The poem
Spit in my face you Jews, and pierce my side, Buffet, and scoff, scourge, and crucify me, For I have sinned, and sinned, and only he Who could do no iniquity hath died: But by my death can not be satisfied My sins, which pass the Jews' impiety: They killed once an inglorious man, but I Crucify him daily, being now glorified. Oh let me, then, his strange love still admire: Kings pardon, but he bore our punishment. And Jacob came clothed in vile harsh attire But to supplant, and with gainful intent: God clothed himself in vile man's flesh, that so He might be weak enough to suffer woe.
it's really confusing. i dont get it.
:)
Emily's comment
Dear Emily You say that you find this poem really confusing and that you don't get it. Donne is one of the English metaphysical poets. He wrote in the period between the expulsion of the Jews from England by Edward longshanks and their re-admission at the behest of the regicide Oliver Cromwell. In my humble opinion there is nothing to be got from either a dialectic analysis of Donne's words as a thesis or by hearing…
Read the whole commentDear Emily
You say that you find this poem really confusing and that you don't get it.
Donne is one of the English metaphysical poets. He wrote in the period between the expulsion of the Jews from England by Edward longshanks and their re-admission at the behest of the regicide Oliver Cromwell.
In my humble opinion there is nothing to be got from either a dialectic analysis of Donne's words as a thesis or by hearing his words as rhetoric. Rather (again imho) this is a prayer, best felt on our knees next to Donne.
St Paul is recorded as saying 'Amongst sinners I stand first.' It seems to me clear that is what Donne is sharing in this poem. Whatever the impiety of the Jews, emphasised by their spitting on and piercing Jesus of Nazareth, Donne laments his own shortcomings and looks to Jesus' love, expressed in His Passion, for his salvation.
Sincerely
John