A Hymn to God the Father
During a severe sickness, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, asked of God three boons.
1623
King James I 1603-1625
During a severe sickness, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, asked of God three boons.
1623
King James I 1603-1625
John Donne had been a soldier and assistant to prominent lawyer Sir Thomas Egerton; but James I encouraged him to be ordained in the Church of England, and in 1621 he was appointed Dean of St Paul’s in London. A life-threatening bout of illness in 1623 caused him to reflect deeply and not a little anxiously on where he stood with God.
Original spelling.
Wilt thou forgive that sinne where I begunne,
Which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sinne through which I runne,
And do run still: though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,*
For, I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I have wonne
Others to sinne? and, made my sinne their doore?
Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I did shunne
A yeare, or two: but wallowed in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sinne of feare, that when I have spunne
My last thred, I shall perish on the shore;
But sweare by thy selfe, that at my death thy sonne*
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, Thou hast done,
I feare no more.
Original spelling.
* It is possible that Donne intended a play on his name here, as Donne rhymes with ‘done’. ‘When thou hast done, thou hast not Donne’ would therefore mean ‘When you have finished, you will not yet have Donne’.
* Some manuscripts have ‘sunne’ (sun).
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What does Donne ask of God in this poem?
Forgiveness of sins, and assurance of salvation.