Holy Donne Sonnets

 As exploration of technique, hidden meaning, and style of sonnet writing pursues and continues, John Donne is a notable and creative writer to highlight. His work covers a variety of feelings and events during the time period he lived in while coinciding with important meanings behind each. In the selection of his Holy Sonnets, Sonnet 5 is one I found interesting and took upon to analyze a bit deeper than surface level. The first line "I AM a little world made cunningly Of Elements, and an Angelike spright" establishes this feeling of personal belittlement but can be extract from the world. The writer is in his own small world with elements both physically and what seems to be spiritually as well. But again to connect to it, it comes from the overall world around him. To further explain, the two topics of elements is curated throughout the sonnet leaving the reader to believe the world outside of the small world the writer is in is entirely composed of such elements. The world is full of remorse and despair such that Donne is feeling within himself as well. To come back to the idea of the spiritual aspect, Donne explains that sins are destroying this world and the elements within them by ending the sonnet with "But oh it must be burnt! alas the fire Of lust and envie have burnt it heretofore, And made it fouler; Let their flames retire". When analyzing, it seems as though Donne's solution to sin and the detriment it is causing to the world must be to burn it. This way, the earth will be cleansed and wiped of sin such that the downfall, emotion, and negative elements will dissipate entirely and replaced instead with healing. 


https://www.berfrois.com/2020/06/ed-simon-john-donne-social-isolation/


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