crossref-it.info - AS/A2 English Literature Study Guides - texts in context.John Donne: Poem analysis » A Hymn to God, my God, in my Sicknesse » Commentary on Hymn to God, my God
Heavenly music
The poem is a series of three images or conceits, the main one being a symbolic geography that occupies the central stanzas, 2-5. The title ‘hymn’ suggests church music, and this is the source of the opening conceit. The speaker needs to prepare himself before he finally enters ‘thy Quire of Saints’, that is to say, heaven.
Map making
The symbolic geography takes the idea of the microcosm: his body is a world, and his physicians are mapping it. He plays with various map-making ideas:
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In flat maps of the world, the right hand edge is the same as the left hand edge
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He also plays with the word ‘straights’. In geography this can denote a narrow and often turbulent channel of water (or strait) between two land masses, leading from one sea to another. In general usage it can also mean a period of difficulty and could certainly symbolise death. ‘Per fretum febris’ is Latin for ‘through the straights of fever’.
Symbolic geography
Donne then uses traditional symbolic geography based on the Bible:
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Medieval geographers believed that Paradise (the garden of Eden) was located where Jerusalem now stands. Thus the tree from which Adam ate the forbidden fruit Genesis 2:17 and first sinned, is seen as having occupied the same spot as the cross on which Christ died so that humankind could be forgiven
- This leads on to the thought that Christ is the Second Adam, who made forgiveness possible to sinful humankind. In Donne himself the first Adam and the ‘Second Adam’ are seen to be brought together (see a fuller discussion under Imagery and symbolism). As a human being, Donne suffers the consequences of Adam’s sin, including the need to work hard to earn food ‘by the sweat of his brow’, part of Adam’s punishment for his disobedience Genesis 3:19. Yet he has also been forgiven through Christ’s death.
Heavenly clothing
The final conceit is that he will be received by God because symbolically he wears Christ's clothes and crown of thorns. Donne regularly preached on the text of 2 Corinthians 4:11-14, that we are often afflicted in this life by God but will be raised up after death to a new life. Now it is happening to him.
Investigating Hymn to God, my God
- Today's New International Version
- 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die.'
- King James Version
- 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
- Today's New International Version
- 19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.'
- King James Version
- 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Today's New International Version
- 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
- King James Version
- 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
- Today's New International Version
- 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 1For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due to them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
- King James Version
- 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 1For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
An image that seems far-fetched or bizarre, but which is cleverly worked out so that the reader can understand the link.
In literature, something that is chosen to take on a particular meaning by the writer, e.g. clouds as symbols of mutability.
The little world, human beings and their inner world, often seen as paralleling the macrocosm.
The place described in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, in which God placed his first human creatures, Adam and Eve. It is depicted as a beautiful garden, often also called Paradise.
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.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
Jesus is referred to as the Second Adam.
The book of prayers and church services first put together by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King Edward VI (1547-53) for common (ie. general) use in English churches.
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