Holy Sonnet VI ('This is my play's last scene')

Context

• Holy Sonnet VI is part of John Donne's Holy Sonnets series, written in the early 17th century, likely between 1609 and 1610. These sonnets reflect Donne's intense preoccupation with mortality, sin, and divine judgment. The poem contemplates the inevitability of death, the separation of body and soul, and the hope for salvation.

  

• The sonnet was written during a period of deep religious reflection for Donne, who grappled with the complexities of faith, sin, and redemption. It reflects the metaphysical tradition of blending spiritual and philosophical concerns with personal, and emotional intensity.

Structure and Form

Form, Meter, and Rhyme

• The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, consisting of 14 lines divided into an octave and a sestet. The rhyme scheme follows ABBAABBA CDCD EE, combining elements of both Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms.
• The meter is primarily iambic pentameter, with occasional variations that add emphasis to keywords and phrases. The regular rhythm helps convey the inevitability of the events described, while variations reflect the speaker's emotional tension.
• The poem's structure underscores the progression of thought from the contemplation of death to the hope for spiritual purification and salvation.

Speaker and Setting

• The speaker, likely a persona of Donne himself, is reflecting on the approach of death, viewing life as a "play" that is reaching its final scene. The speaker is deeply aware of the transient nature of life and the impending judgment by God.
• The setting is abstract, focused on the speaker's internal contemplation of death and the afterlife. The imagery of the play, the race, and the pilgrimage all serve to create a metaphorical landscape where the speaker confronts his mortality.

Poetic Devices

Metaphor:

• Donne uses a series of metaphors to describe life and death. Life is compared to a play, a race, and a pilgrimage, each emphasizing the finality and predetermined nature of death.
• The speaker states, "This is my play's last scene; here heavens appoint / My pilgrimage's last mile; and my race," likening the end of life to the final scene of a play and the last mile of a journey.

Personification:

• Death is personified as a "gluttonous" figure that eagerly awaits to separate the speaker's body from his soul.
• The line, "And gluttonous death will instantly unjoint / My body and my soul," emphasizes death's power and inevitability.

Caesura:

• The poem employs frequent caesurae, or pauses within lines, which create a halting rhythm that reflects the speaker's anxiety about the end of life.
• For example, "My span's last inch, my minute's latest point;" shows how the caesurae break up the line, mirroring the speaker's fragmented thoughts and the approach to death.

Antithesis:

• Donne uses antithesis to contrast the fate of the body and the soul, illustrating the separation that occurs at death.
• The speaker notes, "Then, as my soul to'heaven, her first seat, takes flight, / And earth-born body in the earth shall dwell," emphasizing the soul's ascent to heaven and the body's return to the earth.

Key Themes

The Inevitability of Death

• The poem reflects on the inevitability of death, depicting it as a natural and predetermined end to life, likened to the final scene of a play or the last step of a race.
• The speaker begins with, "This is my play's last scene; here heavens appoint / My pilgrimage's last mile," accepting the approach of death as an inescapable reality.

The Separation of Body and Soul

• Donne explores the separation of the body and soul that occurs at death, with the body remaining on earth while the soul ascends to heaven.
• The line, "My body and my soul, and I shall sleep a space; / But my'ever-waking part shall see that face," reflects the belief that the soul will be reunited with God, leaving the physical body behind.

The Fear of Divine Judgment

• The speaker expresses a deep fear of divine judgment, acknowledging that while he hopes for salvation, he is also terrified of facing God and the potential consequences of his sins.
  • The speaker admits, "Whose fear already shakes my every joint," revealing his anxiety about the final judgment and the uncertainty of his fate.

Similar Poems

• "Holy Sonnet X: Death, be not proud": This poem also personifies death, but rather than fearing it, the speaker challenges death's power, reflecting a more defiant attitude towards mortality.
• "The Relic": This poem also deals with themes of mortality and the afterlife, considering the fate of the body and soul after death.
• "A Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness": Like Holy Sonnet VI, this poem contemplates death and the hope for divine grace, exploring the tension between fear and faith.

Line by Line Analysis

Lines 1-4

This is my play's last scene; here heavens appoint

My pilgrimage's last mile; and my race,

Idly, yet quickly run, hath this last pace,

My span's last inch, my minute's latest point;

"This is my play's last scene; here heavens appoint / My pilgrimage's last mile;"

• The speaker describes their approaching death as the "last scene" in a play, suggesting that life is a brief, scripted performance with an inevitable conclusion.
• Life is also likened to a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey, with the speaker now reaching the final "mile," as determined by divine will ("heavens appoint").

"And my race, / Idly, yet quickly run, hath this last pace,"

• Life is further compared to a race, which, although run "idly," still passes by swiftly, bringing the speaker to the final stage ("this last pace").
• The paradox of running idly yet quickly underscores the brevity and perceived wastefulness of life.

"My span's last inch, my minute's latest point;"

• The speaker reflects on the final moments of life, measured in the smallest units of time ("inch," "minute"), emphasizing the imminence of death.
• This line continues the imagery of life as a journey or race, now in its final moments.

Lines 5-8

And gluttonous death will instantly unjoint

My body and my soul, and I shall sleep a space;

But my'ever-waking part shall see that face

Whose fear already shakes my every joint.

"And gluttonous death will instantly unjoint / My body and my soul,"

• Death is personified as "gluttonous", suggesting a greedy, insatiable force that will soon separate ("unjoint") the speaker's body from their soul.
• This violent imagery highlights the physical reality of death, where the body and soul are forcibly parted.

"And I shall sleep a space; / But my'ever-waking part shall see that face"

• The speaker acknowledges that death brings a temporary rest ("sleep a space") for the body, but the soul ("ever-waking part") will immediately encounter God ("that face").
• The contrast between the body's rest and the soul's continued awareness underscores the idea of the soul's immortality.

"Whose fear already shakes my every joint."

• The prospect of meeting God instils fear in the speaker, so intense that it physically affects them ("shakes my every joint").
• This line reveals the speaker's anxiety about divine judgment, despite the expectation of the soul's ascent to heaven.

Lines 9-12

Then, as my soul to'heaven, her first seat, takes flight,

And earth-born body in the earth shall dwell,

So fall my sins, that all may have their right,

To where they'are bred, and would press me, to hell.

"Then, as my soul to'heaven, her first seat, takes flight, / And earth-born body in the earth shall dwell,"

• The speaker envisions the soul ascending to heaven, its "first seat", while the body returns to the earth, emphasizing the dual nature of human existence.
• This separation reflects the belief that the soul's true home is in heaven, while the body, being "earth-born," belongs to the physical world.

"So fall my sins, that all may have their right, / To where they'are bred, and would press me, to hell."

• The speaker expresses a desire for their sins to "fall" away as the soul rises, returning to hell, their place of origin ("where they'are bred").
• This imagery suggests a hope for spiritual purification, with sins being left behind in death, and reflects the speaker's fear that these sins might otherwise drag them down to hell.

Lines 13-14

Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evil,

For thus I leave the world, the flesh, the devil.

"Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evil,"

• The speaker petitions God to "impute" righteousness to them, seeking to be declared righteous and cleansed ("purg'd") of all sin.
• This reflects the theological concept of imputed righteousness, where God's grace, rather than personal merit, is the basis for salvation.

"For thus I leave the world, the flesh, the devil."

• In leaving behind the material world, bodily desires ("the flesh"), and sin ("the devil"), the speaker seeks to be free from all earthly and spiritual corruption.
• This line encapsulates the speaker's hope for spiritual liberation and entry into eternal life, purified from all earthly ties.