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Analysis of Holy Sonnet XIV Essay

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Analysis of Holy Sonnet XIV

Throughout history, many people have endeavoured to convey their interpretations, or experiences, of the relationship between God and mankind. Many interpretations are positive - Psalm 139 of the Bible, for example, portrays the relationship between man and God as a personal and intimate one - yet just as many are decidedly negative. One such interpretation is Holy Sonnet XIV, an intensely personal poem by John Donne which explores the feelings of a man torn between physical desire and spiritual longing. In this essay I aim to study the poem in more depth, analysing what Donne says and how he says it.

Holy Sonnet XIV was written at a time of crisis and confusion in …show more content…

The next line expresses Donne's belief that God has not been trying hard enough - he tells God that "you as yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend". The word "breathe" is much softer than the "batter" in the previous line, and this softness serves to emphasise Donne's belief that God is not doing enough to reform him.

Donne's longing for spiritual fulfilment and his desire to break free from his current self is emphasised in the next line, where she speaks of his intentions to "rise" and "stand". These words also carry with them the connotation that Donne is spiritually lost, and wants God to help him break free from his current state; rise above the waste. Donne even goes so far as to command God to destroy the person he has become and reform him, with the words "o'erthrow me", the use of the word "me" again emphasising the intensely personal nature of the poem.

This theme of reformation is carried onto the next line, where Donne tells God to "break, blow, burn and make me new". Alliteration of the letter "b" emphasises the brutality of the actions which Donne commands God to take. Furthermore, the phrase "make me new" reaffirms the fact that Donne wants God to completely reform him.

The next line of the poem sees the beginning of an extended, military-themed metaphor. Donne compares

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