Donne’s Holy Sonnets: The Juxtaposition of Religion and Sex
The Petrarchan sonnet is a typical love poem consisting of rather sexual language. Love does not necessarily have a sexual connotation. It can be used to describe the intimacy of a relationship between people. For instance, Christians are considered to have a love for God that is a result of friendship and reverence. In John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, intriguing comparisons between the sexual and religious are made to prove the level at which Donne wants to become close to God, which is nearly blasphemous because of the sinful nature of the juxtaposition.
Donne’s understated allusions and choice of diction in Holy Sonnet 14 allow the reader to imply the need for religious renewal within the narrator through a sexual theme. Donne asks God to clean his soul and bring him into repentance by force such as a religious rape. His corrupt and impure soul can only be cleansed by God taking control of him. Donne is trying to make the point that a human’s soul must be cleansed by whatever is necessary to be close to God. The word choices throughout Holy Sonnet 14 have a multitude of meanings but mainly mingle the lines of the righteous and the improper. Words placed near the end of the poem best show the dualities …show more content…
There is more than one allusion of taking a woman’s virginity. “O’erthrow me, and bend/ Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me knew,” implies having intercourse with the woman to cleanse her of her sins to make her “new” and controlled by God. The allusion in the last line in even more direct in implying the rape of a virgin. By saying “Nor ever chast, except you ravish me” states that the narrator loses their chastity by being ravished by God. “Ravished” is another way to say raped. It means to be seized and carried off; therefore, the narrator’s virginity is seized by
The Petrarchan sonnet is a typical love poem consisting of rather sexual language. Love does not necessarily have a sexual connotation. It can be used to describe the intimacy of a relationship between people. For instance, Christians are considered to have a love for God that is a result of friendship and reverence. In John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, intriguing comparisons between the sexual and religious are made to prove the level at which Donne wants to become close to God, which is nearly blasphemous because of the sinful nature of the juxtaposition.
Donne’s understated allusions and choice of diction in Holy Sonnet 14 allow the reader to imply the need for religious renewal within the narrator through a sexual theme. Donne asks God to clean his soul and bring him into repentance by force such as a religious rape. His corrupt and impure soul can only be cleansed by God taking control of him. Donne is trying to make the point that a human’s soul must be cleansed by whatever is necessary to be close to God. The word choices throughout Holy Sonnet 14 have a multitude of meanings but mainly mingle the lines of the righteous and the improper. Words placed near the end of the poem best show the dualities …show more content…
There is more than one allusion of taking a woman’s virginity. “O’erthrow me, and bend/ Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me knew,” implies having intercourse with the woman to cleanse her of her sins to make her “new” and controlled by God. The allusion in the last line in even more direct in implying the rape of a virgin. By saying “Nor ever chast, except you ravish me” states that the narrator loses their chastity by being ravished by God. “Ravished” is another way to say raped. It means to be seized and carried off; therefore, the narrator’s virginity is seized by