Holy Sonnet Xii Essay

John Donne is widely known to incorporate or wholeude to various religious symbols and suppositions throughout his poetrys. His poem Holy Sonnet XII Why Are We questions the concept of creation, hu valet beingnessskind and all elements, exploring the ideas of the pilot film sin and Gods kinship with man and constitution. The poem to a fault explored the concepts of human subordination over nature. Through several language devices much(prenominal) as metaphors, rhyme and rhythm, repetition and forest, Donne attempts to understand the sources motives for creating reality and the various elements present in the world. Donne also employed rhetoric to convince and demonstrate to readers mankinds dominance over nature and innate(p) elements.Donne employed an inquiring even a perplexed-sounding tone to his poem to imply a sense of injustice within the nobleman. This sense of injustice revolved most subjecting animals, who are simple, and further from corruption and more pow erful, for the convenience of man, who is corrupt and is worse than the animals Why are wee by all creatures waited on? Why protrudest thou, ignorant horse, subjection With the inquiring tone, Donne attempted to reveal the Creator to be someone prejudiced, where he is previously believed to be all just and fair. Donne implied an idea of favouritism in the last few lines of the stanza You conduct non sinnd, nor need to be timorous For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed. In these lines, Donne alluded to the dying of Jesus on the Cross, suggesting that the Creator died only for humans and not for the early(a) animals.Donne perceived this act to be unfair as humans have sinned greatly, whereas animals are more pure and have not sinned. He also alludes to the fact that the Creator had created animals and former(a) elements of nature solely for humans use Why doe the prodigal elements supply. This action of alluding to the Creator in a rather indignant manner, questioning th e Creators motives, is recurring through many of Donnes poems, such as in The Flea. end-to-end the poem, Donne continually diminishes the human race to be corrupt and sinful, comparing this nature with the pure, uncorrupted and simple nature of the animals and other elements of creation. By incorporating the questioning tone, readers may be more convinced of the prejudiced motives of the Creator, that He may not appear as just as he is said to be.The poem also explored the relationship of the Creator, sin and all the other creations through the rhyming scheme of the poem. Contrary to popular belief, Donne presented the Creator to have no correlations with sin and creations, implying that the Creator is simply a distant being. This idea was revealed in the rhyming couplet at the end of the poem But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed, / For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed. The rhyming couplet portrayed the Creator to have no ties with sin or nature, thus why He died for humankind. The final couplet also answers several questions and result in more ideas regarding creation and humans relationship with the Creator these questions include the reasoning to human dominancy and the concept of original sin, and again, favouritism.As the final couplet suggests that the Creator is distant to all other elements and creations but humankind, it also suggests that God is impendent to humankind, having died to save them from their sins, thus why they appear as dominant. It also suggests that animals and other elements were created for the benefit and convenience of the human race. The concept of original sin is proposed throughout the poem at the moments Donne implied the corruption and sinning of humankind being more pure than I, / Simple and further from corruption weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse than you / You have not sinnd.The concept is also implied through the querying tone and repetitive use of why, as Donne questioned why the Creator died for h umankind, who have greatly sinned since the beginning, but subjugated animals, who are pure and not corrupt, and other resources to mans convenience. Favouritism is also implied in the final lines as it appears that the Creator had only died for one of his Creations and not all For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed. This final lines, especial(a)ly in the use of the collective word us, the human supremacy and separation of humans from animals become evident. As Donne used the word us to refer solely to humankind, it creates a sense of distance from the animals, as if the other elements were not a part of Gods creations and that humans were the Creators only creatures.The central idea of the poem, animal subjection to humans, was explored through the questioning tone but also the metaphors employed throughout the poem. In the opening line of the poem, Donne clearly presented the idea of human supremacy, stating that it is humans who are waited on by all other creatures, thro ugh his question. This idea of supremacy is further emphasised in the next question, Why doe the prodigal elements supply / Life and food to mee, being more pure than I, / Simply and further from corruption?. In this questions, it is implied that creatures seemed to have been created to prodigally supply humankind with life and food, despite humankind being closer to corruption than the animals. Through this next question, Donne creates the idea of animal constraint and the animals inferior nature.In the next lines, Donne implies of the stealth and strength of the animals compared to the humans, Why projectst thou, ignorant horse, subjection? / Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelily / Dissemble weaknesse, and by one mans stroke die, whose whole kinde you might swallow and feed upon? The particular use of ignorant horse presents two meanings the first is the literal meaning, a description of a horse as being ignorant, oblivious of mans power over them, while the second meaning may be metaphorical. The word horse may refer to human race and the ignorance may be stemmed from the fact that humans believe themselves to be superior over all other creations, where in truth, they are actually weaker.In the questions presented in the poem up to this point, despite their subjects being human supremacy and animal inferiority, Donne throughout implied the better power and nature of the animals he portrayed the strength of the animals but also presented their sinless and pure nature. By portraying animals in this light, Donne attempts for his readers to view animals as not a race inferior to humans but as a race mightier and stronger than humans.This implication may stem from Donnes belief that it is more correct for the animals to dominate humans as humans have sinnd and are corrupted, and therefore are not deserving of all the prodigal elements supplied by the other creations. By presenting the human race to be unjustly dominant, and as the animals and other elements e nslaved to humans, Donne attempted to evoke a piteous feeling towards the animals from readers. Through the questioning tone and metaphors employed throughout the poem, Donne revealed that man is not as superior as first deemed and that animals are actually more stronger than what is perceived, therefore man should not be subjecting the animals and other creations for their benefit and use.Donne employed a combination of language devices such as conceit, tone, rhyme scheme and metaphors throughout the poem to explore the concept of creation and human supremacy over animals as well as the original sin and the Creators relationship with sin, nature and humankind. Through the inquiring tone of the poem, Donne attempted to understand the motives of the Creator, but also convince the readers of the unjust nature of the Creator.