Jesse Sharpe PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

Donne’s Incarnating Words 82
the Day of Judgment. And because God works through the physical to unite himself to his
beloved followers, Donne can approach God through the physical act of writing poems.
While ‘La Corona’ provides a cycle with an argument that can be followed from
beginning to end, and which then circles back on itself, the ‘Holy Sonnets’, despite Helen
Gardner’s proposal for a thematic sequencing of the poems, 67 contain no thematic
sequencing that has gained general consensus. This can be seen in the major editions of
the poems that have been issued since Helen Gardner proposed her thematic sequences for
the verse. Both A. J. Smith and C. A. Patrides use the traditional sequence for the
sonnets; 68 Robin Robbins breaks the poems up into two sequences of twelve sonnets, with
some sonnets found in both groupings, while others have been re-titled and moved out of
the ‘Holy Sonnets’, 69 and, finally, the Donne Variorum edition prints three different
sequences. 70
Despite the fact that there is great disagreement about how the sonnets
should be linked with each other, the reader does find that there are common themes that
Donne often returns to, such as his inability to perfectly follow Christ, his hope for a
physical resurrection, and his fear that he may not be amongst those destined for heaven.
His is an uneasy Christianity which is filled with doubt, though not necessarily mistrust.
While the order of the sonnets is an issue for continued debate and inquiry, what can be
gained from looking at the pieces as a whole, no matter what order they happen to be
arranged in, is that the relationship Donne has with God is very problematic.
The relationship between Donne and God that is presented in the ‘Holy Sonnets’ is
one in which Donne and creation are truly fallen. Donne’s representation of his
problematic relationship with the world and creation can be seen in ‘Holy Sonnet XII:
67 Helen Gardner (ed.), Divine Poems (Oxford, 1952).
68 A. J. Smith (ed.), John Donne: The Complete English Poems (London, 1996); C. A. Patrides (ed.), John
Donne: The Complete English Poems (London, 1994).
69 The Complete Poems of John Donne
70 Gary Stringer et al (ed.), The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne, vol. 7, pt. 1, (Indianapolis,
2005).