Sonnet 14 is about John Donne and his relationship with God. Although it is only fourteen short lines, it describes his feelings toward and his relationship with God vividly. He is repenting for his sins and asking God for his forgiveness, speaking not only of God’s greatness and power but also of his own faults and mistakes. He asks for punishment and help while still showing the love he has for him. This sonnet resembles a prayer and a confession with great detail and imagery.
There is a lot of content packed into these fourteen short lines, however it is not just “crammed” into the sonnet, it is carefully and beautifully places into an artistic and aesthetic arrangement. John Donne uses many different literary devices to create a piece that seems more like an emotional prayer than a sonnet.
The use of alliteration in this sonnet is key for describing the darker parts. When he talks about God’s powers to bend, break, blow, and burn it creates an image of destruction and chaos, this image that is created in the readers mind is intensified by the alliteration that is used. It makes the words seem more alive than they would on their own. In lines two and three, he also uses words that rhyme but contrast each other. The word mend conveys a positive emotion, whereas the word bend creates a negative one.
Donne also uses irony to show the relationship between him, sin, and God. He describes himself as being betrothed to sin or God’s enemy. He asks to be divorces, to have the knot untied and broken. Donne explains his relationship with sin as a marriage, something considered sacred and close to the heart. This irony exemplifies how bad his sins are, or at least how bad he feels about them. He asks for a divorce, which is frowned upon in the church.
Before he talks about his marriage with sin, he speaks of his love of God. It is ironic to me that he loves God and yet he is married to sin. It makes is seem that he has a closer tie to sin than he does to God even though he is listing the reasons for his love for God in the lines just before these. This is also very ironic because he is praying to a God that he shows to be very important to him in previous statements.
The voice of the speaker is what makes this sonnet what it is. The speaker speaks as though he is praying to the lord asking for forgiveness. He presents his case with a great deal of inferiority and obedience. There is a great deal of begging and pleasing for punishment and forgiveness that gives the sonnet the tone and feel that makes it seem so real. His tone allows the reader to feel like he or she is inside the speakers head and really feels what the he feels. In my opinion, the tone is the most valuable part of this sonnet.
Sonnet 14 is a piece of art that is full of emotion and feeling. The author shows his need to repent and his love for God in this sonnet by using many literary devices and techniques. This sonnet is beautifully written and put together and although it has some dark images, it is aesthetic. This writer does a wonderful job of showing the reader the pain of sin, the need for forgiveness, and the love of God that the speaker feels in this sonnet. He is able to do this all while providing true beauty in this piece.
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