The Lamentations of Jeremy, for the most Part Ac
The Lamentations of Jeremy mourn Judah and Jerusalem after their ruin, portraying the city that was once populous, honoured, and powerful as solitary, bereaved, tributary, and despised. Zion’s lovers and friends have betrayed her, her people are captive, her gates and solemn ways are empty, and priests, maids, princes, elders, and children share in grief, hunger, flight, and death. Her calamity is repeatedly understood as Jehovah’s righteous punishment for rebellion, transgression, and uncleanness, though the speakers plead for Him to see their suffering and judge their enemies in turn. The city describes Jehovah as having cast down its beauty, dwellings, walls, gates, sanctuary, altar, king, and priesthood. He has acted like an enemy, giving strength and gladness to Zion’s foes, while the people endure mockery from passers-by and enemies who celebrate the fall of the city once called the joy and perfection of the earth. False prophets failed to expose iniquity and instead supplied vain visions. The lament calls Zion to pour out tears without rest, confess sin, lift hands to God, and cry for the starving children who faint and die in the streets. The devastation includes sword, famine, slaughter, and women driven by hunger to eat their own children. A more personal voice recounts affliction under God’s rod: darkness, confinement, broken strength, bitterness, mockery, and the apparent refusal of prayer. Yet remembrance of misery gives way to hope in God’s continuing mercies, renewed each morning, and in His fidelity. The speaker declares the Lord his portion, urges patient waiting for salvation, and teaches that one should bear the yoke humbly, trusting that the Lord does not forsake forever and will show compassion after grief. The people are called to examine their ways, return to God, and confess their rebellion. The speaker also recalls being pursued, shut in a dungeon, overwhelmed by waters, and then heard and reassured by the Lord; he asks God to judge the wrong done by his enemies and repay their reproach. The lament returns to the visible degradation of Zion: sanctuary stones lie scattered, sons once valued as gold are treated as earthen vessels, and children lack bread and drink. Those once fed delicately perish in the streets or embrace dunghills; bodies once bright and healthy have become unrecognizable through famine. The sins of priests and prophets, especially the shedding of just blood, are named among the causes of judgment. Help sought from a nation that cannot save proves vain, while pursuers close in with extraordinary swiftness. Even the Anointed Lord, in whom the people hoped for shelter, falls into the enemy’s pit. Edom is warned that the cup of judgment will pass to her, while Zion’s sins will be spent and her banishment will not continue. The final communal prayer asks the Lord to remember the reproach that has fallen on the people. Their possessions and houses belong to strangers; they are as orphans, their mothers widows, and they must pay for their own water and wood. They labour under persecutors, seek bread from Egyptians and Assyrians, suffer danger in obtaining food, and endure abuse, hanging, forced labour, and the loss of honour for princes and elders. Joy, song, dancing, and the crown have vanished because of sin; Mount Zion lies desolate and foxes roam there. Against this desolation stands the enduring throne of the Lord, whom the people beg to restore them, renew their days, and not remain utterly enraged against them.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Religious Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Devotional Literature · 5 chapters · 4,962 words
First lines
1. How sits this city, late most populous, / Thus solitary, and like a widow thus? / Amplest of nations, queen of provinces / She was, who now thus tributary is?
2. Still in the night she weeps, and her tears fall / Down by her cheeks along, and none of all / Her lovers comfort her; perfidiously / Her friends have dealt, and now are enemy
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Genres
- Religious Poetry — The work is a devotional paraphrase of the biblical Book of Lamentations, centered on divine judgment and spiritual suffering, making religious meditation and theological reflection central to the composition.
- Elegiac Poetry — Lamentations are fundamentally elegies expressing profound grief and mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of a captive people, with recurrent themes of loss and sorrow throughout.
- Devotional Literature — The work functions as devotional verse intended for spiritual contemplation and religious instruction, encouraging readers to reflect on sin, divine mercy, and redemption through aesthetic and theological experience.
- Biblical Translation — The work is explicitly a paraphrase and translation of scripture, adapting the biblical Book of Lamentations into English verse while maintaining fidelity to theological content and narrative arc.
Tags
biblical · poetry · religious · translation · lament · grief · mourning · suffering · theology · Old Testament · devotional · metaphysical
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The Lamentations of Jeremy, for the most Part According to Tremellius 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: Religious Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Devotional Literature, Biblical Translation, Metaphysical Poetry
- Length: 4,962 words
- Structure: 5 chapters, 98 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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