Analysis of Holy Sonnet XV: Wilt Thou Love God

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Wilt thou love God, as he thee? then digest,
My Soule, this wholsome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by Angels waited on
In heaven, doth make his Temple in thy brest.
The Father having begot a Sonne most blest,
And still begetting, (for he ne'r begonne)
Hath deign'd to chuse thee by adoption,
Coheire to his glory, and Sabbaths endlesse rest;
And as a robb'd man, which by search doth finde
His stolne stuffe sold, must lose or buy it againe;
The Sonne of glory came downe, and was slaine,
Us whom he had made, and Satan stolne, to unbinde.
'Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.


Scheme ABCAABBAABDAEE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 1111010 11010110101 01011110011 01010010111 0101011111 111111010 1111001011 0101111111 1111111111 0111011011 11111010111 1111111101 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 646
Words 121
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 488
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
147

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

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