John Donne's Holy Sonnets (17 & 18)

In this blog I want to share with you two poems by John Donne (1572-1631) who is regarded as the leading writer of the 'Metaphysical Poets'. They were a group of British lyric poets of the 17th. century who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and tended to explore them in a similar way. The 'metaphysical' label was, strictly speaking, a misnomer, given to them much later by Samuel Johnson in his 'Life of Cowley'. The thing they have in common is their writing style, which was normally characterized by wit, subtle arguments and the use of unusual simile and metaphor. An example of this is where Andrew Marvell compares the human soul to a 'drop of dew'. John Donne himself, like several other metaphysical poets, was influenced by Neoplatonism, which had its origins with early Christian philosophers such as Justyn and Athenagoras who tried to connect Christianity with Platonism.

John Donne

In his style of writing, John Donne likes to twist and distort images and traditional stanzaic patterns; his speech patterns are colloquial and varied. He sometimes uses traditional verse forms, preferring simple ones, but he is also fond of inventing elaborate and intricate stanzas. In both his worldly and religious poems he often achieves a complex and memorable 'melody'.

One of the main Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry and which is evident in the poetry of John Donne is the idea that the perfection of beauty in the beloved is a reflection or remembrance of perfect beauty which exists in the eternal realm.

John Donne was born into a Roman Catholic family at a time when anti-Catholic feeling was at or near its peak, a time when Catholics were subject to constant harassment by the Elizabethan secret police. Although he attended both Oxford and Cambridge universities and Lincolns Inn (the training ground for lawyers), he never took any degrees or practiced law.

Despite his great education and poetic talents he live in poverty for several years, relying heavily on the subsidy of wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and , in 1621 he was appointed the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

St. Paul, Cathedral, London

The Holy Sonnet 17 was written following the death of Donne's wife Ann More at the age of 33, having just borne her twelfth child. This extremely personal sonnet and Sonnet 18 were not discovered until 1892 and survives only in a single manuscript. In Sonnet 17 Donne seems to imply that God took his wife away from him in order to have a monopoly of John Donne's love. The last lines may even suggest that Donne saw his wife as a possible temptation to deadly sin.

Holy Sonnet Number 17

Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt

To Nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,

And her soul early into heaven ravished,

Wholly on heavenly things my mind is set.

Here the admiring her my mind did whet

To seek thee, God; so streams do show the head;

But though I have found thee, and thou my thirst hast fed,

A holy thirsty dropsy melts me yet.

But why should I beg more love, whenas thou

Dost woo my soul, for hers offering all thine:

And dost not only fear lest I allow

My love to saints and angels, things divine,

But in thy tender jealousy dost doubt

Lest the world, flesh, yea, devil put thee out.

Holy Sonnet no. 18 expresses John Donne's lifelong distress about the fragmentation of the church ('the bride of Christ'). Some have even suggested that he is also showing doubts about the superiority of the Anglican Church, but this remains a matter of debate. In the first four lines the reference to the painted woman probably refers to the church of Rome and the idea of the ravished virgin could refer to the Protestant church. Neither of these seem very much like the ideal bride. The words 'robbed and tore' may allude to a military defeat suffered by German Protestants in 1620. The final lines echo the Song of Solomon (5:2), which was often interpreted as the song of love between Christ and the church: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.'

Holy Sonnet Number 18

Show me, dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear.

What! is it she which on the other shore

Goes richly painted? or which, robbed and tore,

Laments and mourns in Germany and here?

Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?

Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?

Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore

On one, or seven, or on no hill appear?

Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights

First travel we to seek, and then make love?

Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,

And let mine amorous soul court thy mild dove,

Who is most true and pleasing to thee then

When she is embraced and open to most men.

Quotations

'Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.'

Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht, quoted in the Washington Post

'If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.'

Elmore Leonard, quoted in Forbes

A Journey Through Poetry and Quotations..

It seems like an eternity since I last studied English Literature as a serious subject, it must be at least 35 years, I suddenly feel quite old. One thing the GCE (as it then was) A level course achieved for me was to expose me to a wide range of English and American poets by dipping into some tasty morsels of their vast output. I experienced poems by Chaucer and Shakespeare ranging through to Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ted Hughes and T.S. Eliot, some work of a religious or spiritual nature, other poems being secular and possessing a depth of feeling and awareness and aesthetic response to our complex world, but without an overt spiritual dimension. Unfortunately I had to complete a two-year course in one academic year, which meant I only got a bird's eye view of the extensive range of poetry which exists, even if one narrows it down to that produced in the English language.

I must confess that my subsequent reading of poetry has been rather erratic, although I believe it is a very powerful, succint and direct form of communicating a vast world of ideas, beliefs and emotions; it is also capable of drawing us out of ourselves and challenging us to look at the world around us from completely different angles, it widens our world-view, extends us beyond our own culture, and shapes and influences our character and responses, as well as focusing the mind and the heart. I hope through this article that both you and I will be stimulated to explore the world of poetry with more hunger and eagerness to discovery the truth and beauty which really do exist, but are not always immediately evident in our materialistic and consumer society. We sometimes see truth and beauty in kind deeds and thoughts expressed, or through listening to music or examining a beautiful painting, sculpture or building. In the natural world we get glimpses of truth and beauty when we stand still in woodland after rain, see a spectacular sunset or stand on a beach looking at the vastness of the sea and landscape.

I wish to now share another journey with you, one in which I would like to revisit places I have been to before, or perhaps veer off the well beaten track and look for the more unusual places and objects which I have not previously discovered. I may comment on some of the poems included in this series, or I may just stay a moment in speechless awe of the images and the emotions conjured up by the great work of the poet concerned and leave you space for your own individual response. Hopefully, there will be time to reflect and look inwards and outwards before moving on to the next stage of the journey. I may include hymns, odes, epitaphs, lamentations, ballads and folk songs as well as the more mainstream poetry writing. Some poems may tell a story, others may be more diffuse and abstract, I think there should be a lot of varied scenery in the course of this journey.

I have always been a keen reader of quotations and I often probably drive my wife Hazel to distraction by finding her wherever she is in the house, or whatever more useful occupation she is involved in, to quote some gem I have just discovered in a magazine, article or book. I just can't wait to share my discovery, rather like an angler who has just caught what he thinks is the biggest or most unusual fish in the world. I intend to combine at least one quotation with each poem or set of poems we encounter, which I feel I just have to share with you, perhaps it will save Hazel from always being in the firing-line of my impulsive enthusiasm! Sometimes there may be a connection between the quotation(s) which may be intended or just coincidental.

My parallel blog with this one is entitled 'Experiments in Poetry'. The link for this is given below. This other project may exasperate you, seem to be lacking in direction and purpose, it is designed to help others to look at new and different ways of writing poetry and discover new worlds of meaning, expression and communication.

Please contact me if you have any comments, questions, suggestions or observations which may be helpful to you and others in the poetry writing field. Meanwhile, I hope you are looking forward to the journey which is just about to begin.

Experiments in Poetry can be found at http://erikretallick-poetry.blogspot.com/

Erik Retallick can be contacted at http://erikretallick@yahoo.co.uk

I want to start my journey by looking at some Middle English Lyrics, The Cuckoo Song, I Sing of a Maiden, Adam Lay Bound and The Corpus Christi Carol. The Cuckoo song may be familiar from our school days, being sung in a madrigal-like setting. It is thought to be one of the earliest settings of sung music in England. I sing of a Maiden is often sung nowadays in different musical settings and it visualizes the mystery of the conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in terms of the most natural of mysteries, the falling dew. Adam Lay Bound, another Christmas-time favourite tends to regard Adam's sin and the resulting fall as a kind of childish naughtiness and punishment that eventually led to the tremendous effect of bringing Christ to earth. The Corpus Christi Carol draws on the ancient fertility myth of the Fisher King that had been caught up and Christianized in Arthurian legend. Enjoy the directness and simpicity of these poems, unusual words are translated beneath each poem.

The Cuckoo Song

Summer is ycomen in,

Loude sing cuckou!

Groweth seed and bloweth meed,

And springeth the wode now.

Sing cuckou!

Ewe bleteth after lamb,

Loweth after calve cow,

Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,

Merye sing cuckou!

Cuckou, cuckou,

Wel singest thou cuckou:

Ne swick thou never now!

wode=wood

sterteth=leaps

verteth=farts

swik=cease

I Sing of a Maiden

I sing of a maiden

That is makelees:

King of alle kinges

To her sone she chees

He cam also stille

Ther his moder was

As dew in Aprille

That falleth on the gras.

He cam also stille

To his modres bowr

As dew in Aprille

That falleth on the flowr.

He cam also stille

Ther his moder lay

As dew in Aprille

That falleth on the spray.

Moder and maiden

Ws nevere noon but she:

Wel may swich a lady

Godes moder be.

To=as

chees=chose

also=as

Ther=where

moder=mother

swich=such

Adam Lay Bound

Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond,

Four thousand winter thoughte he not too long;

And al was for an apple, an apple that he took,

As clerkes finden, writen in hire book.

Ne hadde the apple taken been, the apple taken been,

Ne hadde nevere Oure Lady ybeen hevene Queen.

Blessed be the time that apple taken was:

Therfore we mowne singen Deo Gratias.

mown=may

The Corpus Christi Carol

Lully, lullay, lully, lullay,

The faucon hath borne my make away,

He bare him up, he bare him down,

He bare him into an orchard brown.

In that orchard ther was an hall

That was hanged with purple and pall.

And in that hall ther was a bed:

It was hanged with gold so red.

And in that bed ther lith a knight,

His woundes bleeding by day and night.

By that beddes side ther kneeleth a may,

And she weepeth both night and day.

And by that beddes side ther standeth a stoon:

Corpus Christi writen thereon.

faucon=falcon

make=mate

pall=black velvet

lith=lies

may=maid

stoon=stone

Corpus Christi=Body of Christ

Quotations

'Staying within the rules, however couterintuitive they may be, is the curse of our age.'

Deborah Orr

'It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.'

Leo Tolstoy