Annotation John

Donne ’ s Holy Sonnet

IX
Holy Sonnet IX
 If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
And, mercy being easy, and glorious
To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?
But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?
O God, O !  of Thine only worthy blood,
And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drown in it my sin's black memory.
That Thou remember them, some claim as debt ;
I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget.

Structure
1 If poisonous minerals, and if that
tree,
2 Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal)
us,
3 If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
4 Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
o Sonnet has a rhyme scheme
5 Why should intent or reason, born in me,
6 Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
of ABBAABBAACCDEE
7 And, mercy being easy, and glorious
8 To God, in His stern wrath why threatens
He ?
o Shows emphasis on line
9 But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?
10 O God, O !  of Thine only worthy blood,
12
11 And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean
flood, o Emphasis on lines 13
12 And drown in it my sin's black memory.
13 That Thou remember them, some claim as and 14 also because of
debt ;
14 I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget. change in rhyme
scheme
M e d ita tiv Poetic
Traditions
o Has structure of meditative
e p o e try poetry: 1) focus of setting 2)
analysis of points 3)
colloquies (dialogue with
God)
o Donne is often known
for using parts of
meditative poetry
Sonnet 9 structure, usually
Structure colloquies.
o Sonnet 9 uses trifold of
meditative poetry while
using traditional
Religious References
 Uses multiple religious
1 If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
references within the poem


2 Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,

3 If lecherous goats, if serpents envious

4 Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?

 Questions ways of God, and
5 Why should intent or reason, born in me,
then changes tone in line 8
6 Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ? to a tone of acceptance and
7 And, mercy being easy, and glorious
repentance.
8 To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?

9 But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?

 Structure and questions
10 O God, O !  of Thine only worthy blood, according to refer to Romans
11 And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,

12 And drown in it my sin's black memory.

8.
13 That Thou remember them, some claim as debt ;  Uses same technique of
14 I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget.
switching for first person
 plural pronoun to first person
singular pronouns to get
audience to sympathizes
with him and repent to God.
Topic of questioning also
appears in Romans 8.
  Change in Tone from line 8 to 9

Tone  May have derived from

purpose of structure to
reference Romans 8
1 If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,


2 Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal)

  Purpose to help reader
us, sympathize with
3 If lecherous goats, if serpents envious

speaker
4 Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be 
 ? Uses meditative poetry style of
5 Why should intent or reason, born in me,

dramatic statements
6 Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?

 Switches from
7 And, mercy being easy, and glorious


8 To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?


questioning to
9 But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?

explanation where
10 O God, O !  of Thine only worthy blood,

speaker is begging for
11 And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean

mercy
flood,  Connects with Donne’s past
12 And drown in it my sin's black memory.

 Troubling past shines
13 That Thou remember them, some claim as


debt ; through in questioning,

14 I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget.
 and portrays Donne’s
theme of creating
 melancholic tones
compared to spiritual
Metaphors
Use of metaphysical Displays different
metaphors imagery than
Compares sin to imagery provided
poisonous minerals, usually imagined
lusty goats, and when talking, fall of
serpents man, grace, and
Compares grace to mercy
flood


V s.
Works Cited
Archer, Stanley. "Meditation and the Structure of Donne's "Holy Sonnets"“
 ELH 28.2 (1961): 137-147. JSTOR. The Johns Hopkins University
Press. Web. March 2010

Chong, Kenneth. "Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Self-Chastisement in Donne's 'If



Poysonous Mineralls'." Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et

Réforme 29.4 (2005): 41-55. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web.
2 Mar. 2010.

Kuchar, Gary. "Petrarchism and Repentance in John Donne's Holy Sonnets."



Modern Philology: Critical and Historical Studies in Literature, Medieval

Through Contemporary 105.3 (2008): 535-569. MLA International
Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar. 2010.


Trevor, Douglas. "John Donne and Scholarly Melancholy." Studies in English



Literature 1500-1900 40.1 (2000): 81-102. Winter. Project Muse. Web. 2

March 2010