Holy Sonnet 5 - "I am a little world"

Question 1

Overview:

Answer 1

The sonnet forms a plea to god for a spiritual purging of sin. The speaker of the poem demonstrates an acute desperation for redemption from God, indicated in the range of images of water and fire.

Question 2

“I am a little world made cunningly”.

Answer 2

• Conceit of speaker being a “little world”.
• Highlight his relative insignificance compared to the rest of goods creation.
• microcosm of himself to the celestial realm.

Question 3

“but black sin has betrayed to endless night/ My worlds both parts, and oh both parts must die”.

Answer 3

• The hyperbolic reference to sin.
• Suggests that sin has consumed him - builds on the cosmological image.
• “O” - excalamtive - shows his shock and perhaps pain of being excluded from God as a result of his sin.
• Typographically, may also be representing the small world he represents.

Question 4

“Pour new seas in mine eyes/ so that I might drown my world with my weeping earnestly”.

Answer 4

• Donne’s uses the Petrarchan conceit of drowning the world with tears - captures the conventional sense of excess emotion through the hyperbole.
• Seeks purification from his sins through the waters of the flood.
• Perhaps alluding to the biblical flood.
• imperatives show a sense of desperation.

Question 5

“But, O, it must be burnt”.

Answer 5

• juxtaposing the flooding.
• now wants to be cleansed through fire.
• Flames of purificatio vs the flames of lust that are mentioned - perhaps the need for salvation comes from Donne’s promiscuous past.

Question 6

“doth in eating heal”.

Answer 6

• small world being healed by the purifying nature of the fire.
• resolves his religious conflict.