John Donne, a 16th to 17th-century poet writes poems containing many elements of his personal life and shows his characteristics through the speakers of his poems. With strategic use of literary devices, Donne effectively reveals these elements to the reader. John Donne’s poetry shows the qualities of arrogance and commanding nature in the speaker which are effectively expressed by Donne through his use of insulting diction and an aggressive tone. Donne also exhibits his faith and respect towards God as well self-reflection through the use of rhetorical questions in some of his poems. John Donne writes some of his poems in a way where he makes the speaker act like they are above a concept or object.
The concept or idea is typically thought to be uncontrollable by humans yet Donne makes the speaker think otherwise. This is evident in the poem, “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud” where the speaker talks to “Death” as if it were a person and challenges death saying it cannot kill him, and near the end of the poem the speaker says that Death is going to die. In turn, the speaker says Death is not as powerful or scary as it seems. A similar example can be found in Donne’s “The Sun Rising”. In this poem, Donne makes the speaker dislike the Sun which is evident through the speaker challenging and insulting the Sun. Similar to other poems where Death was stripped from his powers, the same is said in this poem where the sun is not as mighty as people think, “Thy beams, so reverend and strong why shouldst thou think? I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,” (“The Sun Rising”, 11-13).
Donne uses harsh diction to express these ideas. For example, in “The Sun Rising”, Donne uses rather harsh words and phrases to insult the Sun like “old fool”, “unruly”, “saucy pedantic wretch, go chide” (“The Sun Rising”). This coarse diction reveals where Donne puts the speaker in this poem, above the Sun. This idea is more explicitly stated in the last line, “This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere,” (“The Sun Rising”, 30). With the new belief that the Sun is the center of the solar system during this time period, John Donne combats this belief and puts the bed at the center, suggesting that everything should revolve around the speaker and his lover putting power in their hands.
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Additionally, this challenging nature is seen in “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud” where Donne writes: “Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,” clearly setting a position for the speaker which later aids Donne in getting his main idea of the poem across that humans overcome death when they die because they proceed to the afterlife so death is just a “short sleep” (“Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud”, 13). In addition to a strong, connotative diction, the speaker’s tone is what generates the effect for these poems with Donne’s assertiveness. Distaste and anger can be seen, especially in “The Sun Rising” where the speaker clearly has something against the Sun and wants the Sun to stop bothering him and his lover and instead go shine on other places.
This tone that Donne utilizes in his poems can be explained by his personal characteristics. A critic writes, “Donne wanted to command, he craved preeminence,” (William Kerrigan). His wanting for superiority is marked through his writing in poems and the diction he employs. The critic also says, “Donne is hugely assertive. I would go further: he is the representative in great poetry of bad manners and deliberate offense,” (William Kerrigan). His deliberate offenses in his insulting phrases in poetry contain a strong connotation which emphasizes his beliefs and distaste. Furthermore, though John Donne my exhibit dislike for objects and abstract ideas like the Sun or Death, Donne shows reverence to God in his poetry. He wrote several religious poems also known as the “Holy Sonnets”. Donne’s respect for God, as well as his repentance for his sins, is shown in his poetry.
In “A Hymn to God the Father”, the speaker, assumingly John Donne, asks for forgiveness of his sins. He does this by directly asking God himself: “Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, which was my sin, though it were done before?” (“A Hymn to God the Father”, 1-3). The repetition of the line, “Wilt thou forgive that sin”, shows the persistence of the speaker in what he is asking for magnifies his regret for his wrongdoings. This idea of repetition to emphasize the idea is supported by a critic who states, “Finally, Donne used the third part of rhetoric, elocution, to intensify visibility and relatability of all parts of a poem…The figures are either repetitive, including such things as rime or meter, or dramatic, including such things as exclamations and questions,” (Thomas O. Sloan).
John Donne employs exactly that in this poem, using repetition and questions. In contrast to speakers being arrogant with subjects such as Death and the Sun in other poems, Donne is humbler when it comes to God, with his tone being less commanding. A critic comments, “We can see how A Hymne to God my God, in my sicknesse shows u the overcoming of the fear of death and annihilation, and how A Hymne to God the Father bears witness of the establishing of a new harmonious two-way relationship between Donne and his God,” (Paavo Rissanen, 295) The speaker’s faith becomes apparent in the last line of a poem where he writes, “I fear no more,” (A Hymn to God the Father, 18). This is further supported where Donne writes, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally and death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die,” (Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud, 14).
The speaker is not afraid of dying because they believe that they will go to the afterlife, which is probably heaven in the case of Donne’s religion. Donne writes where the speaker analyzes themselves in the poems, this is evident in “A Hymn to God the Father” because the speaker talks about all of his sins, analyzing themselves. Moreover, in the poem, “The Triple Fool”, the speaker talks about themselves and how they are a fool: “I am two fools, I know” (“The Triple Fool”, 1). Donne critiques himself in a rather harsh manner. In his poems, the magnitude of his belief is expressed through the use of rhetorical questions. An example of this is: “But where’s that wiseman, that would not be I, If she would not deny?” (“The Triple Fool”, 4-5)
Asking of where the wise man implies how foolish the speaker is, similarly, the speaker asked, ‘Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before?” shows that the speaker is a sinner. In the grand scheme, Donne shows his dissatisfaction for things. Whether for speaker in “The Triple Fool” or for other things like the sun in “The Sun Rising”. Donne exhibits pride in the speaker where the speaker is challenging subjects like the Sun or Death, yet becomes humbler when examining himself and talking to God, this contrast is shown through instances where Donne uses controlling language along with an assertive tone when trying to put the speaker over the subject versus instances in other poems where the speaker humbles themselves and ask questions with a softer tone.
Additionally, John Donne includes a broad appeal to humanity and does not always look at himself as he often does in other poems. Donne, writing poems where the speaker examines themselves, often in a religious manner, also has empathy of other people unlike his feud with objects like the Sun or the idea of Death. Religiously, he wants people to be forgiven of their sins and go to heaven. An example if this is: “And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery,” (“Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud”, 7-8). Donne believes and makes a firm statement that Death is a rather good thing for good men because they will proceed to the believed better afterlife. The phrase ‘soul’s delivery’ (“Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud”, 8) suggests that though good men, they still have sin and delivery is when their sins are forgiven. This touches on the Donne’s broader belief that everyone is a sinner and must have a belief in God to relieve themselves from sin.
Likewise, in the poem, “A Hymn to God the Father”, Donne writes, “Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door?,” (“A Hymn to God the Father”, 7-8). The speaker’s remorseful tone shows that the speaker feels guilty of his sin but additionally shows that Donne is guilty that cause others to sin. Though at times, John Donne shows to be harsh and stiff, at other times he has a whole other side of being humble and guilty, accepting the wrong he does. John Donne employs different personalities in the speakers of his poems. In poems such as “The Sun Rising” and “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud”, Donne writes with a commanding tone and uses strident words towards other subjects.
However, in poems such as “A Hymn to God the Father” and “The Triple Fool”, the harshness is directed toward the speaker himself while respect is drawn to other subjects evident through Donne’s reflective tone and the questions the speaker asks. He also looks at other people and has feelings for them too, often tied in with his religion. Donne possesses both pride and humbleness, arrogance and empathy in different instances throughout his poems. These differences in the Donne’s poems give insight to the personality of John Donne himself as well as his beliefs. In the end, John Donne does not seem satisfied with anything, whether it is himself, other people, or other things and resorts to religion to resolve this.
