O, my Black Soul, now Thou Art Summoned
The speaker addresses his own black soul, now summoned by sickness, which is Death's herald and champion. He likens his soul to a pilgrim who has committed treason abroad and dares not return home, or to a thief who, before the doom is read, wishes to be freed from prison, but once damned and hauled to execution, wishes instead that he might still be imprisoned. Yet the speaker affirms that grace cannot be lacking to the soul if it repents, though he asks who shall give it the grace to begin repenting. He urges the soul to make itself black with holy mourning and red with blushing, matching the red of its sin, or else to wash itself in Christ's blood, which has the power, though red, to dye red souls white.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Metaphysical Poetry, Religious Poetry, Devotional Poetry · 181 words
First lines
O, my black soul, now thou art summoned / By sickness, Death's herald and champion; / Thou'rt like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done / Treason, and durst not turn to whence he's fled; / Or like a thief, which till death's doom be read, / Wisheth himself deliver'd from prison, / But damn'd and haled to execution, / Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned. / Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack; / But who shall give thee that grace to begin? / O, make thyself with holy mourning black, / And red with blushing, as thou art with sin; / Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might, / That being red, it dyes red souls to white.
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Genres
- Metaphysical Poetry — Donne's defining style employing elaborate conceits, intellectual paradoxes, and abstract reasoning to explore spiritual concepts, exemplified by the comparisons of the soul to a fugitive pilgrim and imprisoned thief.
- Religious Poetry — Directly addresses spiritual salvation, divine judgment, grace, repentance, and Christ's redemptive power as the central subject matter and resolution.
- Devotional Poetry — Structured as intimate spiritual meditation and direct address to the soul, reflecting personal communion with the divine in the devotional prayer tradition.
- Sonnet — Employs the 14-line sonnet form with structured argumentation presenting spiritual crisis, despair, and resolution, characteristic of the Renaissance sonnet tradition.
Tags
metaphysical poetry · religious poetry · soul · mortality · spiritual crisis · introspection · Baroque · divine summons · redemption · death meditation · spiritual awakening · penitence
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O, my Black Soul, now Thou Art Summoned is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Donne
- Date: 1633 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Metaphysical Poetry, Religious Poetry, Devotional Poetry, Sonnet, Christian Poetry
- Length: 181 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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More by John Donne
- To the Countess of Bedford: Honour is so Sublime Perfection (1633)
- A Tale of a Citizen and his Wife (1633)
- Vengeance will Sit above our Faults; but Till (1635)
- The Triple Fool (1633)
- A Valediction Forbidding Mourning (1633)
- Love's War (1633)
- Twickenham Garden (1633)
- A Hymn to the Saints, and to Marquis Hamilton (1633)
- All works by John Donne