About John Donne's

A Hymn to Christ, at the Author's Last Going into

Germany
This poem of four stanzas, which was written in 1619, deveops the theme of e!ie and
soitude for "od, and the particuar# Donnian sub$ect of the vioent reationship between
profane ove and 'true ove'% John Donne was sent to "erman# in a dipomatic aim see&in' to
&eep in&s with the (rotestants of the continent%
The tite permits to hi'hi'ht the si'nificance of the first person used in the poem) the
narrator seems to be nothin' but the author himsef, for both of them eft *n'and +,this isand,-
in a rei'ious purpose%
.n this poem, the trave is at the centre of the two first stanzas and is described from the
be'innin' in its rei'ion meanin' +references to the eected ar& of /oah 0 v%1 0 2 3hrist's bood
appears as a motivation of success 0 v%4 0 and shied a'ainst sins 0 stanza 12 v%11-, 'ivin' a stron'
impression that the narrator is invoved in an amost ho# roe% 5ere, the fi'ht a'ainst *vi is
described in a t#pica# 3hristian wa#, which impies an inner evi, proper to human6s nature
+because of his fa- and an e!terior evi comin' from 7atan +the fa of the an'e bein' earier to
human's fa-% The e!istence of these two t#pes of evi is cear# e!pressed in verses of the 8ord's
(ra#er) ,8ead not us into temptation 9 :ut deiver us from evi%, The first verse as&s "od to &eep
us safe from ourseves and the second as&s for protection from the outside% That is a &ind of
cohabitation, in 3hristian rei'ion, of a :oethian and a ;anichean conception of evi% <erses 1=
and 11 of the second stanza foow this conception in an inverted form) ,>hen . have put our
seas twi!t them and me, 9 (ut thou th# sea betwi!t m# sins and thee%, 0 that is an attempt to
dismiss temptation +,m# sins,- and at the same time a cear pra#er for hep from "od because of
the stron' evi of hidden in the others +verse 1=-%
The use of 3hrist bood in a repetitive ima'e +verses 4 and 11- ma# have some ironic
character towards 3athoicism% .f we remember for which reason John Donne went to "erman#,
the critic of 3athoicism on ausions is not at a impossibe% .n the ?enaissance period,
(rotestants 'athered under the denunciation of the incarnation of 3hrist in the *ucharist of the
mass% 3athoics beieved that bread and wine of the mass where rea incarnation of the :od# and
the :ood, but the (rotestants considered it as a s#mboic ima'e% That was a heres# for the
?oman 3athoic 3hurch% 5ere, the poetica use of ,th# bood, and ,th# sea, to e!press a
s#mboic concept of purit#, an ,embem, +verse 4- mi'ht possess an intentiona attac& on the
3athoic ,naivet#,%
8ater, the /arrator's wea&ness appears emphasized in the third and fourth stanza) the ast
verse of both stanzas insists on this wea&ness% The second and third stanza is under the si'n of a
bi0poarit#) the 8ord and the narrator are here in fu opposition as it is shown b# the structure of
verses 1@ and 11 which seems to underine some &ind of cruet# of "od +to the e#es of the
narrator-, as&in' for an uniAue ove% The first Auatrain of stanza 1 shows even that opposition in
the rh#mes) "od's ,thee, surrounds the narrator's ,me, and both are aso set at this &e# pace to
show their different nature and their separation +the feein' of bein' an outsider to "od is a ver#
important pain in Donne's poetr#) in the fourteenth ho# sonnet, this pain is so unbearabe to him
that the narrator as&s "od to ,ravish, him-%
.n the ast stanza, Donne uses the vocabuar# of weddin' as a brid'e between profane
ove +'divorce'2 ';arr#'2 'fase mistresses'2 '3hurches'- to a spiritua attempt of true ove) this
,divorce to a B%%%C, is the first conseAuence of choosin' "od's ove2 ,;arr# those oves B%%%C,
seems to underine the on# possibiities of chan'in' the ,fase mistresses, no more scattered but
turned to faith, which combines a hi'her sort of hope and wit and 'ives humiit# rather than
fame%
The narrator describes himsef as a conscious sinner +for whom ,3hurches are best,- as
shown b# the reationship between verses 16 and 1@) choosin' ,an everastin' ni'ht,, he
becomes intentiona# a sinner + one of those ,pra#er that have east i'ht,-%
To concude, there is a sort of inverted mirror between the introducin'9concudin' section
+stanzas 1 and 4- and the centra section +stanzas 1 and D- part of the poem, as a bi''er ima'e of
the rh#mes structure of stanza two's first Auatrain, where one shows the wi of a tota devotion to
"od, and the other enhances a 'rud'e towards the conseAuences of a stern 'true ove'% The first
and ast parts appear to describe the acceptance of the necessar# behaviour for 'true ove', and
thou'h the ori'ina purpose of the midde stanzas is not different, their tone insists rather on the
narrator's fa which ma&es him vioent# outsider to "od despite his faith% .t is on# with the
bitter effect of time and the pro!imit# of death that he can brin' himsef coser to "od +verses
1D914 ,.n winter, in m# winter now . 'o 9 >here none but thee, th' eterna root of true ove, . ma#
&now%,-% The ,everastin' ni'ht, ma# aso be read as the contempation of death%
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