of five poems that were each titled “Affliction." The Five Afflictions all feature speakers confronting God about why God is causing them to suffer.
I am also the type of nerd who knows that the 21st-century podcast season PALISADE has a set of five beings called the Afflictions. The Five Afflictions all used to be Divines, and everyone on Palisade's wondering why they're now causing people to suffer.
This almost-certain coincidence has cursed me to spend all season distracted by one perplexing and pointless question:
Which of Palisade’s Afflictions is best described by each of Herbert’s Affliction poems?
What follows is my attempt to exorcise this question from my brain by offering my best possible attempt at pairing the Afflictions up. It doesn't really work, but I had to do it.
Affliction (I) - Cleave AKA Whetstone’s Opposite AKA The Sanguine Hatchet AKA Decisiveness
Herbert makes this one easy:
"Sicknesses cleave my bones;
Consuming agues dwell in ev’ry vein
And tune my breath to groans.”
Of course, it helps the case further that the speaker emphasizes their dullness - “a blunted knife / was of more use than I.” Sounds like they've been struck by a case of Whetstone’s Opposite to me!
Affliction (II) - Refrain AKA Yesterday’s Reprise AKA The Ghastly Chorus AKA Antiquity
Kill me not ev’ry day,
Thou Lord of life, since thy one death for me
Is more than all my deaths can be
Though I in broken pay
Die over each hour of Methusalem’s stay.
Just in this first stanza, we’ve got some Refrain shit happening: the speaker is in a weird undead position, though they still speak; their death is a daily refrain even as they’re asking God to refrain from killing them; the length of their affliction is compared to an extremely ancient guy. But the main reason this one is Refrain shows up in the next two lines:
If all men’s tears were let
Into one common sewer, sea, and brnine
Okay, Herbert actually wrote “brine” (presumably an archaic alternate spelling of “brnine,”) but it’s pretty clear which grief-filled captain this is referencing, and Refrain would be the one to shout them out!
Affliction (III) - Dust AKA Pride’s Mirror AKA the Looking Glass AKA Reflection
This one's all about the divine's presence alongside and within the interior afflictions of its followers, with the aim of working towards therapeutic effect:
My heart did heave, and there came forth, O God!
By that I knew that thou wast in the grief,
To guide and govern it to my relief
That's a pretty good fit for Reflection... though we are missing the word dust! Actually, none of these poems include the word “dust”, which is kind of shocking. That’s, like, a top 10 Christian word to come up when you’re talking about mortal affliction. Talk about an Oversight.
Affliction (IV) - Oversight AKA Hell’s Facade AKA The Empty Garden AKA Affection
Unless I'm missing something, we really don’t know much about Oversight beyond name and a brief image. But the speaker does refer to themselves as “a thing forgot” by God, so they're definitely a victim of Oversight! They also yearn for God's restored divine Affection to one day support them again: "with care and courage building me, / Till i reach heav'n, and much more, thee."
As for the Empty Garden, aside from an analogy involving watering pots and flowers, there’s also a sense that the nature has escaped all of the speaker's attempts to cultivate it, and that this is a key part of their affliction, too:
Nothing performs the task of life:
The elements are let loose to fight,
And while I live, try out their right.
Affliction (V) - Ravel AKA Labyrinth’s Thread AKA The Hedge Maze AKA Logic
Now I'm grasping at straws. Um, we have an image of God fishing for people using the “double line” of “joy and grief” - affliction becomes a Thread, you could say? And there’s a reference to “knots”, too … but that’s really kind of it. Honestly I think Ravel's ternary logic is better suited to Herbert’s "Trinitie Sunday", but I will shove this square peg into a round hole if that’s what it takes to match each Affliction with its own Affliction.
IN CONCLUSION: Does this reveal anything about Palisade or George Herbert? Not really, no. Am I proud of myself? Absolutely not.
[I lurked and loved this website, and couldn't leave it without posting one draft. Rest in peace.]
