Analysis of Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Let mans Soule be a Spheare, and then, in this,
The intelligence that moves, devotion is
And as the other Spheares, by being growne
Subject to forraigne motions, lose their owne
And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a yeare their natural! forme obey:
Pleasure or businesse, so, our Soules admit
For their first mover, and are whirld by it.
Hence is's, that I am carryed towards the West
This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.
There I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare ['almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for meet
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye;
What a death were it then to see God dye?
It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke,
It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke.
Could I behold those hands which span the Poles,
And tune all spheares at once, peirc'd with those holes?
Could I behold that endlesse height which is
Zenith to us, and to'our Antipodes,
Humbled below us? or that blood which is
The seat of all our Soules, if not of his,
Make curt of dust, or that flesh which was worne
By God, for his apparel!, rag'd, and tome?
If on these things I durst not looke, durst I
Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye,
Who was Gods partner here, and furnish'd thus
Halfe of that Sacrifice, which ransom'd us?
Though these things, as I ride, be from mine eye,
They'are present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them; and thou look'st towards mee,
O Saviour, as thou hang'st upon the tree;
I turne my backe to thee, but to receive
Corrections, till thy mercies bid thee leave.
O thinke mee worth shine anger, punish mee,
Burne off my rusts, and my deformity,
Restore shine Image, so much, by thy grace,
That thou may'st know mee, and I'll turne my face.


Scheme ABCCDDEEFGHHIIJKLLMMNNBABBCOLLPPLJJJQQJJRR
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010101 00100110101 0101011101 011110111 010110101001 10011100101 1011110101 1111001111 1111110101 11111110101 1111011101 011101101 1111111101 1101000101 111111111 1100111111 1111111111 1010111111 1111010101 111110011 1101111101 0111111111 110111111 101101101 1001111111 01111011111 1111111111 1111010101 1111111111 011100010111 1111010101 11110111 1111111111 11101101100 1110110111011 1111110101 1111111101 0101110111 1111110101 1111010100 0111011111 11111101111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,850
Words 351
Sentences 14
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 42
Lines Amount 42
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,453
Words per stanza (avg) 349
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

1:49 min read
197

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

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