Holy Sonnet VI
This is my playes last scene, here heavens appointMy pilgrimages last mile; and my raceIdly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,My spans last inch, my minutes latest point,And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoyntMy body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space,But my'ever-waking part shall see that face,Whose feare already shakes my every joynt:Then, as my soule, to'heaven her first seate, takes flight,And earth-borne body, in the earth shall dwell,So, fall my sinnes, that all may have their right,To where they'are bred, and would presse me, to hell.Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evill,For thus I leave the world, the flesh, the devill.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Holy Sonnet VI 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 VI, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/holy-sonnet-vi.html, id L20847.
Form and metre
Holy Sonnet VI is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBAABBACDCDDD appointA · raceB · paceB · pointA · unjoyntA · spaceB · faceB · joyntA · flightC · dwellD · rightC · hellD · evillD · devillD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is my playes last scene, here heavens appoint | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| My pilgrimages last mile; and my race | 10 | ·/˘˘˘····· |
| Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| My spans last inch, my minutes latest point, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoynt | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| My body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| But my'ever-waking part shall see that face, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose feare already shakes my every joynt: | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Then, as my soule, to'heaven her first seate, takes flight, | 12 | ············ |
| And earth-borne body, in the earth shall dwell, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So, fall my sinnes, that all may have their right, | 10 | ·········· |
| To where they'are bred, and would presse me, to hell. | 10 | ·········· |
| Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evill, | 10 | ˘/·/˘···/˘ |
| For thus I leave the world, the flesh, the devill. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
Notes from the edition 4
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 6 and soule, 1635-69: and my soule, 1633
- Line 7 Or presently, I know not, see that Face, B, D, H49, O'F, S, S96, W
- Line 10 earth-borne 1635-69: earth borne 1633
- Line 14 flesh,] flesh 1633
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.