Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry 3: John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 12
How do we enter into a relationship with God, or deepen that relationship once it exists? Our answers to that question become richer when we recognize that the God of whom we speak is the most holy Trinity: the name of God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this essay series, we have explored how the poetry of John Donne, the 17th century Anglican poet-priest, can help us to examine and reflect on our relationship with God. Now, we will finish by looking at Donne’s Holy Sonnet 12 – the poem that brings all our themes together.
Holy Sonnet 12 is deeply Trinitarian – in fact, it is the only sonnet in the sequence to reference the Trinity specifically: the “knotty Trinity.” This image is worth pondering. Donne may have been influenced by Celtic designs of the Trinity, but in any case he was certainly playing on the different meanings of “knotty.” The word “knotty” is often used to describe difficult or insoluble problems, and indeed the Trinity cannot be figured out by reason. However, as we said at the beginning of our series, the Trinity is only “knotty” in a negative sense if we see the Trinity as a problem to be solved. If we consider the Trinity as a reality to be experienced, then “knotty” can be appreciated in its other sense. The image of the knot connects the idea of infinity with that of security: things knotted are made secure, bound tightly.
In this poem, we see the poet coming to the realization that God, fully experienced as the most holy Trinity, is a dynamic communion of love. Through Christ we are drawn into the Trinity: “Father, part of his double interest / Unto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me, / His jointure in the knotty Trinity / He keeps, and gives me his death’s conquest.” Donne begins to see that God is continually pouring out His “all-healing” grace and love, to which the poet can respond through the power of the Spirit.
Holy Sonnet 12:
Father, part of his double interest
Unto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me,
His jointure in the knotty Trinity
He keeps, and gives me his death’s conquest.
This Lamb, whose death, with life the world hath blessed,
Was from the world’s beginning slain, and he
Hath made two wills, which with the legacy
Of his and thy kingdom, do thy sons invest.
Yet such are thy laws, that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfill;
None doth, but thy all-healing grace and Spirit
Revive again what law and letter kill.
Thy law’s abridgement, and thy last command
Is all but love; oh let that last will stand!
As we reflect on the Holy Sonnets, we can gain the insight that we do not need to have perfect understanding in order to love God and to be drawn into His love for us. Donne’s poetry, like that of the other metaphysical poets, can often be very abstract and intellectual, even when dealing with emotion. Especially in these early poems, written before his ordination as a priest, Donne seems to be striving to understand the mysteries of faith, and falling short. While faith should always go seeking understanding, and we are directed in Holy Scripture to understand the reasons for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15), we must not fall into the error of thinking that just because we ought to use our minds to the fullest, that this full use of our minds will enable us to “understand” God completely. God is a Person, not a concept.
Donne seems to have realized this, later in life as a priest: he writes, in a sermon on John 1:8, that “We may search so far and reason so long of grace and faith, as that we may lose not only them but even our reason too, and sooner become mad than good.”
In the Holy Sonnets, Donne never quite reaches full assurance, and in many of his other poems we find the same wavering between faith and doubt. Donne helps us see that doubt and struggle need not be feared, if we offer them up to God for Him to use them to bring us closer to Him. Donne’s uncertainties about his faith, his sense of his own sinful and rebellious heart, his experiences of loss, his own frequent ill health, were things that he offered up to God – and God used him to do a mighty work of preaching and teaching.
In Holy Sonnet 1, he had exclaimed in anguish, “ 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,” giving a sense of frustration at God’s apparent distance from his need. In contrast, Holy Sonnet 12 closes with an affirmation of God’s love: “thy all-healing grace and Spirit / Revive again what law and letter kill.” When the poet cries out “oh let that last will stand!” it is in desire rather than despair, for he knows now that “Thy law’s abridgement, and thy last command / Is all but love.” We see the poet coming to the realization that God, fully experienced as the most holy Trinity, is a dynamic communion of love; Donne begins to see that God is continually pouring out His “all-healing” grace and love, to which the poet can respond through the power of the Spirit.
Donne does not present us with a neat, tidy explanation of the Trinity; instead, he sidles up to the Trinity, looks sideways at it, writes around it and gradually draws closer to it – and becomes drawn, by grace, into that eternal loving communion. And as we read and reflect on the Holy Sonnets, we can use them as a scaffold to grow in our own faith.
Related posts:
- Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry (1): John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 1
- Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry (2): John Donne’s Holy Sonnets 10 and 11
- Advent and Christmas Poetry 4: Awe – John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 15”
- Christ the King: A Meditation on George Herbert’s “The Collar”
- Meditating on the Apostles’ Creed, Part 2
4 Responses to “Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry 3: John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 12”
Dr Holly Ordway came to Christ through reason, in the pursuit of truth. "In your hearts honor Christ as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 15).
She writes about her journey from atheism to orthodox Christian faith in her book "Not God's Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith" (Moody Publishers).
Can you come teach a course on poetry at my church?
Seriously, though, I have really enjoyed your posts on theology and poetry. The insights you have are definitely enlightening–and ones that I would never have on my own!
Glad you enjoyed it! Here is a link where you can find the audio for the lecture:
http://www.stmichaelsbythesea.org/our-mission/equipping-the-saints/adult-forum/
Holly here is a poem I wrote, hope it is fitting.
My Royal Family
With your word you have set me free,
Ignited my spirit, like you, I strive to be.
Free! no ties , no lies, binding me.
By your mercy, your grace, at last I can see.
Your yoke hangs gently around my neck,
easy and light, just like you had said.
If not by you, then who? This I can not fathom,
I belong to you, this is not random.
By choice?… My choice?… How can this be?
Wasn’t it He, who chose to save me.
Mercy and grace, given abundantly.
Eternally grateful for adopting me.
From that day forward, I awake Free.
No longer enslaved by powers other than thee.
Royal garments, I now own.
By my Father Given , who covers skin and bone.
I Pick up My Scepter! On goes my Royal Robe!
My Father’s the king, I now sit by His throne.
First born yes! That is me,
First born of His Royal family.
By Giovanni
arcurig1@aol.com
Hello Dr. Ordway,
I know this is not exactly a recent post, but I am new to your site. I very much enjoyed this about Donne’s holy sonnet 12, so thank you for it. My favorite has always been holy sonnet 14 (so much so that I named my own blog [battermyheartblog.blogspot.com] after it). Here is this sonnet below (though I’m sure you are quite familiar with it!):
Batter my heart, three person’d God; for you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am betroth’d unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,’untie, or breake that knot againe,
Take me to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.