Being A Temple Of God's Divine Spirit example essay topic

Upon reading the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, one is opened to somewhat of a different person than imagined, compared to reading such poems as his A Valediction Forbidding Mourning or The Flea. Whereas the latter center around very optimistic love themes, the former center around very self-effacing themes of spiritual inadequacy and even religious abomination. To fully understand the kind tortured psyche that is presented, a complete comprehensive analysis would need to be done for all the Sonnets, and perhaps other works as well. But a highly abridged analysis could be made on just one sonnet with roughly the same insight; the one presented here being, "As due by many titles I resigne". In this Sonnet, Donne presents the struggle of a person who is torn between God's love and his domination by his own sin. The Sonnet can be portioned into three different sections: the submission, the veneration, and then the invocation.

In the first part of the sonnet, we see the person announce to God directly his resignation of his self to divine servitude. This voluntary enslavement is not done blindly nor is even doubted, but is simply rationalized: "As due by many titles, I resigne / My self to thee. O God, first I was made / By the, and for thee". The servant has justified his submission to God, that over time he has come to the ultimate conclusion that his very existence does not belong to himself, but is only the property of God: all of his being is owned by God, and it is thus God's will that should determine his actions, making it logical to resign his life over to the complete service of God. It is not a decision he enters lightly, demonstrated by his declaring his reasons; he could have very easily opened the sonnet with his resignation, simply throwing himself at God's feet without any reason whatsoever, but instead he chose to state why: that God has created him to serve Him. This tool makes it apparent that this servant has thought and reasoning behind this submission, and not simply blind intentions.

He is a willing and educated slave to God. The second part of this sonnet is his veneration of God, glorifying his Master using himself as the spectacle. In a way what he presents here is more thankfulness than veneration. Even the first section could be considered veneration, but the praise he demonstrates there seem to be intended to give a sense of motivation: he thanks God for his life, but to show that this gift has motivated him to serve God. Now in the second section, the servant is no longer giving reasons behind his submission, but is genuinely giving thanks to God for all that he has become as a result of His grace and love. He is blessed to be considered one of God's children, brought to life with His breath so that he could live in this world as a testament to divine greatness; he is privileged to be God's servant, being allowed to suffer in piety, growing closer and closer to his Creator.

These words of praise flow out with such passion and conviction, and in the home stretch, he starts to genuinely open his heart and express that which he is truly thankful for: " [I am] Thy sheepe, thine Image, and, till I betray'd / My selfe, a temple of thy Spirit divine". These are the privileges that he values beyond all else, and they create a spiritual ascension in a Christian context: first the lamb being benevolently led by the Good Shepard; then that of God created man in His glorious image; and then the pinnacle of existence, that God allows man to possess part of His divinity in the form of housing His Spirit. Donne creates here a wonderful image of a man who feels so loved by God, someone who is so thankful To god for these gifts; he truly feels loved and cared for by God, and it makes him feel very warm and comfortable inside. And yet amid such beautiful, warm imagery, there is a dark cloud that does not seem to go away: that the servant has been denied some of these gifts. When he mentions him being a temple of God's divine Spirit, he comments on it in a past tense, the privilege being revoked as consequence of a wrongdoing, specifically his own self-betrayal.

Interestingly, the victim and the perpetrator are depicted as being one the same; the servant has committed a crime against himself, he betrayed himself and is thus empty of the divine Spirit. Seeing as how the servant has submitted himself to God, enslaved himself to divine service, it could be argued that his betrayal was a shirking of this servitude, that he indulged in himself, thus betraying his sole purpose of being a subservient slave to God's will. This loss itself is not very significant, which is seen in how the servant talks about it. He chooses not to mention the revocation outright, but slips it in unannounced, as if all of a sudden, as he was recounting the blessing his blessings, he remembered this transgression; interestingly enough, the clause that mentions the punishment is subordinate to the gift that was taken away. And since the sin itself is not clearly outlined, it is also not given any significant importance. What is important are the ramifications of the sin, and also the punishment.

Having lost the divine Spirit, the servant finds himself being overwhelmed by evil, by sin, manifested in the form of the devil. This evil is overpowering and takes control of him, to his confusion and simultaneous despair. For the servant, he knows that God has punished him, deprived him of a higher existence and essentially His grace, but he cannot understand why the devil should have such sway over him, and how the devil could so easily manipulate him. He may think himself a sinner, but he cannot cease to consider that he is still the property of God, belonging to no one else. Even in his disgrace, he is still forged by the divine, and enlivened by the divine, and still property of the divine; so thus how can evil be allowed to even come close to him? His words eloquently convey his confusion: "Why doth he [the devil] steale, nay ravish that's thy right?" It is not his sin that makes him confused, but his love for God that is what tortures him: Why would God not wish to defend one who has completely submitted himself to serving Him?

How could God abandon one of his own incredibly devout children? Why would God not wish to defend something that belonged to Him? And it is this pain that continues to torture him for the rest of the poem, as he desperately invokes God to save him and fight for him, free him from the shackles of the devil. In the absence of such liberation, he is left with the utterly dismal realization that God simply does not want him as His own, that his servant is simply not worth saving. Even more painful is that first God, whom he loves dearly, abandons him, and now his new Master, the devil, hates him as well, most likely because the servant cannot let go of his devotion to God. This sonnet is only one of a few, and even a more insignificant piece in relation to Donne's full work, but nonetheless, it is a highly complex window into a small part of Donne's world of thought.

It brings up very strong and bold images of complete devotion and complete rejection by God. Seen in a religious context, we get a glimpse into Donne as being very troubled: he sees himself as a part of something majestic, but is lacking that majesty and desperately wants it. He is besieged by this want and it seems to consume him in many ways, making him go to extremes to quench it, in this case being his complete submission to God. The degree of obsession is best witnessed in his own accusation made against himself, as he was denied God's grace because of potentially indulging in himself: in order for God to love him, he has to be completely unselfish and pure of evil and self-indulgence, pure in virtue in a sense.

Though it seems that this obsession is his motivating force, it is also his destruction, as it kills him and tears him apart, for the overwhelming joy he feels when his love is returned is countered by his incredible despair when he is forced to accept that God has abandoned him. In this one single sonnet, a valuable image has been constructed, revealing a troubled, yet complex mind of John Donne, one who emotionalizes to great extremes, in hopes of finding a greater existence. II As due by many titles I resigne My selfe to thee, O God, first I was made By thee, and for thee, and when I was decay'd Thy blood bought that, the which before was thine; I am thy sonne, made with thy selfe to shine, Thy servant, whose pains thou hast still repaid, Thy sheepe, thine Image, and, till I betray'd My selfe, a temple of thy Spirit divine; Why doth the devill then usurp e on mee? Why doth he steale, nay ravish that's thy right? Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight, Oh I shall soon despair, when I doe see That thou lov " st mankind well, yet wilt " not chuse me, And Satan hates mee, yet is loth to lose me..