Uncertainty in John Donne Poetry

Poetry of the seventeenth century is among some of the best ever written, however, there is more uncertainty when dealing with particular subjects. The topics, for the most part, are more serious and there is the impression that the poets are earnestly uncertain about their choices. The poets themselves do not want to make any definite lines between what they believe and what could be the reality. John Donne's poems discussing women and religion are among the most noticeable examples of the deliberate use of ambiguity in seventeenth-century poetry.

It is evident by reading John Donne's poetry that he was a man of intense passion; even in his most light-hearted poems are the suggestions of resentment. In Donne's religious poems from "Holy Sonnets" there is still a sense of ambiguity and hesitance. In the poem which begins "Thou hast made me" the speaker is aware of his sins and that he is a sinful man. He is also conscious of the necessity for God's mercy during his final judgment. "Despair behind, and Death before doth cast / Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste" (44). Here, the speaker fears a rapidly approaching death, possibly because he feels that his sins are too profound to be forgiven. The speaker in the poem says that he is being tempted by the devil: "But our old subtle foe so tempteth me" (44). This is a difficult position to be in for a Christian, doubting the truth of God and heaven will only lead to eternal damnation. The reappearance of the word "may" also shows the degree of uncertainty in this poem by the speaker. "Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art" (44). The speaker is not certain that he will, or deserves to receive the grace of God to help him defy Satan. There is always a struggle between su...

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..., however, with the man's rationale taking over. He admits that he could dispute with what the woman may be thinking, but he may very well have the same feelings in the morning. Since the man is the only speaker throughout the poem, he is left only to speculate what the woman could be thinking, and the woman's actual opinion is never accounted for. The constant speculation shows the speaker's uncertainty throughout the situation.

In many of John Donne's poems he shows a level of uncertainty. He either shows ambiguity to voice his own anxieties or perhaps to reassure others who may have the same concerns regarding life and women as he does. In many seventeenth-century poems, there is the sense that the poets were more critical about what those in the sixteenth-century knew for sure.

Works Cited

Wandio, Gerald, ed. Poetry of the English Renaissance. 2004.