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 Views
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