After the Fashion of an Old Emblem explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Spiritual Struggle and Doubt

  The speaker's long, fruitless labor in the cellar represents a period of spiritual striving and doubt, resolved by turning to a posture of waiting on God.

• Nature as Divine Revelation

  The wind, sun, moon, and stars are depicted as agents of divine presence and provision, revealing God through natural elements.

• Redemption and Grace

  The shift from self-driven labor to receptive waiting and the eventual bursting forth of God's waters symbolize grace and redemption through surrender.

Characters to notice

• Unknown

  The speaker who moves from cellar labor to garret waiting, embodying a shift from striving to receptivity.

• The Wind

  Addressed as 'blessed wind,' the driving force that turns the windmill and enables the drill's work.

• God

  Implied as the source of the 'eternal sea' and the one whose presence is awaited in the garret.

Key passages

• “I have long enough been working down in my cellar, Working spade and pick, boring-chisel and drill; I long for wider spaces, airy, clear-dark, and stellar”

  I've spent too long laboring in dark, confined spaces; now I yearn for open, starry skies.

  The speaker rejects fruitless toil for a longing for expansive, divine encounter.

• “More profit surely lies in a holy, pure quiescence, In a setting forth of cups to catch the heavenly rain”

  True gain comes from holy stillness and readiness to receive what heaven sends.

  Emphasizes receptivity over active striving as the path to spiritual fulfillment.

• “Blow, blow, my blessed wind; oh, keep ever blowing! Keep the great windmill going full and free; So shall the diamond-drill down below keep going Till in burst the waters of God's eternal sea.”

  Keep the wind blowing so the windmill turns, driving the drill until it breaks through to God's endless ocean.

  A prayer for sustained divine action that leads to ultimate spiritual breakthrough.