Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry (1): John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 1

The Trinity is not just a difficult doctrine that’s interesting only for pastors and philosophers – rather, it is the heart of the Christian faith, for God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The most holy Trinity is not a puzzle to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Though we cannot fully comprehend the Trinity through the use of human reason, God has revealed Himself as Trinity and invites us to participate in His divine life: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Poetry is ideal for exploring this tremendous mystery of faith, as a poem can hold ideas in tension without resolving them. Nothing can explain the most holy Trinity, but poetry can help us experience God more fully and more deeply.

Introducing John Donne – Our Poet Guide

John Donne, the 17th century Anglican poet and priest, is a complex figure: after a dissolute early life, he married for love, and was ordained as a priest. His personal struggles and constant self-examination, paired with his brilliant intellect and unflagging zeal, helped him to serve the Lord faithfully and passionately – he went on to become the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and one of the era’s most inspiring preachers, powerfully teaching and preaching the Gospel.

What Does Poetry Have to Do with This?

Donne uses his poetry to explore all aspects of faith and life, including his own fears, doubts, and weakness. In the 12-sonnet sequence called the Holy Sonnets, Donne dramatizes and thus brings into focus his own struggle with his relationship with God. In the process, he helps us to move from trying to “figure out” the Trinity (Three…one…hm…?) to a relational approach to the Trinity.

We’ll start with looking at Holy Sonnet 1. Look for how Donne opens the sequence with an unsettled tone. He is trying to relate to God… and failing. Feeling isolated from a God he perceives as distant, the narrator cries out almost in anger, “thou lov’st mankind well, yet wilt not choose me.” Indeed, God does not seem to be handling things the way the poet thinks is best, and the poet even accuses God of passivity: “Except thou rise and for thine own work fight, / Oh I shall soon despair.” Notice how often the pronoun “I” appears – the narrator is focused almost entirely on himself; could it be that he is projecting his own self-absorption outward onto God?

Holy Sonnet 1

As due by many titles I resign
Myself to thee, O God, first I was made
By thee, and for thee, and when I was decayed
Thy blood bought that, the which before was thine,
I am thy son, made with thy self to shine,
Thy servant, whose pains thou hast still repaid,
Thy sheep, thine image, and, till I betrayed
My self, a temple of thy Spirit divine;
Why doth the devil then usurp on me?
Why doth he steal, nay ravish that’s thy right?
Except thou rise and for thine own work fight,
Oh I shall soon despair, when I do see
That thou lov’st mankind well, yet wilt not choose me,
And Satan hates me, yet is loth to lose me.

The Trinity is referenced only obliquely: a hint of the Father (“I was made by thee”), the Son (“Thy blood bought that, the which before was thine”), and the Holy Spirit (“My self, a temple of thy Spirit divine”). These three Persons, only vaguely referred to, do not seem to recall to the poet anything of Trinity’s divine communion of love, with implications for the poet’s relationship with God. The poet starts to recognize himself as a temple of the Holy Spirit, but only in the past tense: he is a temple “till I betrayed / My self.” There is no appreciation of what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit means for his relationship with God the Father.

The poem ends on a depressed note; the poet accuses God of being passive: “Except thou rise and for thine own work fight, / Oh I shall soon despair.” Feeling isolated from a God he perceives as distant, he cries out almost in anger, “thou lov’st mankind well, yet wilt not choose me.”

Our Relationship with God the Trinity

Holy Sonnet 1 shows us that a faulty understanding of who God is can hinder the development of our relationship with Him. The narrator in Holy Sonnet 1 sees God as a distant Other, complete and sufficient in Himself, and utterly distant from His creation. Not surprisingly, he feels unable to have a relationship with this Being whose attentions seem almost arbitrary: “Oh I shall soon despair, when I do see / That thou lov’st mankind well, yet wilt not choose me.”

However, God has revealed Himself to be not just one, but Three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one being, and three Persons. God is love, and in His being there is an eternal loving communion among the three Persons.

As Donne shows us in the later sonnets in the sequence, the recognition of God as Trinity opens the door for a far richer and deeper relationship with God, who has revealed Himself to us in Scripture and in the Incarnation of His Son. In Holy Sonnet 1, the narrator ends in a sense of frustration at God’s apparent indifference to his need… but when we get to Holy Sonnet 12 we will find a profound affirmation of God’s love, His “all-healing grace and Spirit.”

God does not just want to give us “things” to make us happy; He wants to give us Himself, to draw us into His eternal life. Most importantly for us, through the Incarnation, death, and Resurrection of the Son, we can be drawn up into the eternal life of God the Trinity, sharing in that communion of love that is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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