Analysis of Holy Sonnet VIII: If Faithful Souls Be Alike Glorified
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
If faithful souls be alike glorified
As angels, then my fathers soul doth see,
And adds this even to full felicity,
That valiantly I hells wide mouth o'erstride:
But if our minds to these souls be descried
By circumstances, and by signs that be
Apparent in us, not immediately,
How shall my mind's white truth by them be tried?
They see idolatrous lovers weep and mourn,
And vile blasphemous conjurers to call
On Jesus name, and Pharisaical
Dissemblers feign devotion. Then turn,
O pensive soul, to God, for he knows best
Thy true grief, for he put it in my breast.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDDEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110110 1101110111 01110110100 110011111 1110111111 110001111 01001101000 1111111111 11010010101 01100111 110101 1101011 1101111111 1111111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 560 |
Words | 103 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 447 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 101 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 102 Views
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"Holy Sonnet VIII: If Faithful Souls Be Alike Glorified" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22518/holy-sonnet-viii%3A-if-faithful-souls-be-alike-glorified>.
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