“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Summary

“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Themes

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  Death as a Journey Toward Heaven

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  Suffering and the Consolations of Faith

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness”

• Lines 1-3

  Since I am coming to that holy room,
           Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,
  I shall be made thy music;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-5

  as I come
           I tune the instrument here at the door,
           And what I must do then, think now before.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
           Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
  Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
           That this is my south-west discovery,
        
  Per fretum febris
  , by these straits to die,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  I joy, that in these straits, I see my West;
           For, though their currents yield return to none,
  What shall my West hurt me? As West and East
           In all flat maps (and I am one) are one,
           So death doth touch the resurrection.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-20

  Is the Pacific Sea my home? Or are
           The Eastern riches? Is Jerusalem?
  Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar,
           All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them,
           Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-22

  We think that Paradise and Calvary,
           Christ's cross and Adam's tree, stood in one place;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-25

  Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;
           As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,
           May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 26-27

  So, in his purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord;
           By these his thorns give me his other crown;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 28-30

  And, as to others' souls I preach'd thy word,
           Be this my text, my sermon to mine own:
  Therefore that he may raise the Lord throws down.

  

  

  

  

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“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Symbols

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  Cardinal Directions

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“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Conceit

  

  

  

  

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• Pun

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thy
• Physicians
• Cosmographers
• South-west discovery
• Per fretum febris
• Straits
• The Eastern riches
• Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar
• Japhet, Cham, and Shem
• Paradise and Calvary
• Adam's tree
• Both Adams
• In his purple wrapp'd
• By these his thorns

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Speaker

“Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness”

More “Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about John Donne via the British Library.

  • The Metaphysical Poets — Read about the Metaphysical Poets, the loosely linked group of writers of which Donne was one of the most notable members.

  • Donne's Portrait — Admire a famous, rather piratical portrait of Donne.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • A Lost Donne Manuscript — Read an article about a recently rediscovered volume of Donne's poetry.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

  • A Hymn to God the Father

  • Air and Angels

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • A Valediction: Of Weeping

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Apparition

  • The Canonization

  • The Flea

  • The Good-Morrow

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed