George Herbert wrote 160 poems to emphasize many notions of the Christian Church, “Easter Wings” being on of them, which specifically expresses the idea that after suffering in sin, we can ascend into Heaven. The title alludes to the Christian holiday of Easter which is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of salvation. The structure of Herbert’s poem also alludes to Easter as it was designed intelligently to represent birds with wings that symbolize people will also resurrect like Jesus. While reading, I also thought the stanzas looked like a funnel and an inverted funnel merged together. In both stanza’s, the top funnels each had a negative tone created by Herbert’s choice in diction. He talks about the fall of man which has led humans to sin using words like “foolishly,” “decaying,” and “poor” (lines1-5). In the second stanza, we see words like “sickness,” “shame,” “punish,” and “thin” (lines 11-15). This negative tone matches the structure because as the lines get smaller and smaller, it gives the effect of feeling small and hopeless. If the funnel were to continue, readers can assume it would eventually lead into a nonexistent line with no more words—a depressing ending. As humans suffer the consequences of sin, there is a hopeless feeling that nothing will get better and the human condition will continue to weaken becoming frail and sick. The tone of the poem changes when you hit the inverted funnel of each stanza in lines 6-10 and lines 16-20. Herbert uses these lines to focus on the ascension to Heaven and salvation. He uses words like “harmoniously,” “victories,” and “advance” which all create a positive tone. This also matches the structure of the poem as the funnel shape opens back up and the lines become bigger again, giving a new sense of hope as if there is something bigger to look forward to. The complete funnel structure shows that death is not the end. He refers to the ascension as a victory. The last line of each stanza is repetitive to emphasize that suffering is necessary to get to Heaven. In other words, you cannot ascend without it paying the consequences of sin first.