Derek Benedict

English 263

Professor John Marsh

14 March 2012

Man’s Reliance on God and the Inability to Save One’s Self

in John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 14”

John Donne’s poem, “Holy Sonnet 14,” chronicles the personal pleas and desires of

a speaker who cries out to God for love, acceptance, and intervention in his sin-filled life.

Throughout the entirety of the poem, Donne portrays the speaker as a desperate

individual struggling to break free from the “enemy” (10) (which refers to Satan or sin)

that keeps him from entering a relationship with the “three-personed God” (1) (i.e., the

Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The recognition of his own weaknesses

compels the speaker to turn to God for strength as he longs for spiritual transformation by

any means necessary. However, the passage raises the question of why the speaker cries

out to God to fix his problems instead of taking personal responsibility to combat his

troubled life. Despite the troubles the speaker deals with throughout the poem, he seems

unable to take measures into his own hands. Donne’s writing style and intentional

incorporation of particular poetic devices throughout the poem sheds light onto this

question and gives insight as to why the speaker has such a dependence on God to save

him from his misery.

[TONE]

The speaker’s serious and desperate tone throughout the poem gives the impression

that there was a specific event, or an antecedent scenario, that led to the composition of

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the sonnet. The passage implies that the speaker knows what he wants God to do in his

life, as if he has had a relationship in the past with the God whom he so desperately seeks

and has since fallen from grace. The line that states, “I, like an usurped town, to another

due,” (5) may illustrate that the speaker once had upstanding relations with God, but has

since been overthrown and captured by sin. Line 11 reiterates this notion by stating,

“Divorce me, untie or break that knot again.” The use of the word “again” at the end of

the line implies that the speaker has suffered similarly before. Assuming that the speaker

has fallen from his initial union with God leads to a further understanding as to why the

speaker pleads for God’s intervention: He knows from past experience that he lacks the

intrinsic strength to set his paths straight and must rely on God to bring him back. This

antecedent scenario not only explains why the poet composes the poem, but also clarifies

why the speaker seems to go out of his way to use such brutal diction to illustrate his

desires.

[DICTION]

Throughout the poem, Donne’s use of violent, aggressive language adds an

interesting dimension to the piece. Whereas the Christian God usually receives labels

such as loving, forgiving and gracious, Donne’s intentional utilization of abusive diction

accentuates the speaker’s inability to change himself by his own strength; the speaker

needs God’s intentional intervention to break him from his current state of sin. The poem

opens with the speaker asking God to “batter” his heart (1) and is followed by strong

verbs such as “o’erthrow” (3) and “break, blow, burn” (4), all which refer back to the

speaker’s yearning for change in his life. The aggressive language in the initial lines of

the poem highlights the intensity of the speaker’s desire—the speaker wastes no time

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humbling himself before God and will accept any form of pain (be that physical, mental,

emotional or spiritual) if it leads to transformation. Likewise, the belligerent nature of

the acts that must be taken in order to truly change the speaker’s life highlight the

severity of the speaker’s sinful state. The poem’s final line in which the speaker calls for

God to “ravish” him to purity (14) is the final image of the passage. A longing to be

pillaged, destroyed, plundered or spiritually raped — to suffer extensively at the hands of

the Creator — signifies the desire in the speaker’s heart for a holy union with God. The

speaker’s call for aggressive, abusive action illustrates the speaker’s knowledge of the

extent of his situation, as well as his own inability to personally take the necessary steps

to improve his current state.

[ SKELETON]

The speaker’s unfortunate position of being pinned down by God’s enemy is

strongly reflected in the skeleton, or emotional shape, of the poem. Throughout the

entirety of the poem, the speaker finds himself unable to have much of a positive outlook

towards his current state. The poem is filled with sadness and the speaker is in turmoil as

he relentlessly calls out for God’s mercy and love; there is no emotional curve—no

delighted peaks to offset the downcast valleys—but rather an emotional flatness

encompassing sadness and a troubled spirit. The only line in the poem that reflects any

sense of positivity associated with the speaker comes when he states, “Yet dearly I love

You, and would be loved fain,” (9). The poem seems as if it is changing direction and

encompassing a more hopeful attitude; however, the harsh reality that the speaker is

“betrothed” to the enemy (10) quickly stifles any hope the line seems to promote. The

poet could have given the speaker hope at some point throughout the poem, thus giving

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the speaker a sense of optimism; however, the decision to keep the speaker in an

emotional pit emphasizes the pain and trouble the speaker finds himself in, and the

importance of relying on God to rectify his situation and bring him to happiness.

[LITERARY DEVICES]

This happiness is pursued in two different scenarios in the poem with each scenario

expressed in metaphorical form. In typical sonnet fashion, the speaker switches his focus

in the ninth line of the poem and heads in a different direction to further emphasize his

point. Whereas the first eight lines of the poem are a plea to God asking Him to tear

down the fortress of sin that is holding him hostage, the final six lines of the poem

portray the speaker as the spouse of God’s enemy—a spouse that desperately wants out

of the marriage. In both situations, the speaker is at the mercy of another. He is initially

likened to a captured town and doesn’t have the power to open the gates to God, while

the speaker needs God’s intervention to break the marriage knot that binds him to the

enemy. In both situations, the speaker makes it clear that he is helpless and is solely

dependent on God. These two metaphors draw attention to the speaker’s inability to take

action on his own; he is helpless and weak, and he is unable to take personal

responsibility to assist himself. His fate rests with the forces that have power over his life,

forces that are opposed to the God he desires. He is trapped in both scenarios with God

being his only outlet to true love and happiness.

[STYLE]

The lack of happiness Donne includes in his sonnet separates this work from a

majority of poems. This unique style of keeping the speaker in a perpetual state of

torment and uncomfortableness adds to the imagination of the poem and makes it a

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memorable piece. By the end of the poem there is no conclusion concerning the

speaker’s fate: Did he ever break free from the enemy that was holding him down and

unite with the three-personed God for whom he longed? The lack of a resolution by the

poem’s end highlights the fact that the speaker does not have control over the situation

and must succumb to timing and desires of the God he so desperately yearns for.

Throughout Holy Sonnet 14, there is evidence to support the notion that, in John

Donne’s opinion, man is incapable of a developing a relationship with God on his own

accord; people must earnestly seek God and desire for Him to intervene in their lives for

Him to take action. Donne makes it evident that there is nothing man can do to on his

own to escape sin other than relying on God to save them from their depraved lives.

Donne’s strategic incorporation of particular elements (i.e., diction, divisions, skeleton of

emotions, language, imagination, etc.) in his poem accentuates the raw emotion felt by

the speaker and his desire not only to draw near to God, but to rely on God to help him

escape the sin and worldly distractions in his life, as well.

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