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in the Catholic meditative processes [argued by Martz]” (570). Here,
Schoenfeldt helpfully allows the act of meditation, as explained by
Martz, to connect to even the more abstract images of Donne’s and
Herbert’s poetry. Since the iconic images have been transferred into the
imagination and psychological landscape of the speaker, they can often
be displaced from concrete into a metaphor for the concrete image. The
idea behind the concrete image, in Schoenfeldt’s example the pain of the
cross, is expressed and meditated upon. Still the act of mediation allows
for the same result for a metaphor for the cross as a concrete depiction
of the cross.
Similarly, Martz’s ideas of reading Donne’s poetry as Ignatian
meditation can define how the reader interacts with the verbal icons found
in the poetry. Meditating on the image of Christ as depicted by Donne
and Herbert, the reader joins in with the poet in the stage of “compositio”
working out the image in his/her imagination (Martz 112). In this way,
the reader moves from considering the word-images to spiritual realities.
Thus, Blaise’s ideas on verbal icons are best used in tandem with Martz’s
and others’ reading of images by means of this Ignatian method. This act
of meditation also balances the Anglo-Catholic emphasis on the image of
Christ with the Calvinist insistence on “sola Christi” and spiritual realities
over physical ones. Ultimately, the influence of Calvinism on Herbert and
Donne causes them often to distance concrete iconic images by means of
metaphor in an effort to avoid idolatrous readings. Ironically, using more
abstract metaphors actually makes the reader concentrate more intently
on the metaphor and draw concrete connections to the image it evokes.
In the end, the result is the same as a more concrete image: meditation on
the metaphor leads to Ignatian meditation.
This has many implications for defining Donne’s vision of
Christianity. For Donne, meditation on a verbal icon is for the purpose
of personal transcendence from a state of spiritual anxiety. The focus is
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on the individual Christian working to define his/her spiritual status. For
example, in “Holy Sonnet XIII,” the speaker looks to their own personal
reasoning to answer if Christ is compassionate. No external sources of
knowledge or assurance are sought and only the personal “my heart” is
examined (2). Christ’s character is defined in the internal, individual
act of mediation. The poem acts becomes an inner dialogue between
the speaker and his soul, where the image of Christ leads to personal
reflection. Like a mirror, the cross causes the speaker to examine his/her
own soul. Even though the end of the world is the context of this poem,
there is no evoking of mass judgment or collective humanity experiencing
tribulations. The center of the judgment is the individual soul before
the judging Christ. The only other people featured in the poem are “my
profane mistresses,” a clearly negative portrayal (10). Thus, when outside
community is introduced into the poem, the connotation is it leads the
soul away from God. In this way, Donne illustrates a model of Christianity
where the individual looks to the cross for internal, personal reasons. The
Christian must be cautious of external community and understand that,
at the end of the world, the primary judgment will be an individual one.
Donne’s views of the Christian self before God can be further seen
in “A Hymn to Christ, at the Author’s Last Going into Germany.” The
speaker starts the poem with the image of a ship calling it an “emblem of
thy ark” (2). He paints the picture of a boat on the ocean as a metaphor
for Christ’s blood saying, “that flood / Shall be to me an emblem of thy
blood” (3-4). Conflating the biblical story of Noah and Christ’s death,
the speaker compares the God of the Flood and Christ. God’s judgment
caused the Flood much like it was poured out on Christ on the cross
caused a sea of His blood. Now in looking out at the ocean, the speaker is
led to contemplate Christ’s blood. The speaker asserts “though thou with
clouds of anger do disguise / Thy face, yet through that mask I know those
eyes” (5-6). In this case, the face of Christ is sought for consideration. The
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