The Ultimate Spiritual Plateau

             The Ultimate Spiritual Plateau: An Analysis of John Donne's Holy Sonnet 10
             In John Donne's "Holy Sonnet 10," the speaker finds himself in an intense struggle to obtain the ultimate relationship, which is to have God in his life. He feels distant from God because of his sins and finds it difficult to accept being saved as a sinner and being free from sin. The speaker wants God to enter his life, but feels unworthy due to his sinful past. The moral and religious qualms of the speaker are manifest during the sonnet, which seem like an avowal between lovers. These convictions of guilt, which stem from his sexual emotions, are what induce a desire for a relationship with God. Donne conveys the struggle between the base reality in which we are firmly planted, and our need to raise above our earthly confines, with the help of God, towards salvation.
             The first quatrain shows the speaker's aversion towards his mortal body and soul. Like a veteran crusader's armor, the speaker's heart is badly in need of repair, "Batter my heart...for You As yet but knock, breath, shine, and seek to mend..." (1-2) The language, though not quite onomatopoeic, reflects the process of repair and maintenance. Craftsmen manipulate materials to change the outward appearance of an object: blacksmiths shape metal, weavers spin cloth from thread, and carpenters use lumber to frame houses. The physical properties of these primary materials remain unaltered. For the craftsman, to
             "knock, breath, shine, and...mend," (2) would change only the appearance or function of the speaker's heart. However, repair isn't what the speaker wants because his mortal defects are too great. Being mended is not going to solve the problem because he will not be saved, and will continue to be bogged down in his own sinful mire. It is only God the creator, unlike human craftsmen, who is capable of this outright spiritual transfiguration. "That I may rise and stand, ...

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The Ultimate Spiritual Plateau. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 09:50, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33273.html