Holy Sonnets

Holy Sonnets

(1) Holy Sonnet 1:"Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?"

Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste,

I run to death, and death meets me as fast,

And all my pleasures are like yesterday;

I dare not move my dim eyes any way,

Despair behind, and death before doth cast

Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste

By sin in it, which it t'wards hell doth weigh;

Only thou art above, and when towards thee

By thy leave I can look, I rise again;

But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,

That not one hour my self I can sustain;

Thy Grace may wing me to prevent his art,

And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart.

Plot Summary of “Thou hast made me”:

The speaker is talking to God. He tells God that his death is near. He feels that with all of the sins he has committed he is leaning towards hell instead of heaven. Satan has tempted him too much and he doesn’t know if he can even go an hour without giving in to Satan’s evil ways. The speaker asks God to give him wings so that he may ascend into heaven and prevent Satan from taking him to hell. 

(2) Holy Sonnet 5: “I am a little world made cunningly” I am a little world made cunningly Of elements, and an angelic sprite ; But black sin hath betray'd to endless night My world's both parts, and, O, both parts must die. You which beyond that heaven which was most high Have found new spheres, and of new land can write, Pour new seas in mine eyes, that so I might Drown my world with my weeping earnestly, Or wash it if it must be drown'd no more. But O, it must be burnt ; alas ! the fire Of lust and envy burnt it heretofore, And made it fouler ; let their flames retire, And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal Of Thee and Thy house, which doth in eating heal.

(3) Holy Sonnet 9: “If poisonous minerals, and if that tree”

If poisonous minerals, and if that tree

Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,

If lecherous goats, if serpents envious

Cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?

Why should intent or reason, born in me,

Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous?

And mercy being easy and glorious

To God, in his stern wrath why threatens he?

But who am I, that dare dispute with thee,

O God? Oh! of thine only worthy blood,

And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,

And drown in it my sins' black memory.

That thou remember them, some claim as debt;

I think it mercy if thou wilt forget.

(4) Holy Sonnet 10:"Death be not proud, though some have called thee"

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

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.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die

Plot Summary of Holy Sonnet 10, "Death be not proud"

“Death Be Not Proud” presents an argument against the power of death. Addressing Death as a person, the speaker warns Death against pride in his power. Such power is merely an illusion, and the end Death thinks it brings to men and women is in fact a rest from world-weariness for its alleged “victims.” The poet criticizes Death as a slave to other forces: fate, chance, kings, and desperate men. Death is not in control, for a variety of other powers exercise their volition in taking lives. Even in the rest it brings, Death is inferior to drugs. Finally, the speaker predicts the end of Death itself, stating “Death, thou shalt die.”