Reading Response on John Donne poems - Bonus will be given for quality - Essay Example

So these sonnets have an element of despair and fear in them. Donne has also worked in the church so as a preacher his sonnets have an effect passion and affections as well. The Holy Sonnets take their readers into mixed feelings of fear, hope and sadness. (poets.org, 2013) The first sonnet under discussion here is relates to death. The sonnet is opened as the poet refers to his soul as black soul. The poet has used very powerful expressions by referring his soul as black. Here black symbolize sin.

This shows the poets extreme level of despair. Moreover he accepts that his soul is so black and he is so powerless that he cannot change himself and he mourns on this. Here the poet is illustrating his struggle and difficulties he had to face in regard of his religious affairs. He has to change his religious views due to external pressure which leads to his fear of the God and he is ashamed to face him. He falls into despair resulting a cry Oh my Black Soul! That sums up his expressions of pain he is going through.

He thinks that he is imprisoned by the impurity of his thoughts and he wishes to be free from it. Only death is the answer to all of this. Such sentiments are common among human. Whenever they make sin or do something against from the order of their Lord, their conscious develops this feeling of guilt which makes them to repent. They start thinking that they do not deserve any goodness now and this makes them feel disappointed in them. The poet is undergoing such feelings but then suddenly he becomes aware of the Greatness of his God.

Here the poet depicts the seed of hope that burry’s in every human soul, a hope that his God will forgive him by His grace. At every instant in the world people make mistakes they get into sinful acts consciously or unconsciously. If not for this hope, the world would have been a place of utter despair and resentment. So this hope that he will be forgiven supports mankind to get them correct and chose the right path from onwards. Furthermore the poet uses colors to symbolize each change in his spiritual state.

He uses black as a mourning or resentment of his actions. Then he uses red to define his sinful life and he mourns that the God, by His grace, change this state to white and bless him with innocence and forgiveness. The next sonnet the poet again shares the same expressions of sin and failure. As it has been discussed previously, the turmoil within his life and especially his religious beliefs has resulted in the form of these Holy Sonnets. The poet has used these sonnets as an outlet to express his bitterness, his confusion and hence has tried to deal his confusion by writing this sonnet and thus directs his passion towards God.

He says that a man is a world in himself. In fact it is the creation of a God, a self contained system. There is no doubt in it and man just wonders at such a marvelous creation of God. There are so many people in this world yet they are so different from each other. Two people may be alike in appearance but their finger prints are different and unique that stands as their identity. They have different habits, have different mind sets and the way they functions, it’s truly is a miracle. Here the poet says that he is a world in himself but his sins have betrayed him and he has to face the consequences in the afterlife.

His body and his soul, both have failed him since they were unable to work in the way they were supposed to work. The poet now thinks that he