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the reader is to focus on the image of Christ on the cross, the goal is for
this image to become imprinted upon his/her soul. The physical image
interacts with the spiritual state of the observer. This image is described in
detail using Petrarchan techniques of isolating specific body parts: “tears
in his eyes” and “Blood fills his frowns, which from his pierced head fell”
(5,6). In this way, the speaker paints the picture the soul is to visualize.
Not only does the speaker call upon the image of Christ, but he/
she also calls upon the reader to place his/herself in relation to this
image. The soul must face the image of the cross “and tell / Whether
that countenance can thee affright” (3-4). There is an expected emotional
response to the image for which each individual soul must give account.
The fear here seems to refer back to the first line, “What if this present
were the world’s last night?” (1). The picture of Christ on the cross is in
the context of eternal judgment at the end of the world. Thus. the soul
views this image filled with questions about its relationship to Christ.
Has the speaker properly “marked” the message of the cross or will he/
she be eternally damned? This fear is obviously one commonly related
to Calvinists searching for assurance of their inclusion in the elect.
The speaker calls upon this common fear in Donne’s day in order to
question not only individual status before God but also if Christ himself
is compassionate. The central question of the poem is “can that tongue
adjudge thee unto hell, / Which prayed forgiveness for his foes’ fierce
spite?” (7-8). In the end, the speaker seems to come to peace with this
question using a line of reasoning that beauty is a sign of compassion so
“This beauteous form assures a piteous mind” (14). In this reasoning,
the image of Christ and its beauty is critical to answering the question
of eternal damnation. Again, Anglo-Catholic emphasis on image works
in tandem with Calvinist questions of the soul’s election. Together these
ideas comprise the theological emphasis of this poem: the verbal icon of
the cross must be meditated on in order to answer metaphysical questions
120 | Keery
of Christian salvation and eternal judgment.
However, these Anglo-Catholic and Calvinist ideas do not easily fit
together for Donne. More than anxiety over individual salvation in the
face of eternal judgment, the speakers in Donne’s poems often wrestle
with contemplating imagery at all. Likely, informed by his Catholic
background, Donne is intently aware that contemplating images can
easily lead to idolatry and an overemphasis on the material. For this
reason, critics debate how to best read Donne’s speakers’ reactions to
iconic images, like the crucifixion, in his poetry. In the seminal work The
Poetry of Meditation, Louis Martz connects Donne’s and Herbert’s poetry
with Ignatian meditation, where the Christian was to imagine Christ and
consider their own soul in relation to this image (Oliver 112, Schoenfeldt
562). Martz argued that Donne’s speakers imagined the cross in order to
emotionally relate to the suffering in the act of meditation (562).
In response, P M Oliver, a strong contender for Donne’s poetry
being Calvinist, argues Donne boldly rejected Catholicism and his
Jesuit past (115). Where it seems like Donne uses Iganatian meditation,
Oliver argues Donne enacts “parody-meditation” where the speaker uses
ideas from Ignatian meditation to ultimately subvert Catholic ideas as
“Igantian motifs in the poem are made to clash with Protestant, Calvinist
ones” (116). While Oliver sees both Anglo-Catholic and Calvinistic
views at work in Donne’s poetry, he ultimately sees Calvinism winning
out.. Likewise, Schoenfeldt agrees that within Donne’s poetry elements
of Calvinism can be clearly seen, particularly in his speaker’s hesitation to
look directly on the image of Christ’s crucifixion. The fact the speaker never
faces the cross in “Goodfriday, 1613, Riding Westward” not only proves
the speaker’s mistrust of the image but also violates liturgical decorum as
“one was never supposed to turn one’s back on a superior” (Schoenfeldt
569). Still, Schoenfeldt reminds that the speaker internally recreates
in detail the Passion and, as a result, “participates, albeit provisionally,
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