Analysis of Oh my blacke Soule! now thou art summoned

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Oh my black Soule! Now thou art summoned
By sicknesse, deaths herald, and champion;
Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done
Treason, and durst not turne to whence hee is fled,
Or like a thiefe, which till deaths doome be read,
Wisheth himselfe deliverd from prison;
But damn'd and hal'd to execution,
Wisheth that sill he might be imprisioned;
Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lacke;
But who shall give thee that grace to beginne?
Oh make thy selfe with holy mourning blacke;
And red with blushing, as thou art with sinne;
Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might
That being red, it dyes red soules to white.


Scheme ABBCCBBADBDBEE
Poetic Form
Metre 111111110 111100100 11101010111 10011111111 1101111111 111110 11011010 1111111 1111011111 111111111 1111110101 0111011111 1110111111 1101111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 633
Words 117
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 499
Words per stanza (avg) 115
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
128

John Donne

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

All John Donne poems | John Donne Books

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