Resurrection, Imperfect by John Donne
John Donne's "Resurrection, Imperfect" addresses the sun directly, telling it to sleep on and rest, since it cannot yet have recovered from the wound it suffered the previous Friday. The speaker declares that the world can bear the sun's continued absence, because a better sun has risen this day. That better sun, unlike the natural sun which illumines only the earth's surface, went further and illumined hell itself, making its dark fires grow faint, just as ordinary fires grow pale before the natural sun's presence. The poem describes this greater sun's body: having walked on earth, and now hastening toward heaven, it would, were it able, make itself present at every station and fill all places at once. Instead, for these three days it has become, as it were, a mineral. When it lay down it was all gold, but it has risen as all tincture-a substance of transforming power, able not merely to dispose leaden and iron wills toward good but to make even sinful flesh like itself. The speaker then imagines that if one of those credulous, pious people-who believed a soul could actually be seen departing a body-had been present at this sepulchre and had seen this body issuing from its burial sheet, that person would have rightly judged this body to be a soul: if not the soul of any single man, then the soul of the whole.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Metaphysical Poetry, Religious Poetry, Devotional Poetry · 282 words
First lines
Sleep, sleep, old sun, thou canst not have repass'd, / As yet, the wound thou took'st on Friday last; / Sleep then, and rest; the world may bear thy stay; / A better sun rose before thee today; / Who-not content to enlighten all that dwell / On the earth's face, as thou-enlighten'd hell, / And made the dark fires languish in that vale, / As at thy presence here our fires grow pale; / Whose body, having walk'd on earth, and now / Hasting to heaven, would-that He might allow / Himself unto all stations, and fill all- / For these three days become a mineral. / He was all gold when He lay down, but rose / All tincture, and doth not alone dispose / Leaden and iron wills to good, but is / Of power to make e'en sinful flesh like his. / Had one of those, whose credulous piety / Thought that a soul one might discern and see / Go from a body, at this sepulchre been, / And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen, / He would have justly thought this body a soul, / If not of any man, yet of the whole.
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Resurrection, Imperfect 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, Lyric Poetry, Baroque Poetry
- Length: 282 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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Similar titles
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- Resurrection by John Donne
- Of The Progress Of The Soul The Second Anniversary by John Donne
- Hymn To God My God In My Sickness by John Donne
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Genres
- Metaphysical Poetry — Exemplifies Donne's signature style through complex conceits, intellectual wit, and the striking comparison of Christ's resurrection to the sun's renewal, hallmarks of metaphysical verse's paradoxical reasoning.
- Religious Poetry — Explicitly addresses Christian theology of the Resurrection, with meditation on Christ's transformative power over creation, spiritual dimensions, and the redemption of sinful flesh.
- Devotional Poetry — Functions as personal spiritual meditation with direct address to the divine, exploring intimate faith's implications in the manner of devotional literature seeking communion with God.
- Lyric Poetry — Presents personal, emotional, and intellectual exploration through a single speaker's meditation, emphasizing subjective contemplation characteristic of lyric expression.
Tags
metaphysical · spiritual · divine love · mortality · religious · paradox · soul · redemption · faith · human weakness · transcendence · duality