How to Write About Poetry

• 1. Who is the speaker? What kind of person is the speaker?

  The speaker is John Donne himself. He is at a time in his life when he is struggling with his faith.

• 2. Is there an identifiable audience for the speaker? What can we know about it (her, him, or them)?

  The audience is God. Donne regards God as superior to himself.

• 3. What is the occasion?

  Donne is questioning God regarding his sinfulness.

• 4. What is the setting in time (hour, season, century, and so on)?

  It is 1623 – during a severe illness.

• 5. What is the setting place (indoors or out, city or country, land or sea, region, nation, hemisphere)?

  unidentifiable

• 6. What is the central purpose of the poem?

  Donne seeks to confess sins and ask for forgiveness.

• 7. State the central idea or theme of the poem in a sentence.

  A man who struggles with a fear of death may seek solace in praise and confession.

• 8. What is the tone of the poem? How is it achieved?

  The overall tone of the poem is one of questioning and pleading for assurance as emphasized by the refrains that point up Donne’s struggle between his love for his wife and his love for his God.

• 9.

  • a. Outline the poem so as to show its structure and development, or

  • b. Summarize the events of the poem.

    In the first stanza Donne confesses his belief in original sin, the sinfulness of his earlier life (when he was a wanton womanizer), and his persistence in sins despite his recognition of them.

    In the second stanza he confesses that he has traduced others, and he questions whether God does or can forgive him those sins.

    In the third stanza he confesses an element of doubt in his faith and asks for an assurance that he will live in Heaven.

• 10. Paraphrase the poem.

  O Lord, will you forgive my original sin? Will you forgive those sins I persist in committing even though I recognize the sinfulness of those acts? Even if you do forgive these sins, I will persist in loving my wife (perhaps as much as I should love you alone).

  O Lord, will you forgive my seduction of others into sins of lust and lechery? Will you forgive sins that I have recently repented but indulged in for twenty years? Even if you do forgive these sins, I will persist in loving my wife (perhaps as much as I should love you alone).

  O Lord, my final sin is that I fear that when I die that death may be the end – that my faith in the afterlife will be disproved. Promise me by swearing an oath on yourself that when I die your Son will receive me. At that point, I must love you even more than I love my beloved Anne.

• 11. Discuss the diction of the poem. Point out words that are particularly well chosen and explain why.

  The word forgive occurs four times, the word sin eight times, and the word done seven times. These repetitions, along with the two-line refrain, account for much of the poem’s power.

  The pun on his own last name and his wife’s maiden name provide a puzzle and a touch of romantic love.