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crossref-it.info - AS/A2 English Literature Study Guides - texts in context.

 

John Donne: Poem analysis » At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners

On the subject of death

This is one of the Holy Sonnets or Divine Poems dealing with the subject of death. It is most like Death be not Proud in that it is based on the same biblical passage (1 Corinthians 15:35-57), and in that some of the language is very similar. But it also relies on a tradition of apocalyptic language derived from the Bible.

More on apocalyptic language: Apocalypse is the Greek word for Revelation. The apocalyptic language of the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible (containing visions of the end of time) and of other Bible passages have always had a profound effect on the Christian imagination. Here, the trumpets and angels are based on a combination of 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 and Revelation 11:15. Both verses had entered Christian art and symbolism at an early stage so Donne is drawing on images very familiar to his readers. We still talk of the ‘four corners of the world’ today, even though we know the earth is round. Revelation 7:1 shows how these images entered the ancient Christian imagination.

Unlike Death be not Proud, however, this is in Petrarchan form, having an octave and a sestet, with a marked change of tone between the two. The octave is dramatic, imagining the drama of Christ's Second Coming, when Christian teaching says that the dead will rise again (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The day the dead are resurrected

Donne combines technical accuracy with his traditional imagery in ‘At the round earth's imagin'd corners’. This is reflected in his imagining what will happen on the day the dead are resurrected, just as the British artist Stanley Spencer did in the twentieth century. Donne speaks as if dead souls will somehow re-inhabit their old bodies. He therefore imagines where the old bodies lay in death, and also how they died, just as in Death be not Proud. Some, of course, will not have to die. They will still be alive when Christ returns (l.8).

A paradox?

The sestet returns to Donne himself. It will be too late to ask for forgiveness of sins on that day. The sonnet finishes with an apparent paradox. The poet asks ‘Teach me how to repent’ - it doesn't come naturally to him. Then he goes on to say ‘for that's as good/ as if thou hadst seal'd my pardon with thy blood’. In Christian teaching, as Donne was well aware, Christ has sealed the pardon of Christians with his blood (cf Hebrews 9:12-14) in the sense that he died on the cross to make forgiveness possible for humankind. There is no ‘as if’ about it. So what do we make of the ‘as if’ which Donne inserts? Perhaps Donne is saying that pardon is available to him but that he needs to repent of his sinfulness in order to receive it: ‘When I do repent, then the pardon already obtained for me, will actually be given to me’. He may also be voicing the conviction that repentance will indeed bring instant, certain pardon since he knows that Christ has made it possible. These lines are designed to make the reader stop short and think.

Investigating At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
  • In At the round earth’s imagined corners
    • What is the effect of the long lists in ll.7,8?
    • Where does it climax?
    • Compare the way Donne uses this list with those in other sonnets
    • What do you understand by the image of ‘seal'd our pardon’?
  • How could you bring out the contrasts in tone and viewpoint if reading the poem out loud?
  • Do you think the poem finishes on an open, unfinished note? Or is there a sense of confidence on Donne's part?

 

In Themes and significant ideas, see Death as friend or foe

Resources:

The sonnet has been set to music by Benjamin Britten: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35

The art of Stanley Spencer is a modern depiction of the end of time and the resurrection of the dead.

Today's New International Version
35But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: human beings have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. 42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: 'The first Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 50I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 55'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
King James Version
35But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today's New International Version
52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
King James Version
52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Today's New International Version
15The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.'
King James Version
15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Today's New International Version
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
King James Version
1And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Today's New International Version
16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
King James Version
16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Today's New International Version
12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
King James Version
12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Set apart, sacred.
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.
Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.
A revelation or 'unveiling' of future events; the heavenly world in a highly symbolic form.
The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament, drawn from writings produced from c.40-125CE, which describe the life of Jesus and the establishment of the Christian church.
1. The supernatural showing of some hidden truth or person; a moment of insight where new meaning is established in the belief system of a person 2. In the Bible, the name given to the last book of the New Testament, which uncovers the future.
Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church.
Supernatural beings closely linked with the work of God; his messengers, traditionally portrayed as having a winged human form.
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 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.
The 6-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, occupying the last six lines, sometimes divided into tercets or couplets. It often resolves the problem poses in the octave or comments significantly on it.
The tone of voice in which anything is to be read in: e.g. lyrical, dramatic, contemplative.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
In Christian theology the doctrine that Jesus Christ will return to the earth for a second time, but this time for the purposes of judgement and the bringing in of a new world.
Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church.
Figure of speech in which a person or object or happening is described in terms of some other person, object or action, either by saying X is Y (metaphor); or X is like Y (simile). In each case, X is the original, Y is the image.
1. To raise someone from the dead. 2. To use again or bring to attention once more.
The spirit which gives life to a human being; the part which lives on after death; a person's inner being (personality, intellect, emotions and will) which distinguishes them from animals.
1. The action of forgiving; pardon of a fault, remission of a debt. 2. Being freed from the burden of guilt, after committing a sin or crime, through being pardoned by the one hurt or offended.
Disobedience to the known will of God. According to Christian theology human beings have displayed a pre-disposition to sin since the Fall of Humankind.
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.
A figure of speech wherein an apparently contradictory set of ideas is presented as being, in fact, part of the same truth.
1. Instrument of execution used in the Roman Empire. 2. The means by which Jesus Christ was put to death and therefore the primary symbol of the Christian faith, representing the way in which he is believed to have won forgiveness for humankind.
The act of turning away, or turning around from, one's sins, which includes feeling genuinely sorry for them, asking for the forgiveness of God and being willing to live in a different way in the future.