Reciprocal love in John Donnes Holy Sonnets Essay -- John Donne Holy

Reciprocal revere in John Donnes Holy SonnetsHoly Sonnet XV deals with the question of reciprocal love that runs passim Donnes religious poetry. The Sonnet is an address of the speaker units mind to the speakers soul it is a meditation on the Trinity and homophiles birth to idol. The meters form and the multi-layered conflation throughout expound upon the nature of the Trinity. The theme of humility in reciprocal religious love or receiving and understanding divinitys glory (as Donne understood it) runs throughout the poem. This allows the speakers soul to understand his own need for humility in come in to love god fully. Donne uses the Sonnet form cunningly in this poem the formal divisions of the Sonnet reflect the trinity, with three four-line sections, while the inner workings of the poem expound upon Gods love for man configuration and the need for humility. The poems rhyme scheme is abba/abba/cddc/ee. This formally divides the poem into three four subtract sections th at move from the spiritual to the physical downward through the Trinity, increasing tangibility with regard to the physical and allowing the speaker to achieve a closer relationship with God through Christ. Each four-line section expounds upon one aspect of the Trinity- God the Spirit/God the Father/God the Son. Donne continually juxtaposes the explication of aspects of the Trinity with explication of mans relationship to God, resulting in a high degree of conflation throughout. The first line opens with a simultaneous statement of doubt and faith, Wilt thou love God, as He thee? While the speaker is convinced of Gods love, he doubts his ability to reciprocate. This is in contrast to many of Donnes other Holy Sonnets in which the speaker continuously implores ... ...al in lines one and two with enjambment between the words digest and my soul. He even goes so far as to conflate God the Father with depraved man through enjambent and the phrase robbed man in line 9. In fact, this line seems to actually serve as a kind of volta due to the ultimate extreme of conflation, thus following the traditional Italian sonnet form. This emphasizes the purity of the form as representative of the Trinity in this sonnet. Donnes use of the form of the poem itself as an embodiment of the Trinity seems to further emphasize the perceived interrelatedness of all things, and therefore supports the mutual statement of love that opens the poem. So, the conflation rises to yet another level, where the poem itself is a resonation of Gods love as a manifestation of the trinity, and Donne takes the role of creator, thus acting in the pattern of God.