What if this present
Contemplating the end of the world
The sonnet is one inspired by the Ignatian method of contemplation or meditation. In this contemplative method, one of the things people are asked to do is visualise the ‘Last Things', and enter imaginatively into the visualisation, seeing Christ as central if possible. Donne's imagination is nothing if not dramatic, and imagining the world's last day and, in Christian belief, the coming of Christ as judge, would be dramatic, too, we might think.
More on Ignatian meditation?
What is surprising is that we get such a quiet, assured poem. In similar poems, he is either weighed down by his sins (as in At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners), or fear (as in This is my playes last scene). But here he is certain that Christ is merciful and will receive him. He bases this on the image that has come to him in his meditation, with its ‘teares in his eyes' and ‘Blood fills his frownes'. He concludes ‘This beauteous forme assures a pitious minde'.
Former idolatry
On the way to this conclusion, he interestingly refers to his former life and his love poems, a topic not usually touched on, certainly not positively. Even though this former loving is seen as ‘idolatrie', nevertheless he applies exactly the same principle to Christ as to a beautiful woman. Beauty is a sign of pity, he used to say to his lady friends. Only ‘To wicked spirits are horrid shapes assign'd'. The paradox is that the picture he is getting is hardly beautiful: ‘frownes ... pierc'd head'. The biblical passage (Isaiah 53:2-5) usually interpreted as foretelling the sufferings of Jesus Christ certainly does not offer a pretty image.
Inspired imagination
So Donne may seem a little naïve. A dying man is not beautiful. Some beautiful women are certainly not sympathetic. Perhaps in his love poetry, he argued like this as a joke. But now he takes it seriously. It shows an interesting trust in the imagination, inspired by faith, to convey theological truth.
The sonnet form is typical of The Holy Sonnets. The octave is clearly marked, as in a Petrarchan sonnet, both by its separate rhyme scheme (abba abba), but also by the full stop at the end, and a turning to something else in the ninth line. The ‘No, no' not only marks a break, but also reminds us of Donne's speaking voice as he talks to himself aka his soul. As in the other sonnets, Donne fashions the last two lines as a couplet, as in a Shakespearean sonnet, and so concludes firmly.
Investigating What if this present
- Read through Donne's What if this present
- What does he actually picture in thinking of the ‘last night'?
- Is it what you would expect?
- In what sense is it a beautiful picture?
- How is the tone of calm conveyed in the words and the rhythm of the sonnet?
- Compare this to Batter my heart
- What are the most significant differences?
(see Summary of Themes: Death as friend or foe).
Resources: The sonnet has been set to music by Benjamin Britten:The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35
- English Standard Version
- King James Version
1Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
A sonnet is a poem with a special structure. It has fourteen lines, which are organised in a particular manner, usually characterised by the pattern of rhyming, which changes as the ideas in the poem evolve.
In the manner of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, the Society of Jesus. Used most often in terms of a form of spirituality or meditation.
1. The act of looking at something steadily with close attention. 2. Concentration on a spiritual topic as an act of religious devotion. 3. A state of special awareness of God.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church.
1. Someone given authority to preside in a court of law. 2. In the Old Testament, name given to leaders of Israel before the period of the kings.
1. Imitation, copy, likeness, statue, picture in literature, art or imagination.
2. A figure of speech in which a person or object or happening is described in terms of some other person, object or action (i.e. as a metaphor or simile)
A non-physical being, or the non-physical but vital and intelligent part of a being, not limited by physical constraints.
A figure of speech wherein an apparently contradictory set of ideas is presented as being, in fact, part of the same truth.
Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.
Belief and trust in someone or something.
Related to theology, the study of God.
A sonnet is a poem with a special structure. It has fourteen lines, which are organised in a particular manner, usually characterised by the pattern of rhyming, which changes as the ideas in the poem evolve.
Set apart, sacred.
The 8-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, always occupying the first eight lines. It sometimes has a division halfway, creating two quatrains. It poses a problem or describes some single object or incident.
In the style of Petrarch, an Italian poet of the sixteenth century, who created both a form of the sonnet and presented a courtly ideal of womanhood.
The device, frequently used at the ends of lines in poetry, where words with the same sound are paired, sometimes for contrast ' for example, 'breath' and 'death'.
A rhyming 2-line unit of verse.
