17 pages • 34 minutes read
Robert SouthwellThe Burning Babe
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1595A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
No One Is Beyond Redemption
In the Christian Bible, there is a distinct difference between the Old Testament and New Testament descriptions of God. Whereas the God of the Old Testament is wrathful and vengeful, the God of the New Testament is merciful and forgiving. In the New Testament, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is born and then crucified to save people from Hell and to provide them with eternal life in Heaven. This is the God presented in Southwell’s poem through the figure of the infant Jesus. The Babe in the speaker’s vision wants people to come to him for refuge, mourning that “none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire” (Line 8). He wants to be a source of comfort and safety for everyone, especially those who need it most.
The babe personifies “Justice” and “Mercy” (Line 11) as the tools he uses to reach out to wayward souls. No soul is beyond saving—his furnace is full of love that can transform “men’s defiled souls” (Line 12). No one is turned away from the love of Jesus. Even the most corrupted sprits are capable of receiving God’s blessings and forgiveness. The infant Jesus states that he is ablaze to “work [men’s souls] to their good” (Line 13). Everything the infant Jesus suffers and sacrifices in this vision, is to save his people: He will even “melt into a bath to wash them in my blood” (Line 14). Jesus is willing to give everything, even his own blood, in order to save the souls of his faithful, no matter how pure or impure they are.
Even in Darkness, There Is Light
The setting Southwell chooses for his poem is thematically important. Though the exact location where the religious vision occurs is a vaguely defined outdoors, the clarity with which Southwell renders the frigid temperature that makes the poem’s speaker shiver is vivid and instantly relatable. One of the poem’s twists is that this seemingly inhospitable setting turns out to be one of the most important religious holidays in Christian tradition: By the poem’s conclusion, readers learn that “it was Christmas day” (Line 16), the holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The holiday is essential to the Christian faith as it reminds practitioners that, in the words of the Bible’s New Testament, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). This celebration takes place on December 25, during the middle of winter, which in the Northern Hemisphere is a time of reduced daylight. Christmas day for the speaker of Southwell’s poem occurs “in hoary winter’s night” as he “stood shivering in the snow” (Line 1). Yet, even amidst the cold and dark of winter, there is still celebration with the appearance of the Christ child. There is still light and warmth which can come out of the darkness as the vision is seen “burning bright” (Line 5) with “excessive heat” (Line 5).
Human Nature Is to Turn Away From God
As previously stated, the infant Jesus in Southwell’s poem laments that individuals aren’t coming to him in order to “warm their hearts” or “feel my fire” (Line 8). He wants people to come to him to be comforted and feel safe and secure. Yet, Southwell’s conception of this Jesus figure worries that people aren’t turning to this holy refuge in great numbers—an anxiety that reflects Southwell’s compulsion as a Jesuit to find converts and evangelize. Rather, Jesus continuously suffers “in fiery heats” (Line 7), waiting for his followers to seek him out.
The poem is all the more incredulous that people are avoiding turning to Jesus when it clarifies his benefit to them. When individuals do turn to Christ, their souls are “defiled” (Line 12), whether by the stain of Original Sin or by the numerous sins they themselves have committed while alive. However, the Babe in the vision is capable of smelting the impurities out of these corrupt souls, making them clean again. Human nature, according to Southwell, is prone to failure and mistake. Yet, the birth of the Christ child in the first place offers them a way back to the path of righteousness.
