The Foil
The Better Sky
If we could see virtue and grace as clearly as the stars, we would recognize them as a brighter sky, and understand that God uses stars and griefs as foils to highlight virtue and sin.
If we could see the realm of virtue here below, and each shining grace, as clearly as the sky above displays its lights, this would be the better sky—the brighter place. God has made the stars the foil to set off virtues, and griefs to set off sinning. Yet in this wretched world we toil as if grief weren't foul, and virtue weren't winning.12
Read the original English
If we could see below The sphere of vertue, and each shining grace As plainly as that above doth show; This were the better skie, the brighter place.
God hath made starres the foil To set off vertues; griefs to set off sinning: Yet in this wretched world we toil, As if grief were not foul, nor vertue winning.
Notes
- 1 ↩Foil keeps Herbert’s jeweler’s-backdrop sense: a contrasting ground that makes what is set against it stand out more clearly. Set off means display or heighten by contrast, not cancel.
- 2 ↩Early modern winning means attractive and victorious, not merely competitive success; the modern line keeps winning for that double force and its pair with sinning.
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