1
Donne questions death because he’s afraid of his previous
sins carrying him to hell. The decay in the poem could be, not just death, but
also sin itself, and questioning why God made him to sin and suffer. The poem
turns though, and while he’s tempted to continue sinning, by looking up to
heaven in prayer he’s lifted up to heaven.
2
He’s resigned himself to God because his sins have been paid
for by Christ. His previous sins are seen as a betrayal of God because he fouled
his temple (his body). He questions why the devil made him do what he did and
whether or not God has actually chosen him.
3
Here, Donn talks about his continual mourning, which I read
as a type of melancholy, because he’s mourned in vain. He starts the poem by
talking about sighs and tears, a reflection on his previous Petrarchan style
poetry, and that those tears were wasted. He suffered then, which was his sin,
and now he has to repent for it and cry real tears for his salvation.
4
Donne writes that his soul is on a pilgrimage, and while on
that pilgrimage committed treason against God. He feels cornered and trapped
like a prisoner who both wishes for death, but also wants a stay of execution
out of fear.
5
Here, the body and soul are seen as a little world of
elements and spirit, but that sin has removed all light from the world. The sun
(son) has become invisible, and now the world must die. He asks God, who has
found new worlds and lands, to put “seas” in his eyes so he can weep or to
drown, and then also for the fire of zeal to light him up rather than the fire
of sinful passion.
6
Donne uses a theatrical metaphor to talk about his soul’s
last scene, and that all of life is also a pilgrimage. The body has to dwell in
the earth so the soul can fly to heaven, but he’s afraid that his sins won’t
fall away and he’ll be pressed to hell. As if, the body under the earth will be
trapped by those sins and kept weighted down.
7
A poem about Judgment Day and Revelations, which he asks to
come even though he’s not ready for it. He then asks God to wait before he
calls everyone, because he needs to mourn more to clear his soul from his sins
and learn how to repent.
8
If the soul is judged by the end result then he’ll be ok,
but if they are only looked at in one moment of time, Donne is afraid that his
sins will be all that are seen. Even though he’s afraid, he knows he’s not a
dissembler and he knows that God knows too because God is the one that made him
have these emotions and feelings.
9
Donne questions why all of the bad things cannot be damned
the way humans are damned. Even the tree of knowledge escapes judgment. He asks
why intent or reason in him make sins worse and why if God is merciful that he
threatens man.
10
Death is personified in this poem so Donne can overcome him.
Rest and sleep are pictures of death and sleep gives us dreams, so therefore,
death must give us heaven. Nothing to fear in death because death is only a
brief moment between sleep and heaven.
11
The poem starts with Christ telling the Jews to crucify him,
and the rest of the poem is guilt from Donne over his sins and Christ’s death
for them, saying he crucified Christ daily with his previous sins.
12
The body and soul division control this poem, and Donne wants
to know why all of the earth was made for man and that all creatures and
elements are for him. And, even though its all for man, why do all things die.
13
If today was the last day on earth, has Donne repented
enough to get to heaven. He’s tormented by the idea that he has not. He also
talks about his previous experiences with women and why he could talk so easily
about their beauty and finds it so difficult to repent.
14
Donne wants to be remade in the forge of God’s light. He
asks for God to beat him into submission so that he can get over his past sins
and be a new person. He also wants God to rape him.
15
In this poem he wants God to digest his soul so that he can
get to heaven easier than having to the work. He also talks about how God begat
Christ, and that he’s still begetting people, maybe other humans that aren’t
Christ because man is made in god’s image?
16
This poem is about the division between Catholicism and
Anglicanism because Donne, perhaps at this moment, converts from Catholicism to
Anglicanism. He wishes, though, that there wasn’t such a division in the
worship of God.
17
This poem was written after his wife died and he is glad
that she is in heaven, but obviously he misses her. He hopes too, that now that
she is there he can become completely and wholly devoted to heavenly pursuits.
18
Revelations poem and the she is the wife of the lamb.
19
Donne is upset that he is so contrary in his desires to be
both a servant of God and a servant to his flesh. The end of the poem, however,
submits entirely to God’s will and that because he is continually afraid he
will do the right things to get into heaven because those are his best days.
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