Quotes from book
Holy Sonnets

Name: Holy Sonnets
Author: John Donne

John Donne

The Holy Sonnets—also known as the Divine Meditations or Divine Sonnets—are a series of nineteen poems by the English poet John Donne . The sonnets were first published in 1633—two years after Donne's death. They are written predominantly in the style and form prescribed by Renaissance Italian poet Petrarch in which the sonnet consisted of two quatrains and a sestet . However, several rhythmic and structural patterns as well as the inclusion of couplets are elements influenced by the sonnet form developed by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare .

“Show me, dear Christ, Thy spouse, so bright and clear.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 18, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“I am a little world made cunningly
Of elements, and an angelic sprite.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 5, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“What if this present were the world's last night?”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 13, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 10, line 13
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“Thou'rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 10, line 9
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance, hath slain.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 7, line 6
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damned; alas; why should I be?”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 9, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend.”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 14, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 10, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)
Context: Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

“At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise”

John Donne book Holy Sonnets

No. 7, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)
Context: At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattred bodies go.