2nd Analysis of A Hymn to God the Father

A Hymn to God the Father

By John Donne

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

Which is my sin though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run,

And do them still, though still I do deplore?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

A year or two, but wallowed in, a score?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself that at my death thy Sun

Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

And having done that, thou hast done,

I have no more.

            The poem which the title is A Hymn To God The Father is written by John Donne. John Donne was born into a Catholic family in 1572, during a strong anti-Catholic period in England. He entered Oxford University at age 11 and later the University of Cambridge, but never received degrees, due to his Catholicism. During the 1590s, he wrote most of his love lyrics and erotic poems. His first books of poems, “Satires” and “Songs and Sonnets,” were highly prized among a small group of admirers. On his way to a promising career, John Donne became a Member of Parliament in 1601. That same year, he married 16-year-old Anne More, the niece of Sir Egerton. In 1610, John Donne published his anti-Catholic polemic “Pseudo-Martyr,” renouncing his faith. The time for writing love poems was over, and Donne devoted his energies to more religious subjects after his wife died in 1617. In 1621, Donne became dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. As John Donne’s health continued to fail him, he became obsessed with death.

            That goes without saying that the poem is written in the noon or afternoon in the writer’s house. The writer explains crystal clearly about the setting time in the third and fourth of the last stanza.

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Sun

Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

In addition, I think that the setting place of the poem is in the writer’s house. According to many sources, John Donne wrote the poem near his death. The poem is about the writer’s pray to God the father, or Jesus. As we know that people who is very old and life in pain, facing his disease, surely he only stays in their house or room. As a result, I can say that there many opportunities for the setting place. The writer may be wrote it in his house, room, hospital, or somewhere which made him very enjoy to do that.

            I represent this poem with the most common and well-known meter, that is iambic meter. Iambic meter is the most simply way and easy to remember to stressed and unstressed the sylables of this poem which the characteristic is has the same structure in all of the third stanzas. Moreover, unstressed syllables alternate with stressed syllable make the sound or rhythm of this poem more beautiful. This is a way to represent the iambic meter:

daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM

In the capitalized words, it must be stressed, and the other is unstressed. In another way, we can represent with: U  /  U  /  U  /  U  /

U: unstressed

/: stressed

Wilt THOU forGIVE that SIN where I beGUN,

Which IS my SIN though IT were DONE beFORE?

Wilt THOU forGIVE those SINS through WHICH i RUN,

And DO them STILL, though STILL i DO dePLORE?

When THOU hast DONE, thou HAST not DONE,

for I have MORE.

Wilt THOU forGIVE that SIN which I have WON

oTHERS to SIN, and MADE my SIN their DOOR?

Wilt THOU forGIVE that SIN which I did SHUN

a YEAR or TWO, but WALlowed IN a SCORE?

When THOU hast DONE, thou HAST not DONE,

for I have MORE.

i HAVE a SIN of FEAR, that WHEN i HAVE spun

my LAST thread, I shall PErish ON the SHORE;

but SWEAR by THYself THAT at MY death THY sun

shall SHINE as HE shines NOW, and HEREtoFORE;

and HAving DONE that, THOU hast DONE,

i HAVE no MORE.

The rhyme of this poem are called The English , or Shakespearean, sonnet, which has a rhyme scheme of ‘abab’.

A B A B A B (begun, before, run, deplore, done, more)

A B A B A B  (won, door, shun, score, done, more)

A B A B A B (spun, shore, Sun, heretofore, done, more)

Therefore, in reading this poem I also represent the rhythms whics is to meter as melody is to musical notes. This rhythms makes poems musical, catchy, pleasing and easy to remember. The natural speed with which the syllables flow, as well as the character of how sound moves and is interpreted by the reader, is a part of rhythms. According to the theory, I as the reader of this poem better to use the slow rhythms, because this poem is a hymn or song that the writer uses to pray and it addressed to God for getting His forgiveness. By all means, this poem has a much slower rhythms.

Some rhythms exist apart from meter altogether. In this poem there are many repetition. The writer repeats the words “Wilt thou forgive that sin” has its function that is to emphasize what the writer’s feeling. He believes that God always forgive his sins. Beside, the word “sins” always repeated seven times, it shows that the writer consider about his sins that he have done before. “When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more.” That words is repeated twice in this poem, that explain that the God always do the best for him. Also the words “shine shines” show that the sun always shines as now in the next day, and the other meaning is that happy is always in the writer’s heart.

The writer uses organic imagery (internal sensation) in this poem. This poem is about his feeling of afraid about his sins that hehave done, and now he feels that he shall perish on the shore, which the other meaning is “die”. So, he hopes and believes that God always forgive all of his sins.

The tachniques of ascribing this poem are used metaphor and simile as the figuratives language. The words “My last thread, I shall perish on the shore” is called metaphor, not to mention, the words ‘...thy Sun shall shines as it shines now, and heretofore” is called simile. Moreover, the poet’s purpose is to explain to the readers about the writer’s feeling about his afraid of his sins, but he always hopes that God always forgive his sins that he have done before.

This poem includes religion poem and it conveys through symbols which have a powerful meaning. In the title of this poem, we find the words ; A Hymn to God The Father’. If we point of that symbol ‘hymn’ and ‘God the father’, we understand that it symbolized the writer is praying to God the father, or the Catholic’s God called Jesus. Simply, hymn is simbolized with praying.

All along, this poem has a clear centeral idea which the writer wants to share with the readers. The words that always be repeated ‘Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun’, ‘wilt thou forgive those sins thtough which I run’, ‘Wilt thou forgive that sin by which I won’, ‘Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun’, have a meaning that God always forgive our sins. To say the least, as the religion people, we have to pray for His forgiveness and always be afraid about our sins the we have done. The writer feels that he have done much of sins before, he is afraid that he will die soon for his health begins to down, and he always hope that God will always forgive his sins. In short, this poem can be called as the writer’s hymn for his thankfull to God that He always forgive his sins.

Finally, after reading this poem, I look forward to giving some critism and evaluation of the poem based on the experiences reflected on the poem. On the one hand, this poem is the best poem that I have read. The words in it can touch my heart deeply, that I have the same feeling with the writer; on the other hand, the poem will be better if the writer did not use the old structure of English in choosing the words. The consequently of the old English is that the readers will have quite a few difficulties to understand the poem.