Donne’s Sonnets
This posting writes three questions for each poem:
Three Poems by John Donne.
Holy Sonnet 10
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell’st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die
Holy Sonnet 14
Batter my heart, three-person’d God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Holy Sonnet 9
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn’d, alas ! why should I be ?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
And, mercy being easy, and glorious
To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?
But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?
O God, O ! of Thine only worthy blood,
And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drown in it my sin’s black memory.
That Thou remember them, some claim as debt ;
I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget.
SolutionThis solution is FREE courtesy of BrainMass!
As you write three questions for each poem, please allow some of these ideas to help:
First, you might investigate “Holy Sonnet 10.”
How is death personified in this piece?
What is the poet’s attitude toward death and mortality?
What does the last line, “And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die,” reveal about death’s power?
Next, “Holy Sonnet 14” also offers ideas.
What does Donne mean by “Batter my heart, three-person’d God?”
Compare and contrast the depiction of death in this piece with the other two poems.
Characterize the form and tone of this poem.
Finally, you might consider “Holy Sonnet 9.”
What does the “tree” symbolize?
How does the piece contain religious allusions?
How does Donne utilize imagery?
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