John Byrom (1692-1763 ) was the son of a Manchester linen-draper and a Cambridge graduate, and in his own right a stenographer, who wrote a number of religious poems. His familiarity with shorthand may explain the economy of language of his poem in honour of the Virgin, inspired, as later poems by inter alia Rossetti and Wilde would be, by a picture of the Annunciation.
THE SALUTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
( Verses written under a print from a design of Anthony
Crypel )
See represented here, in light and shade,
The angel's visit to the blessed maid; -
To Mary, destin'd, when the time should come,
To bear the Saviour in her virgin womb: -
Explaining to her the mysterious plan
Of man's redemption-his becoming man.
When ev'ry precious wonder had been done,
The virgin then was to conceive a Son;
And to prepare her for the grand event
From God, his Father, Gabriel was sent, 10
To hail the chosen organ of his birth
Of God with us, - of Jesus upon earth.
Unable to express celestial things
Imagination adds expanded wings
To human form exact, and beauteous face;
Which angels have, but with angelic grace,
Free from all grossness and defect; nor seen,
But with a pure chaste eye, divinely keen.
Such Mary's was, whose posture here design'd
The most profound humility of mind; 20
Modestly asking how the thing could be;
And saying, when informed of God's decree,
Behold the handmaid of the Lord! His will
Let Him, according to thy word, fulfill
What fair instruction may the scene impart
To them who look beyond the painter's art!
Who, in th'angelic message from above,
See the revealing of God's gracious love
To every soul, that yields itself to all
That pleases Him, whatever may befall! 30
Whatever circumstances of heav'nly grace
Might be peculiar to the virgin's case,
That holy thing, that saves a soul from sin,
Of God's good Spirit must be born within:
For all salvation is, upon the whole,
The birth of Jesus in the human soul.
The poet, while praising the Blessed Virgin for her beauty, within and without, sees her as an example for the rest of humanity to follow, so that God's Kingdom may spread worldwide. The third stanza, with its almost scientific analysis of of the nature of angels is different from the simple faith expressed in the lyrics of the Middle Ages as well as the metaphysical embroidering on a conceit as done so expertly by poets such as John Donne. The crux of Byrom's argument is expressed in its concluding couplet: For all salvation is, upon the whole/The birth of Jesus in the human soul (35/36). The poet discerns that Christ's message, by-passing humanity's inborn lust for power, focuses on the possession of the organ which renders man vulnerable: his soul. As such this is not strictly a Marian poem but rather one in praise of her Divine Son.
Dr Luky Whittle
With thanks to the Wall Artist - Photograph by Catherine Nicolette
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