Analysis of Holy Sonnet IV: Oh my black soul!

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Oh my black soul! now art thou summoned
By sickness, death's herald, and champion;
Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done
Treason, and durst not turn to whence he is fled;
Or like a thief, which till death's doom be read,
Wisheth himself delivered from prison,
But damned and haled to execution,
Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned.
Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack;
But who shall give thee that grace to begin?
Oh make thy self with holy mourning black,
And red with blushing, as thou art with sin;
Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might
That being red, it dyes red souls to white.


Scheme ABBCCBBADEDEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 111111110 1101100100 11101010111 10011111111 1101111111 101010110 11011010 111111010 1111011111 1111111101 1111110101 0111011111 1110111111 1101111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 117
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 487
Words per stanza (avg) 115
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

36 sec read
229

John Donne

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

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