Multimodal Donne Annotation: Stage 2

IV.

O, my black soul, now thou art summoned
By sickness, Death's herald and champion ;
Thou'rt like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done
Treason, and durst not turn to whence he's fled ;
Or like a thief, which till death's doom be read,
Wisheth himself deliver'd from prison,
But damn'd and haled to execution,
Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned.
Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack ;
But who shall give thee that grace to begin ?
O, make thyself with holy mourning black,
And red with blushing, as thou art with sin ;
Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might,
That being red, it dyes red souls to white.

Source:
Donne, John. Poems of John Donne. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, ed.
London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 158-159.

Presentation:

For my presentation, I would like to make a slide show with slides about the annotations. I might also put some audio in the slide show that goes along with the meter if I can find any. I will put some pictures of Donne and some pictures that relate to the Sonnet. The pictures would help enhance the images in the Sonnet.

Outside Sources:

Kuchar, Gary. "Petrarchism and Repentance in John Donne's Holy Sonnets." Modern Philology: Critical and Historical Studies in Literature, Medieval Through Contemporary 105.3 (2008): 535-569. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2010.

This source is useful because it talks about Donne's views on redemption. It talks about how Donne's views are darker and more traumatic when it comes to redemption which relates to the darkness of this Sonnet. This is by a reputable author from the University of Victoria.

Hester, M. Thomas. "'Let Them Sleepe': Donne's Personal Allusion in Holy Sonnet IV." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature29.3 (1993): 346-350. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

This source is useful because it is focused on the 4th Sonnet alone. It analyzes each line of the poem and also talks about how the poem relates to Donne's past experiences. I will use this to help me analyze each line of the poem. This article is by Thomas Hester and it was published in Papers on Language and Literature so it is a reputable source.

Cefalu, Paul. "Godly Fear, Sanctification, and Calvinist Theology in the Sermons and 'Holy Sonnets' of John Donne." Studies in Philology 100.1 (2003): 71-86. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2010.

This source talks about how the darkness, fear, and doubt in the Holy Sonnets could potentially stem from his doubts about his salvation. This article talks about how Donne is having doubts about his ability to maintain a holy lifestyle, and this leads to the darkness in the Sonnets. This article is published by the University of North Carolina Press which is a reputable source.

Beaston, Lawrence. "Talking to a Silent God: Donne's Holy Sonnets and the Via Negativa." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 51.2 (1999): 95-109. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2010.

This source talks about how each Sonnet is not a complete spiritual journey by itself but when all of the Sonnets are put together, they make a complete spiritual journey of the speaker. It talks about how each sonnet doesn't come to a definite resolution. This indefinite resolution is representative of God not answering the speaker and yet the speaker still goes back. I plan to relate this to the overall theme of the Sonnet. This article was published in a journal which makes it a reputable source.