Holy Sonnet 6: This is my plays last scene

Question 1

Overview:

Answer 1

The sonnet is a meditation on death, where death is presented as a liberating release from earthly life. The comparison of life being a play notes the temporary nature of a person’s time on earth.

Question 2

Images associated with ending - death.

Answer 2

• “This is my plays last scene” - conventional opening image - the stage as a metaphor for life was used conspicuously by Shakespeare.

“last” is repeated, gives it a sense of finality.

Question 3

Presentation of life as a pilgrimage.

Answer 3

“My pilgrimages last mile”.
- Focus on the “last mile” - pointing towards the latter stages in life.

• Pilgrimage is a religious journey - soul moving towards God.

Question 4

Form:

Answer 4

• Frequent caesura forces a sense of finality.
• Constant halting in the flow of the poem creates a fearful tone.

Question 5

“And gluttonous death will instantly unjoint/ My Body and my soul, and I shall sleep a space”

Answer 5

• Death personified as “gluttonous” - One of Catholicisms 7 deadly sins.
• Donne suggests that death wants to butcher him - violent verb “unjoint” -conveys a violent separation of body and soul in death.
• The separation will lead to an oblivion that will be a respite from the fear that precedes death.

Question 6

“But my ever-waking part shall see that face”.

Answer 6

• ambiguity in terms of the denotation of “the face”.
• Could be a reference to God or death or the devil.
• It is the soul that is seeing the face.

Question 7

“Then, as my soul to’heaven, her first seat, takes flight”.

Answer 7

• Volta of the poem.
• tone of fear switches to calm reassurance.
• The soul is personified as female.
• Suggests some sort of completion in body and soul as a result of death.

Question 8

“Impute me righteous, thus purged of evil”.

Answer 8

• Protestant plea.
• Wants to get read of original sin - requires salvation from god.