Symbol Analysis
"The Altar" is a poem about sacrifice. It's not a gruesome animal sacrifice or anything like that. No, it's a more spiritual sacrifice, one that involves, time, labor, and dedication. The kind of sacrifice on display here is the construction of an altar to God, but an altar that is made out of one's heart. Huh? Obviously this isn't a literal altar, but a metaphorical one, an offering of one's entire being. In addition to the sacrifice involved in this offering, the speaker also mentions God's own sacrifice, by which he probably means Jesus' death on the cross. (Jesus was God's son, Jesus died, God knew it was gonna happen, and so therefore it's a sacrifice.) The speaker mentions this sacrifice as an example of the kind of sacrifice he too wants to make in order to show his religious faith.
- Lines 1-2: The speaker's altar is broken, but it is nonetheless an immense sacrifice. "Broken" is a metaphor for the speaker's imperfect, sinful nature. The altar isn't literally "cemented with tears," so this phrase is a metaphor the sacrifice, labor, and pain involved in offering one's heart to God.
- Line 15: The speaker refers to God's "sacrifice," by which he means the death of God's son, Jesus, on the cross. Asking that God's sacrifice be his own, the speaker is metaphorically asking for the courage to offer himself to God, or the courage to face any challenges and struggles he may encounter while serving God.