Holy Sonnet XII: Why Are We
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
Why are wee by all creatures waited on?
Why doe the prodigall elements supply
Life and food to mee, being more pure than I,
Simple, and further from corruption?
Why brook'st thou, ignorant horse, subjection?
Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelily
Dissemble weaknesse, and by one mans stroke die,
Whose whole kinde, you might swallow and feed upon?
Weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse than you,
You have not sinn'd, nor need be timorous.
But wonder at a greater wonder, for to us
Created nature doth these things subdue,
But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed,
For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 158 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBCABBADEEDFF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 621 |
Words | 112 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Holy Sonnet XII: Why Are We" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/22526/holy-sonnet-xii:-why-are-we>.
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