Holy Sonnet II
As due by many titles I resigneMy selfe to thee, O God, first I was madeBy thee, and for thee, and when I was decay'dThy blood bought that, the which before was thine;I am thy sonne, made with thy selfe to shine,Thy servant, whose paines thou hast still repaid,Thy sheepe, thine Image, and, till I betray'dMy selfe, a temple of thy Spirit divine;Why doth the devill then usurpe on mee?Why doth he steale, nay ravish that's thy right?Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight,Oh I shall soone despaire, when I doe seeThat thou lov'st mankind well, yet wilt'not chuse me,And Satan hates mee, yet is loth to lose mee.
Words in this poem
- sonne n.
- A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. sön, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. sunu (]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- devill n.
- The Evil One; Satan, represented as the tempter and spiritual of mankind. [AS. deófol, deóful; akin to G. , Goth. diabaúlus; all fr. L. diabolus the devil, Gr. gal to fall. Cf. Diabolic.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Holy Sonnet II is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Donne, Holy Sonnet II, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/holy-sonnet-ii.html, id L20843.
Form and metre
Holy Sonnet II is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AABBAABCDDCCC resigne · madeA · decay'dA · thineB · shineB · repaidA · betray'dA · divineB · meeC · rightD · fightD · seeC · meC · meeC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As due by many titles I resigne | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My selfe to thee, O God, first I was made | 10 | ·········· |
| By thee, and for thee, and when I was decay'd | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Thy blood bought that, the which before was thine; | 10 | ·········· |
| I am thy sonne, made with thy selfe to shine, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy servant, whose paines thou hast still repaid, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Thy sheepe, thine Image, and, till I betray'd | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| My selfe, a temple of thy Spirit divine; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Why doth the devill then usurpe on mee? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Why doth he steale, nay ravish that's thy right? | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight, | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh I shall soone despaire, when I doe see | 10 | ·········· |
| That thou lov'st mankind well, yet wilt'not chuse me, | 11 | ···//······ |
| And Satan hates mee, yet is loth to lose mee. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
Notes from the edition 7
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Line 2 God, first 1633: God. First 1635-69
- Line 4 thine; 1650-69: thine, 1633-39: thine. W
- Line 7 and, Ed: and 1633-69
- Line 9 on 1633-69, D, H49: in A18, B, N, S96, TC, W
- Line 10 steale,] steale 1633-39
- Line 12 doe 1633 and most MSS.: shall 1635-69, O'F, S96
- Line 13 me,] me. 1633
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