Thou hast made me

Summary and Analysis

Donne's poem reflects his increasingly "anxious contemplation of his own mortality" (1261). In Donne's
Holy Sonnets #1, he is speaking directly to God, asking God to hurry up and fix him before the devil takes
hold of his soul.

Rhyme Scheme:

The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABBA CDDC EFEF GG, which is the English sonnet. It consists of three
quatrains and one rhyming couplet at the end.

Summary:

Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste;

I run to death, and death meets me as fast,

And all my pleasures are like yesterday. (lines 1-4)

The narrator is asking God if He is just going to let His work go to waste. He demands that God fix him
quickly, because death is upon him. He is scared that God will not absolve his sins before he dies, and he
will then not be able to enter into heaven. In line four, he is describing the moment where your life
flashes before your eyes when you are sure that you are going to die.

I dare not move my dim eyes any way,

Despair behind, and death before doth cast

Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste

By sin in it, which it towards hell doth weigh. (5-8)

He does not want to move his eyes away from God, because he is scared that the devil will take that
opportunity to damn him to an eternity in hell. The sins that he has amounted during the course of his
life scares him just as much as his impending death; if he is found unworthy of God's love, he will have
to suffer the consequences. His sins are rotting away his flesh, and they are so heavy that he believes he
is slowing sinking into hell.

Only thou art above, and when towards thee

By thy leave I can look, I rise again;

But our old subtle foe so tempteth me

That not one hour myself I can sustain. (9-12)

God is the only one who matters now; his last judgment will decide whether the narrator has done
enough to get into heaven. It is by God's grace that he will rise up into heaven; so he will look up to
heaven in hopes that he will soon be going there. The devil is still there trying to tempt the narrator, and
if God doesn't take him soon then his soul will be going with the devil.

Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art,

And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart. (13-14)

These last two lines are the sonnets rhyming couplet, which serve to sum up the entire poem. He tells
God that His grace will give him the wings to escape the clutches of the devil. The last line is an analogy:
God is like a giant magnet that attracts the narrator's iron heart.

Analysis:

Some of the traits often found in John Donne’s “Holy Sonnets” are already apparent in the sonnet
usually printed as the first in the collection – the sonnet beginning “Thou Hast Made Me.” Here are
some traits found in this poem that are also found in many of the other “Holy Sonnets”:

Direct address to God (“Thou has made me” [1]).

A willingness to question God (“and shall thy work decay?” [1]).

The speaker’s sense of his own spiritual corruption and of his need for God’s intervention if the speaker
hopes to achieve spiritual restoration (“Repair me now” [2]).

A pervasive worry that physical and spiritual death may be rapidly approaching:

. . . for now mine end doth haste;

I run to death, and death meets me as fast . . . (2-3)

A sense of being trapped or caught between equally unattractive opposites (“I run to death, and death
meets me as fast” [3]).

An intense focus on the personal self rather than on all persons in general (“all my pleasures are like
yesterday” [4]).

A strong sense of fear (“I dare not move my dim eyes any way” [5]).

A tendency to personify abstractions (“Despair behind, and death before doth cast / Such terror” [6-7]).

A sense of both physical and spiritual weakness:

. . . my feeble flesh doth waste

By sin in it, which it towards hell doth weigh (8-9).

A fear not simply of physical death but more significantly of spiritual death (as in the just-quoted
reference to “hell”).

A strong sense that God, through his omnipotence, has the power to save any sinner whom he chooses
to save (“Only thou art above” [9]).
A strong sense that salvation depends utterly upon God’s grace, not on the merit of any individual, as
when the speaker says that he can only look to God if God gives him “leave” (or permission) to do so
(10).

A strong sense of the power of evil, not only within persons through sin (8) but also because of Satan
(“our old subtle foe” [11]).

A strong sense that humans themselves cannot sustain themselves spiritually without God’s help (“not
one hour myself I can sustain” [12]).

A tendency to use memorable and forceful imagery, as when the speaker tells God

Thy grace may wing me [that is, give me wings] to prevent his [Satan’s] art,

And thou like adamant (that is, a powerful magnet) draw mine iron heart. (13-14)

A sense of uncertainty about whether God will, indeed, intervene to save sinners who are completely
dependent on his grace.