John Donne

HOLY SONNETS.
VII.
At the round earth's imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise apostrophe: talking to angels indicates a religious poem
From death, you numberless infinities apostrophe: addressing all the dead through time; possible hyperbole: indicates all
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go ; people from all time
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow, repetition: emphasizes no one will be left out
All whom war, dea[r]th, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you, whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death's woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space ; Turn/shift: death compared to sleep from which we awaken; apostrophe:
For, if above all these my sins abound, addresses God as if in direct contact while making a request/ God
'Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace, listening to speaker
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground, refers to Judgment
Teach me how to repent, for that's as good
As if Thou hadst seal'd my pardon with Thy blood. refers to death of Christ

1. First of all, this is not a Shakespearean sonnet. Look at the lines and see that there is a full stop after
8 lines; therefore to analyze, look at first quatrain, second quatrain and then sextet (6 lines).
2. First quatrain: speaker calls on angels to blow trumpets and all dead to arise and return to bodies.
This is Judgment Day in Christian belief.
3. Quatrain 2: all will be called to Judgment—those who are dead, those who are in hell, and those who
are not yet dead but will ascend directly to be judged.
4. Sextet: speaker asks God to postpone Judgment Day when he realizes that if he is called before God
now, It may be before God has forgiven him for any sins he has committed. Therefore, he asks God
to teach him how to repent (ask for forgiveness) while he is alive and that will be as good as a pardon
from God.
5. Devices:
a. several apostrophes indicate that the speaker is in direct communication with God, angels and the
dead. These show the speakers belief and reinforce the idea that man can speak to God and be
heard.
b. metaphor: death is compared to sleep. We awaken from sleep so the idea that death=sleep again
reinforces the idea that when the world ends, all will rise and face Judgment.
c. hyperbole: emphasizes that no one will escape Judgment; all people since the beginning of man
1. theme: it is important to ask God to forgive us for our sins as it may be too late when the world ends
and we face Judgment
2. tone: religious/reverent—note words—angels, souls, God, Lord

Finally, this poem does not have as many devices as the one on the exam; however, it does give you
some idea where Donne was coming from. He was a religious man as were many during his time.