The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne, Volume 7, Part 1: The Holy Sonnets

HSMade

~ HSMade COMMENTARY General Commentary In an eighteenth...century Moravian Brethren's hymn...book (A Collection ofHymns) (1754 [1966,19-20]), four Holy Sonnets-HSMade, HSDue, HSSpit, and HSWhatare used, slightly altered, and combined to make up hymn number 383. Lofft (1813, n.p.) includes Donne in a group of poets who have, with respect to the sonnet, "eminently contributed to its Dignity and Beauty, or that of the Quatuor... zain," and prints HSMade, ED, and SB. The anonymous author of an article on Donne in The Leisure Hour (1864, 557) comments briefly on the poetry and prints HSMade, observing that in it Donne "ex... presses the conflicts of his soul." MacDonald (1868, 121-23), both praising and criticizing the Holy Sonnets, quotes in full HSMade, HSSouls, and HSDeath, describing them as "very fine" (12 I). Gosse (1899, 2:1°7) says of HSMade that "[r]arely was the natural language of the heart sustained so long by Donne in his verse as in this noble sonnet." Sinclair (19°9, 197) praises the poem as one of a number of sonnets "of remark... able beauty from Donne in a later life and graver mood." Gransden (1954,128) describes HSBlack, HSMade, and HSScene as "rather som... bre" sonnets that present a poet seeking "strength, grace, and forgiveness from Christ." Rawlinson (1968, 1°5-13) states that in HSMade Donne, "obviously in middle or advancing age, and no longer with the optimism of youth, feels acutely aware of his own weakness, his inability to lead the good life without God's help" (105). The sonnet, he says, could only have been written by a man at a particular time of life: Donne feels the onset of physical decay, Rawlinson contends, and he fears ap... proaching death and possible extinction. He writes that Donne is trapped between his despair, that is, his sense of guilt for past pleasures, and his fear of death, and both are too terrible to contemplate (112). Further, Rawlinson notes, the language of HSMade enacts its meaning in us: "we recreate for ourselves his moment of paralysed panic" (112). Rawlinson argues that there is a downward movement in the octave, which is replaced by an upward movement in the sestet, as the "in... rush of life and hope into a feeble ageing man" becomes evident. The sonnet is "incomparably vehement," he concludes, Donne's prayer "desperately urgent" (11213 )· Schwartz (1968, 35 I-54) argues that once we have grasped the literal meaning ~ HSMade COMMENTARY General Commentary In an eighteenth-century Moravian Brethren's hymn-book (A Collection of Hymns) (1754 [1966,19-20]), four Holy Sonnets-HSMade, HSDue, HSSpit, and HSWhatare used, slightly altered, and combined to make up hymn number 383. Lofft (1813, n.p.) includes Donne in a group of poets who have, with respect to the sonnet, "eminently contributed to its Dignity and Beauty, or that of the Quatuorzain ," and prints HSMade, ED, and SB. The anonymous author of an article on Donne in The Leisure Hour (1864,557) comments briefly on the poetry and prints HSMade, observing that in it Donne "expresses the conflicts of his soul." MacDonald (1868, 121-23), both praising and criticizing the Holy Sonnets, quotes in full HSMade, HSSouls, and HSDeath, describing them as "very fine" (12 I). Gosse (1899, 2:107) says of HSMade that "[r]arely was the natural language of the heart sustained so long by Donne in his verse as in this noble sonnet." Sinclair (19°9,197) praises the poem as one of a number of sonnets "of remarkable beauty from Donne in a later life and graver mood." Gransden (1954, 128) describes HSBlack, HSMade, and HSScene as "rather sombre " sonnets that present a poet seeking "strength, grace, and forgiveness from Christ." Rawlinson (1968, 1°5-13) states that in HSMade Donne, "obviously in middle or advancing age, and no longer with the optimism of youth, feels acutely aware of his own weakness, his inability to lead the good life without God's help" (1°5). The sonnet, he says, could only have been written by a man at a particular time of life: Donne feels the onset of physical decay, Rawlinson contends, and he fears approaching death and possible extinction. He writes that Donne is trapped between his despair, that is, his sense of guilt for past pleasures, and his fear of death, and both are too terrible to contemplate (112). Further, Rawlinson notes, the language of HSMade enacts its meaning in us: "we recreate for...