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John Donne's Holy Sonnet II: "As due by many
titles I resign"
LINDA SUE GRIMES • APR 12, 2023 1:58 AM EDT
Titles of Numbered Sonnets in a Sequence
Sonnets often appear in a sequence and are numbered but not titled. The number of the sonnet is not its title, thus, no capitalization of the term sonnet and no quotation marks around the phrase sonnet 124. The first line of the sonnet becomes the title, and according to MLA guidelines,"When the first line of a poem serves as the title of the poem, reproduce the line exactly as it appears in the text." APA does not address this issue.
Introduction with Text of Holy Sonnet II: "As due by many titles I
resign"
In John Donne's Holy Sonnet II: "As due by many titles I resign," the speaker is again lamenting his aging, decaying physical encasement, but he is also continuing to mourn his strength of spirit.
He suspects that he has likely defiled himself through his earlier involvement in worldly activities that have so damaged his being he may not be able to purify himself.
He regrets the fact that the satanic force, a force of lust and depravity, may continue to dominate him, while the Divine Creator, the force of love, may simply ignore him.
The speaker's melancholy remains a result of his own doing, and he well understands his predicament. He continues to pray, however, as he describes exactly his desperate position.
He understands that he is made divinely, but he still fears that he has squandered too much divine energy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, or achieve Divine Unity.
The speaker's enlightening dramas offer magnificent examples of a suffering soul that continues to engage his Divine Belovèd, in order to both understand and to bring himself nearer to his Divine Creator/Father.
Holy Sonnet II: "As due by many titles I resign"
As due by many titles I resign Myself 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 son, made with Thyself to shine, Thy servant, whose pains Thou hast still repaid, Thy sheep, Thine image, and—till I betray’d Myself—a temple of Thy Spirit divine. Why doth the devil then usurp on me? Why doth he steal, nay ravish, that’s Thy right? Except Thou rise and for Thine own work fight, O! I shall soon despair, when I shall see That Thou lovest mankind well, yet wilt not choose me, And Satan hates me, yet is loth to lose me.
Commentary on Holy Sonnet II: "As due by many titles I resign"
As the speaker laments his sad lot in life, still he also puts on display his undying faith in the grace of his Belovèd Creator (God).
Although he remains in a quandary of doubt, he shows that he has the spiritual strength to eventually pull himself out of it.
As a child of Divinity, the speaker also realizes that he is the Lord's "servant," and he is one whose trials and tribulations have been taken back by the grace of the Divine Belovèd through Jesus the Christ.
The speaker then also affirms that he is also a "sheep" of the Divine Shepherd.
Clearly, the speaker is the image of the Divine Creator, for he understands that the Blessèd Maker-Father has, indeed, created him in His image, as all holy scripture avers.
However, this speaker is now confessing that his own sins have led him astray as he earlier in his life went about behaving against the trust of the gift of life that had been bestowed on him by his Belovèd Heavenly Father.
The speaker believes that his body "temple" has been corrupted; he had been created to bear the physical encasement of the spirit divine, and until he acted against that spirit, he had been perfect.
Third Quatrain: The Age-Old Battle of Good vs Evil
The speaker then designs a pair of questions that show his clear awareness of the answers. He understands why the "devil" is seeking to defile him, even as he puts on display his inquiry.
Also, he is aware of why that satanic force has attempted to "steal" what belongs to the Divine Belovèd Reality.
The speaker has proven and will continue to prove his clear understanding that it is his own sin which has allowed the satanic force, colorfully named "the devil," to "ravish" and steal from him what his Heavenly Father-God has bestowed upon him.
The speaker then bemoans that if the Ultimate Reality does not bring to the forefront his own particular power in this poor straying child of His, that child will "soon despair."
The speaker separates his thought between the third quatrain and the couplet in order to emphasize the severity and the profundity of its importance.
The Couplet: Satan's Tight Grasp
Why doth the devil then usurp on me? Why doth he steal, nay ravish, that’s Thy right? Except Thou rise and for Thine own work fight, O! I shall soon despair, when I shall see
That Thou lovest mankind well, yet wilt not choose me, And Satan hates me, yet is loth to lose me.
The speaker harbors extensive fears that he will not be capable of atoning for the sins that he so carelessly committed early in his life.
He thus lays out his issues before his Divine Creator, alerting Him that if or when he senses that the Blessèd Father loves all humankind but fails to unite his soul with Ultimate Spirit, he will then find himself descending mightily into despair.
The speaker then offers a useful contrast between the force of Good and the force of Evil: Good (God, Divine Reality, Creator) loves humankind, while Evil (the devil, Satan) hates humankind.
However, the speaker remains in agony that Satan, the one who hates him will not deign to let him go.
Therefore, it seems that he must remain in doubt that he can become purified enough that his Belovèd Creator Father will lift him up into his goal of unity with the Divine.
Related Reading
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This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2023 Linda Sue Grimes
