John donne good friday. Good Friday Poem by John Donne 2022-10-07
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John Donne was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England who is best known for his metaphysical poetry and sermons. One of his most famous poems, "Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward," was written in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which was a failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. The poem reflects on the events of Good Friday, the day on which Jesus was crucified, and how they relate to the political turmoil and violence of Donne's own time.
In the poem, Donne describes how he is "riding westward," a metaphor for moving towards death, as he contemplates the significance of Good Friday. He reflects on the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus, who willingly gave up his life for the salvation of humanity. Donne draws a parallel between Jesus' sacrifice and the Gunpowder Plot, which was also an attempt to bring about change through violence and death.
Donne asks the reader to consider the motivations behind such actions, and he ultimately concludes that the only way to truly bring about change and redemption is through love and selflessness, rather than violence and hatred. He writes:
"Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."
In other words, love is eternal and knows no boundaries, and it is through love that we can truly understand and connect with one another. Donne's message is one of hope and reconciliation, reminding us that despite the violence and conflict in the world, there is always the potential for redemption and renewal.
"Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward" is a powerful and poignant reflection on the events of Good Friday and the enduring significance of Jesus' sacrifice. It is a reminder of the importance of love and selflessness in a world that too often turns to violence and hatred as a means of achieving change. Donne's words continue to inspire and resonate with readers today, offering a message of hope and redemption in times of hardship and turmoil.
Poetry for Good Friday: The Annunciation and Passion by John Donne
To provide the necessary background, what follows is a line-by-line close reading, starting from the top. What he managed instead was this poem. Analysis of Good Friday, 1613. John Donne the priest knew well that even though he had crucified and buried Jack Donne the profligate there would still be a day of reaping. We want Easter lilies without the ashes, but Donne reminds us that every resurrection begins with a grave.
In 1608, several years before he came to faith, he even wrote, but never published, Biathanatosâa defense of suicide. Hence is't that I am carryed toward the West This day, when my soule's forme leads toward the East. One short sleep past, we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. In both cases, the very containment of the energy â the mere fact of coherence, in planet or psyche â is mysterious, even wondrous. It would be his last.
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye; What a death were it then to see God dye? There are those bowels of compassion which are so conspicuous, so manifested, as that you may see them through his wounds. In the following lines, the speaker wonders over the burden of looking at Christ on the cross. It made his own lieutenant Nature shrinke, It made his footstoole crack, and the sunne winke. Riding Westward Lines 1-8 Let mans Soule be a Spheare, and then, in this, The intelligence that moves, devotion is, And as the other Spheares, by being growne And being by others hurried every day, Scarce in a yeare their naturall forme obey: Pleasure or businesse, so, our Soules admit For their first mover, and are whirld by it. Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye; What a death were it then to see God dye? Bend your neck before the will of God when it finally does. Thus, Lent is a time for us to contemplate death and mortality because we are already experiencing it.
His Spirit, as His fiery pillar, doth Lead, and His Church, as cloud ; to one end both. Painfully, what Donne begs of his Lord is precisely the flaying that Jesus underwent during the Crucifixion, the disfiguring that Donne felt sure he could not bear even to watch. For lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The number of lines dedicated to this emotion speaks to his overwhelmed mind and soul. But that Christ on this Crosse did rise and fall, Sinne had eternally benighted all.
John Donne: Poems âGood Friday, 1613, Riding Westwardâ Summary and Analysis
I thank him that prays for me when the bell tolls, but I thank him much more that catechizes me, or preaches to me, or instructs me how to live. This is a source of shame for the speaker who wants to become close to God, still he is unable to even face the image in his head. This is the rest of creation the place where the majority of the world resides. Could I behold those hands which span the poles And tune all spheares at once pierc'd with those holes? In all this, let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus. Or better still, to submit to the wisdom of a gracious Providence when we receive an answer that runs contrary to our desires. It would be too much for him. As a sheep before her shearer is dumb, open not your mouth.
There we leave you in that blessed dependency, to hang upon him that hangs upon the cross, there bathe in his tears, there suck at his wounds, and lie down in peace in his grave, till he vouchsafe you a resurrection, and an ascension into that kingdom which He hath prepared for you with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. GradeSaver, 10 June 2012 Web. It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke, It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke. Rise up and go into the moonless night with psalms of praise upon your lips. Our youth is hungry and thirsty after those sins which our infancy knew not; and our age is sorry and angry, that it cannot pursue those sins which our youth did; and besides, all the way, so many deaths, that is, so many deadly calamities accompany every condition and every period of this life, as that death itself would be an ease to them that suffer them. Yet dare I almost be glad I do not see The spectacle of too much weight for mee.
A Short Analysis of John Donneâs âGood Friday 1613. Riding Westwardâ
Take up your cross and follow on to the top of the hill. By his own account, he was a man consumed by base passions. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. The personal nature of the poem, which was written during the troubled years before his ordination in 1615, underscores the force of its ideas for Donne. Our youth is worse than our infancy, and our age worse than our youth. A year earlier he had laid out his funeral plans in verse.
On John Donneâs âGood Friday, 1613, Riding Westwardâ
Could I behold that endlesse height which is Zenith to us, and our Antipodes, Humbled below us? Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore? Somehow it has felt more urgent recently. When he was a younger man he nearly went mad after death claimed one of his children. Donne drank deeply from the wells of salvation; from waters transfigured into the choicest of wines. Downame's discussion of sinners used by God to afflict the righteous The Christian Warfare, 3. Hence is't that I am carryed toward the West This day, when my soule's forme leads toward the East.
