Robert Southwell was a Jesuit priest and poet in the 16th century, who was arrested and imprisoned in 1592 due to his faith, remaining in prison until his execution in 1595. During this three-year period, Southwell wrote a large amount of poetry, including the poem “The Burning Babe”. Southwell’s poems influenced a large number of literary works and have a similar style to later Metaphysical poetry through features like exaggerated imagery and use of philosophy. Southwell’s poetry revolved around ideas about religion and God’s role in the world and this is particularly prominent in “The Burning Babe”.
“The Burning Babe” is set during a “hoary winter’s night” where the narrator stands “shivering in the snow” (line 1). The pathetic fallacy used in this first line immediately introduces us as readers to the image of a narrator who is lost and abandoned. In regards to the overarching religious meaning of the poem, this image appears to represent a soul who is lost without the love of Jesus. The cold weather in the poem is also used to contrast with the immediate introduction of the burning babe that comes in line 2 when the narrator is “surprised” with “sudden heat”. The idea of the soul now feeling a comfort at having been found by Jesus can also be seen with the fact that the appearance of the babe “made my heart to glow” (line 2).
The narrator’s surprise is one of the first religious allusions we see in the poem, as it is reminiscent of Moses seeing the burning bush and the shepherds seeing the angels in the nativity story. Both biblical events are related to the idea of an epiphany occurring to the characters, and Southwell seems to be using that as a link to what will happen to the soul by the end of the poem. As well as this, even though Jesus’ name is not mentioned in the poem, the imagery of a burning babe is a clear link to him. Southwell presents Jesus in the typical way of an innocent baby who is all loving but uses the fire to highlight the terrifying force of Jesus and God’s love, much like how Moses felt upon seeing the burning bush. There are also references to the babe crying due to humans having turned their backs on him and the “wounding thorns” (line 9) are mentioned, which are both common religious images that connote to Jesus.
Fire symbolism is used the most prominently throughout the poem, as is indicated by the title. This conceit where Southwell uses fire to depict love relates to the aspects of Metaphysical poetry the most and is also a typical symbol that is seen in Christianity. The use of the fire symbolism is interesting for modern interpretations as many connotations of fire and religion are those of hell and eternal damnation. Southwell here uses fire to connote ideas of comfort, particularly with the fire appearing in front of the cold narrator who can now warm himself. This fire is also one of “excessive heat” (line 5) that will not go out despite the babe shedding “floods of tears” (line 5) as Jesus will love his people no matter what. Southwell is demonstrating the Christian idea of how Jesus will never stop loving humanity despite how we turn against him. The use of the metaphor that “none approach to warm their hearts” (line 8) expresses his disdain that people are no longer coming to Christianity, or at least not the Catholic Christianity Southwell prescribed too.
Southwell uses a large amount of alliteration, with one of the most common examples being /f/ sounds throughout the poem, and it becomes particularly prominent in lines 9 and 10. The imagery of the fire and the furnace is built up through this alliteration and further allows the babe’s pain to be recognised. Southwell emphasises that the fire comes from the babe’s love: “my faultless breast the furnace is” (line 9). It also emphasises the description of the thorns that further demonstrate the babe as Jesus as well as emphasising that “love is the fire” (line 10), highlighting Southwell’s point that Jesus’ love for us is like a fire, intense and everlasting. The sibilance Southwell uses also emphasises the fire imagery as well as the idea of the babe’s hurt that nobody comes to him; his sighs are the smoke and the ashes of the fire are shame and scorn. Again, this adds to the fire’s symbolism. Since sighing is linked to breath, smoke is used to imitate the action of the breath expelling. The ashes build up, as people’s own shame and scorn can, and they do in Jesus though he can forgive. It could also be seen that the furnace that is the babe’s breast is the redemption process as a whole- the fire burns away the shame and scorn. This also fits in as Southwell describes it is the souls that make up the metal of the furnace and it is Jesus’ justice and mercy in the form of fuel and coals that causes the furnace to continue. The Biblical and Catholic references continue with the idea that the babe will “wash them in my blood” (line 14), much like the idea that people drink wine at Communion to represent Jesus’ blood and the sacrifice he made. There is also the idea of purgatory in these lines; Jesus will “work them to their good” (line 13). This could also link into the fire idea, with the idea that even though the fire represents everlasting love, the fact that it is “excessive” (line 5) is representative of the difficulties the souls must go through to be able to get to heaven. Purgatory as an image has often been depicted as fiery throughout the centuries which also links to this idea.
The final couplet and particularly the final line demonstrate the idea of the poem being the epiphany of the lost person or soul. The quickness that “he vanished out of sight” (15) and the sudden realisation by the narrator that it was Christmas Day, as Southwell writes “And straight I callèd unto mind” (line 16), highlights this. The final couplet in comparison to the first line demonstrates how far the narrator has come on the journey that is depicted, as is helped by the simple iambic heptameter form. As readers, we have come with the narrator and the soul from not merely a cold winter’s night where he is shivering alone but one of meaning, Christmas Day. Not only does the mention that it is Christmas Day highlight the epiphany and further clarify that the babe is Jesus, but it also allows the depiction of Jesus to make sense. Although the babe is describing the forgiveness of Jesus that occurred after his death at Easter, the innocence that is called up at Christmas is important to make people want to come to him and to fully demonstrate this is a babe full of love.
What must be remembered throughout this poem is that Southwell was writing this after being tortured for his beliefs and knowing he would soon be executed for treason. Despite knowing that it was his beliefs that caused him to end up imprisoned, Southwell still wanted to give the persecuted in England a sense of hope that Jesus could come to them too. Although Jesus’ love is what harmed him and ‘burned’ him metaphorically, as shown by the fire imagery, he believed that it is what would give him eternal happiness in the end. Southwell’s love for God and Jesus did not end and neither did his belief in Jesus’ love for him.