John Donne as a religious poet
John Donne's anguish at his sinfulness, his feelings of unworthiness of God's grace, his penitential and supplicatory prayer, and his anxious soul doubtfully hoping for grace and salvation - these sum up Donne's attitude as a religious poet
Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee
THE BRILLIANT force of Donne’s wit, his strange paradoxes and comparisons are clearly apparent in his holy sonnets. Here, he treats primarily of his doubts about his own worthiness as a Christian and his fears of death and judgment. These sonnets commonly take the form of a dramatic monologue, addressed to God.
The sonnet, “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” opens with a lofty and imaginative contemplation of the Day of Judgment, when at the sound of angelic trumpets, the souls of all bodies and all the dead shall be reunited. Donne, however, soon sinks to the humble contemplations of his sins, so he implores he be given grace to repent before it is too late. The poem contains not only the fear of the Judgment, but also a realisation of the purpose of life as one of spiritual struggle and preparation.
In the sonnet, “Batter my heart, three-person’d God” Donne begs God to take possession of his heart in a series of brilliant paradoxes. The poet can only stand if he is overthrown; he can only be free if God imprisons him; and he can only be chaste if he is ravished by God. As the smith knocks the metal into shape, so God is imagined as knocking in gentle admonition on the human heart. As the bellows breathe on the fire, so is the spirit of God breathed into man. God illuminates as the smith shines and God seeks to mend man’s fallen nature as the smith mends a broken vessel. But mending is not enough, because only a radical reconstruction of his being will make him worthy of his master.
The poet then describes his isolation from God in a new group of images. He is a usurped town, waiting to admit God, but is powerless to do so because of his betrothal to the usurper, Satan. God’s viceroy in the town, reason, is powerless to help because reason itself is held captive. Donne sets forth two different ideas of captivity. Captivity by the devil is true captivity, enslavement by the passions. Imprisonment by (that is, subservience to) God, on the other hand, is true freedom, in the sense that the spirit is unimpeded by sin. The poet recognises that the only way in which he can be free and chaste is in the total possession of himself by God.
Donne’s anguish at his sinfulness, his feelings of unworthiness of God’s grace, his penitential and supplicatory prayer, and his anxious soul doubtfully hoping for grace and salvation – these sum up Donne’s attitude as a religious poet.
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee
THE BRILLIANT force of Donne’s wit, his strange paradoxes and comparisons are clearly apparent in his holy sonnets. Here, he treats primarily of his doubts about his own worthiness as a Christian and his fears of death and judgment. These sonnets commonly take the form of a dramatic monologue, addressed to God.
The sonnet, “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” opens with a lofty and imaginative contemplation of the Day of Judgment, when at the sound of angelic trumpets, the souls of all bodies and all the dead shall be reunited. Donne, however, soon sinks to the humble contemplations of his sins, so he implores he be given grace to repent before it is too late. The poem contains not only the fear of the Judgment, but also a realisation of the purpose of life as one of spiritual struggle and preparation.
In the sonnet, “Batter my heart, three-person’d God” Donne begs God to take possession of his heart in a series of brilliant paradoxes. The poet can only stand if he is overthrown; he can only be free if God imprisons him; and he can only be chaste if he is ravished by God. As the smith knocks the metal into shape, so God is imagined as knocking in gentle admonition on the human heart. As the bellows breathe on the fire, so is the spirit of God breathed into man. God illuminates as the smith shines and God seeks to mend man’s fallen nature as the smith mends a broken vessel. But mending is not enough, because only a radical reconstruction of his being will make him worthy of his master.
The poet then describes his isolation from God in a new group of images. He is a usurped town, waiting to admit God, but is powerless to do so because of his betrothal to the usurper, Satan. God’s viceroy in the town, reason, is powerless to help because reason itself is held captive. Donne sets forth two different ideas of captivity. Captivity by the devil is true captivity, enslavement by the passions. Imprisonment by (that is, subservience to) God, on the other hand, is true freedom, in the sense that the spirit is unimpeded by sin. The poet recognises that the only way in which he can be free and chaste is in the total possession of himself by God.
Donne’s anguish at his sinfulness, his feelings of unworthiness of God’s grace, his penitential and supplicatory prayer, and his anxious soul doubtfully hoping for grace and salvation – these sum up Donne’s attitude as a religious poet.
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