Question

How does Donne use the metaphysical conceit in this poem in Sonnet XIV? Do these comparisons help you as a reader to understand the poem? Your answer should be at least 250 words.

Answer 1

Answer:

Donne uses the extended metaphor of a ‘city’ not only in ‘Holy Sonnet XIV’ but also in ‘Loves War’. In this Elegy which was written in Donne’s youth, he describes a ‘free City’ which ‘thyself allow to anyone’ – a metaphor for how anyone can enter a woman [ii] – and goes onto say how in there he would like to ‘batter, bleeds and dye’. Here, Donne is controlling the ‘city’ and taking over it himself, however, if Donne intended to use this same metaphor in ‘Holy Sonnet XIV’, the roles have changed and it now signifies how it is Donne who needs to be seized by God’s spirit. Furthermore, this represents how Donne’s life and therefore attitude has changed between writing these poems; he used to feel in control but now he is controlled.

The physical verbs that are used immediately sets the violent theme of the octave. The spondaic feet emphasizes Donne’s cry for God to ‘break, blow’ and ‘burn’ his heart so he can become ‘imprisoned’ in God’s power, creating a paradoxical image of a benevolent God acting in a brutal way. He uses a metaphysical conceit to explain how he is ‘like an usurp’d town’ with God’s viceroy (reason) in him. This imagery of warfare that pervades the sonnet symbolises his soul at war with himself; only if God physically ‘overthrow’s’ Donne and ‘batters’ his sinful heart will he be able to ‘divorce’ the devil. It was around the time of writing this poem that Donne renounced his Catholic upbringing which gives evidence to the assumption that the sin he was struggling with began to overpower his Christian beliefs and needed God become as real to him as God was to his respected Catholic parents. Furthermore, in ‘Holy Sonnet XVII’ Donne exclaims how ‘though [he] have found [God], and thou [his] thirst hast fed, a holy thirsty dropsy melts [him] yet. This reveals that Donne feels that even though he has found God, his yearning is not satisfied which gives evidence towards the assumption that he is crying out for spiritual ecstasy. This paradox between freedom and captivity was most frequently written about by most prison poets such as Richard Lovelace [iii] Donne wrote, ‘Except you enthrall me, never shall be free’ which implies the same idea as Loveless in ‘To Althea, From Prison’ that true freedom is internal, not external, symbolising his struggle with sin whilst he is physically free.