The Litanie
by John Donne
This literary composition follows the Order of Mass in this it mimics the order within which the congregation asks the varied divine and holy entities to wish for them: the daddy, the Son, the hypostasis, the Trinity, mother|The Virgin|Blessed Virgin|Madonna|Jewess|mother|female parent} Mary, the angels, the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, the confessors, the virgins, and also the doctors (teachers) to the present litany the writer prays to be free from anxiety, temptation, vanity, misdirection, sin and, ultimately, death.
Analysis
“The Litanie” was written at a dark time in Donne’s life, most likely in 1613. At now clergyman had recovered from an extended and high ill health, most likely the “spotted fever” epidemic of that point. historian suggests that clergyman wrote “The Litanie” as a penance (246) as a result of he had been close to death in his ill health. whereas convalescent from this ill health, clergyman was still terribly weak, and maybe he thought he may not pass though his recovery.
The twenty eight nine-line stanzas may be termed as holy “lyrics” (Warnke 86) within the sense that a lyric could be a personal literary composition, sometimes a couple of subject pertaining specifically to the author. clergyman was keen on the Biblical book of Psalms, and after all fifth part of his extant sermons take this will book as their text (Novarr 142). In some ways this literary composition is just like the Psalms, as every textual matter could be a song of praise to a divine (or canonized) person or set of persons. Yet, these stanzas aren't just praise and worship; they're intellectual exercises overlaying a sincere need to good the writer.
It is tempting to envision these stanzas as Donne’s prayers, although it's forever difficult to spot the writeric persona with the poet himself. “The Litanie” betrays a number of Donne’s Catholic leanings (he came from a Catholic family however selected to advance his career within the Anglican faith) in this the shape adheres largely to the Catholic Mass, though it can also be taken as associate Anglican devotion. He shared this literary composition with alternative literary men of his time, and a few of its ironies appear to be meant for associate audience, however this literary composition would be primarily a private literary composition, written sincerely on his recovery from his deathbed.
The stanzas square measure verse, with a trimeter insertion within the sixth line. They rhyme ababcdcdd, an everyday however in spades solemn theme, which attracts way more attention to the topic matter than to the meter or poetic devices. It might simply be sung like several medieval litanies, however it even as simply lends itself to rereading and pious study. Its short lines and frequent correct nouns, around that every textual matter focuses, encourage contemplative thought. The lines square measure typically end-stopped, however not ruthlessly (see particularly lines eight and nine of every textual matter, which frequently categorical one thought).
The writer calls to every entity descriptively, within the manner of praise, however while not turning off his mind. once he addresses the Trinity as “O Blessed wonderful Trinity,/Bones to Philosophy/but milke to faithe,” the reader wonders: however deeply will he doubt the Trinity as such? The idea of the Trinity, one God in 3 divine Persons, challenges philosophical logic however could be a central idea of Christian religion, providing a contradiction that appeals to Donne’s poetic mind. instead of reject it, he finds it associate apt image for the divine attributes of power, love, and data (Father, Son, and Spirit).
In the litany the writer appeals, in most stanzas, to the entities’ characteristic qualities so as to draw removed from him the errors of his humanity. His textual matter on mother|The Virgin|Blessed Virgin|Madonna|Jewess|mother|female parent} Mary takes a under typical stance on the mother of God. instead of raise her to wish for him, he addresses the divine in thanks for her prayers and for her “Whose wombe was a wierd heav’n for there/God cloath’d himself, and grew” (39-40). Addressing the various figures within the Christian religion of his time could be a customary methodology of non secular meditation utilized in many religions these days.
Perhaps even over alternative Christian spiritual poets adore Hopkins (Roston 157), clergyman portrays his character as a curious combination of aware flaws and vanity. The poet’s flaws square measure on show here, however his vanity can not be entirely hidden by it, and he demonstrates his wit at the same time as he struggles with humility. clergyman wasn't up to now faraway from medieval thought and observe once it came to faith, and like many medieval contemplative, clergyman focuses on the sin of humanity despite the fact that most of his attention is on his own faults. The contradiction in many of us is that an equivalent one who is frightened of his own lack of price is additionally happy with his sensible qualities. clergyman cannot resist very little intellectual prospers, adore within the lines “Temptations martyr America alive; a man/Is to himself a Diocletian” (98-99), however in textual matter twenty one, he prays, “When we tend to square measure emotional to appear religious/Only to vent wit ; Lord, deliver us.” (Diocletian was a Emperor United Nations agency persecuted Christians.)
The critic Murray Roston argues that the stress within the poet’s vanity and humility arises as a result of clergyman created this literary composition one thing of a non secular exercise instead of a in person sincere devotion (157). the very fact that clergyman takes the overall and public format of the liturgy (litany) as his pattern makes the literary composition so much less personal than his alternative spiritual lyrics, adore the most effective of his Holy Sonnets.
Donne’s vanity or, if it's not vanity, his selection to not abandon his intellectual fancies as he prays, shows the uniting of logic and intellectual rigor together with his religion. this can be maybe the foremost important revelation of his temperament. Donne, the learned, sensible man, wouldn't discarding of his chop-chop associative mind once praying or writing poems of religion. He has to see, suppose, and perceive the paradoxes concerned in grasp each reason and religion, even as he's employed to know the Trinity as each 3 and one, hoping to reconcile religion and reason in himself and in his reader. His textual matter on the Patriarchs reveals this time well: “Let not my mind be winker by additional light/Nor by religion, by Reason additional, lose her sight.”
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