Holy Sonnet 10 By John Donne

Donne conveys how religion is a central idea through the use of many religious references throughout the holy sonnets. In ‘Death Be Not Proud’, Donne makes a religious reference to Jesus, ‘Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee’, expressing how religion was an underlying theme when handling many issues. When the two texts are studied in alliance, it allows the responder to draw a better understanding of the themes presented in ‘W;t’. This theme, science VS religion, has been emphasised due to the contrasts between Vivian and Donne and their context.

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” and John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” similarly explore the theme of everlasting true love. However, both poems differ in rhyme scheme, techniques, and meaning. The poets use these tools to convey to the reader that everlasting true love does in fact exist. Although both speak so passionately about said love, only the speaker of Donne’s poem has actually experienced it.

In a sense, a felt that Donne was saying that death dies to us because we no longer have to experience it. This was my interpretation of the poem, and I feel that this poem speaks to me because as a Christian, I understand that death is not the end, but merely a phase of transition in to the afterlife. Those of us who have faith in our God and the lord Jesus Christ, know that our souls rest eternally in heaven with God when we die. I think the fear of death arises because of the mysterious and unknown aspect of death, but for those who belief in the word of God, death no longer holds power over them.

In “Holy Sonnet 14”, John Donne talks to God because he feels that as long as he has free

John Donne’s diction, detail, point of view, metaphysical format, and tone used in “Holy Sonnet 10” convey both a feeling of cynical and domination, and also a sense of mockery of death. The effects on the reader include assurance and confidence in facing death.

The beauty of John Donne’s holy sonnet 14 is in its language. John Donne is an interesting character who uses metaphors anyhow he pleases and finds a way to make it work. The beginning of the poem depicts a man hopeless without God’s help, a man trying to change his ways but finds no success and asks God to change in a way I find quite terrifying. The use of violent and erotic language (i.e Batter, Force, Labor, Captive; and erotic words: i.e ravish, love, knot etc) set the tone of the sonnet, and it remains constant all through. Before diving into the content of the poem, we look at the form of the poem. This poem has a Petrarchan form, and an Elizabethan structure. I know this because it has 14 lines, the rhymes, and the ending couplet. The poem rhymes like: ABBAABBA – CDCDEE. Also we look at the iambic pentameter. The beginning of the poem looked like it would be in iambic pentameter: Batter my heart, We can see here the poem starts with “Batter” which has a stressed syllable, followed by “My” which is unstressed, and “Heart” which is stressed, but then, that’s followed by “three-personed God” which breaks the iambic pentameter. The same can be seen on Line two. I think the essence of starting a poem this way was to start with an aggressive tone in order to prepare the reader for the story ahead.

Donne begins with a informative tone shift through the use of a inspiring personification and a classical allusion. Donne started with an informative tone to slowly weaken death when he says, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;”(ln. 1-2) and “And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.”(ln. 7-8). The personification and allusion makes out death to seem much smaller and less scary than it is made out to be.

Through the violent act of raping him (14) as well as battering his heart (1) he wants God to temporarily break his divine nature and embody the sinful nature that Donne couldn’t escape; absolving Donne in the aggressive way he felt he deserved. Donne exclaims his frustration and he puzzles at life and his relationship with God in a philosophical way, asking more questions than answering. The sonnet opens with these lines that accentuate the forceful language that Donne

The speaker in “Holy Sonnet 10” speaks to Death as a human. Death is a joke in the speaker's eyes. He continues to take shots at Death and says that it is not something to be afraid of. Poison, war, and sickness are aspects that death is associated with; therefore, it is not worthy of being around anyone or anything else. The speaker then says that

Throughout the poem ¬¬¬¬¬Donne depicts death to be a being with characteristics and personality, as a man simply doing his job. Death as described in “Death, be not proud” is viewed as a finite which is proven when Donne writes “death shall be no more, Death tho shalt die”. Death as depicted in the poem is on a similar level as man, subject to the same way of life as

In the following chapters, I am primarily concerned with how the sonnet functions as a

Also, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and “Holy Sonnet 10” give another reason why death is nothing to fear. In both poems it shows that death is just a way to transport one to a good afterlife. The essay “The Eschatological Scene of Donne’s ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’” noted an important fact while analyzing “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”.

This sonnet starts off with a rhetorical question to create a slightly meditative tone that Donne utilizes to remind his soul of what God, who is the king of the universe, does and has done for

In “Holy Sonnet 14” by John Donne, dramatizes the conflict between contradictions and a relationship with God.

By making many references to the Bible, John Donne's Holy Sonnets reveal his want to be accepted and forgiven by God. A fear of death without God's forgiveness of sins is conveyed in these sonnets. Donne expresses extreme anxiety and fright that Satan has taken over his soul and God won't forgive him for it or his sins. A central theme of healing and forgiveness imply that John Donne, however much he wrote about God and being holy, wasn't such a holy man all of the time and tried to make up for it in his writing.