O Might Those Sighs and Tears Return Again Modern English

John Donne's early poems focus on secular topics, while his Holy Sonnets enlighten and enliven the beautiful tradition in spiritual writing.

John Donne

Luminarium

Introduction and Text of Holy Sonnet III

John Donne's speaker in Holy Sonnet 3 is lamenting through many episodes of tears and the agony of sighing that have left him in a deep land of melancholic grief. He avers that those who have committed ordinary sins against society such every bit thieves and the overweening proud, at to the lowest degree, have past joys to think on. He cannot look back at his ain transgressions with but a jaundiced eye. He committed his sins in suffering, and now he must face connected punishment equally he experiences nifty sorrow for his earlier transgressions.

Holy Sonnet Iii

O! might those sighs and tears return again
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, as I accept mourn'd in vain.
In mine idolatry what showers of rain
Mine eyes did waste product? what griefs my center did hire?
That sufferance was my sin, I now apologize;
'Cause I did suffer, I must endure pain.
Th' hydroptic boozer, and night-scouting thief,
The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud
Have the remembrance of past joys, for relief
Of coming ills. To poor me is allow'd
No ease ; for long, notwithstanding fierce grief hath been
Th' effect and cause, the punishment and sin.

Reading of Holy Sonnet Three

The speaker is continuing to complaining his lot of suffering the pain of having transgressed against his higher nature earlier in his lifetime.

Start Quatrain: A Request for Deliverance

O! might those sighs and tears return again
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, as I have mourn'd in vain.

The speaker begins his lament by requesting that all the sorrow that has caused him to shed tears and engaging in sighing come up again to him so that he can ultimately observe some results from his suffering. Thus far, he has cried and sighed and mourned without issue. His vain lament seems to have gone unnoticed past his Divine Beloved, and he has determined to go along in his heretofore vain efforts until he has touched the center of God and has proof of his connection with the Divine.

Second Quatrain: Wasted Tears

In mine idolatry what showers of rain
Mine eyes did waste material? what griefs my center did rent?
That sufferance was my sin, I at present repent;
'Cause I did suffer, I must suffer pain.

The speaker now castigates himself for his "idolatry" and how that sin has caused him to weep tears in abundance. He exaggerates his crying spells calling them colorfully, "showers of rain." And he also asserts that his optics have wasted that water on his grief. But the speaker frames his mention of vast tears and griefs every bit questions, in order to usher in his conclusions regarding their origin.

The speaker then lays the blame for his tears and grief at the door of his "sin." He remarks that he is suffering because of his before sin. But now he comes earlier his Lord Creator to "repent." He reports that because of the sin has suffered he now must endure "pain." He demonstrates his awareness of the concept of sowing and reaping, although he may have come up to understand that concept a picayune as well belatedly for his liking.

Third Quatrain: Memory of Earlier Happiness

Thursday' hydroptic drunk, and night-scouting thief,
The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud
Have the remembrance of past joys, for relief
Of coming ills. To poor me is allow'd

The speaker now catalogues a list of other types of sinners, including the "drunkard," the "thief," the "lecher," and the "proud." He asserts all of these sinners who accept sown evil in their wake at least possess a memory of "past joys." And he surmises that those joys may somehow mitigate the "coming ills" that are sure to follow their transgressions.

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The speaker is now setting upwardly a dissimilarity betwixt himself and his commission of sin and that of what ane might call back of as ordinary sins against society. This speaker has not named his ain sin, and thus his audience must presume that his sin is a individual affair, a transgression that but a union between himself and Maker tin mitigate, which would render that transgression of even mightier import and seriousness.

The Couplet: Harsh Self-Judgment

No ease; for long, yet violent grief hath been
Thursday' event and cause, the punishment and sin.

Beginning in the fourth quatrain and completing itself in the couplet, the evaluation of the speaker's lot determines that this speaker thinks of himself as "poor me," and to this "poor me" no comfort is forthcoming, thus far.

The speaker believes this country of his condition to exist what it is because for a long time his deep hurting remained the issue of his transgression, while the cause of his hurting is the "punishment" that he now must accept for the sin he has committed.

Reading of Holy Sonnet Three interspersed with scenes from "Breaking Bad"

Reading of "Death's Duel"

© 2018 Linda Sue Grimes

Linda Sue Grimes (writer) from U.S.A. on Oct 09, 2018:

Patrick,

Thank you lot for your response. You make a valid point. It doesn't matter, though, whether the speaker of the verse form identifies a specific sin or not; afterward all, information technology is desire for anything worldly that keeps the soul veiled off from its spiritual Goal.

I personally believe that Donne's chief lament in the Holy Sonnet sequence is that he engaged in too many sexual conquests equally a beau. Examples of this behavior can be seen in his early poems, such every bit "The Fleas," "The Apparition," and "The Bait"—and these are only the ones I have written about.

Donne seems to hint that physically that lustful action has destroyed his wellness, and of course, information technology usurped his spiritual journeying. But because he has finally come to sympathise his problem, he can at present study his situation and pray without ceasing to alleviate it.

Patrick from Colorado Mountains on October 08, 2018:

I think that the speaker's "sin" is perhaps less specific than many say.

The editor of the Norton edition of 1966, for example, glosses the speaker'due south "idolatry" as "[a fourth dimension] when I worshipped a mistress." Much too specific, I think. Lately I've been meditating with this sonnet. I find myself thinking that his grief lies in his having wasted and so much of his life grieving over worldly things, grieving in the way Buddhism says is inevitable when we live with want for the world. All forth, he knew his grieving was wasteful, unnecessary, sinful (in the sense that it caused him to focus on vain things rather than on God. Thus it was simultaneously a sin and even so incurred its ain punishment.

At present, the hope is that by true repentance (turning away from worldly desire and the grief and suffering that such desire brings with it) he may grieve in a more than productive way, bringing him closer to communion with his God. He grieves over the wasted grief of the past, he grieves over the separation from God such wasted grief has brought, and he hopes that now, "in this holy discontent" he might "mourn with some fruit." Thanks for your entry on this Sonnet.

O Might Those Sighs and Tears Return Again Modern English

Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/John-Donnes-Holy-Sonnet-III-O-might-those-sighs-and-tears-return-again

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