Note 549 — PART THE SECOND. (continued 13)
Reading edition
Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, and Chaplain to King James the First, belonged to that class of writers, whom Johnson, in his Life of Cowley, describes as metaphysical poets. Their great object seemed to be to display their wit and learning, and to astonish by what was brilliant, rather than to please by what was natural and simple. Notwithstanding this defect, the poetry of Donne, though harsh and unmusical, abounds in powerful thoughts, and discovers a considerable share of learning. His divinity was drawn from the pure fountain of Revelation, of which he drank copiously and freely. Of his fervent zeal and piety, many instances are recorded in that inimitable piece of biography, Izaak Walton's Lives. We subjoin a specimen of his poetry, composed during a severe fit of sickness, and which, on his recovery, was set to music, and used to be often sung to the organ by the choristers of St. Paul's, in his own hearing.
HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.
1.
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more.
2.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two, but wallow'd in a score? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more.
3.
I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; But swear by thyself that, at my death, thy Son Shall shine, as he shines now, and heretofore. And having done that thou hast done, I fear no more.
Divine Poems.