The early poetry of John Donne included the sensually charged offerings of “The Flea” and “The Apparition,” for which he later sought ablution in such prayer/poems as “Hymn to God the Father.”
“Hymn to God the Father” features three stanzas, each with six lines. The entire rime scheme of the poem rests on two rimes; each stanza’s scheme is ABABAB.
First Stanza: “Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun”
The speaker begins his prayer asking for forgiveness for a sin—the original sin of being born of man and woman. Although he knows he does not remember choosing to be born, he knows that the fact that he is incarnated indicates that he is not soul-perfected: he has karma to burn, he must reap what he has sown. The speaker’s sin-consciousness demonstrates that he has made significant progress as a devotee from the days when he was using his wit and charm to seduce a virgin.
But in addition to the original sin, he is aware that he has been locked in the physical body with animal lusts that he has difficulty controlling: “Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run, /
And do run still, though still I do deplore?” He is ashamed of that sin and hates it, but he needs divine aid in overcoming it.
He then says that after the Divine has relieved him of that personal sin, he still needs further Divine aid for he has more sins to confess.
Second Stanza: “Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won”
The speaker’s second sin is that he has encouraged “others” in the same sin, that is, the engagement with lust. He has been able to control that lust “A year or two,” but he “wallow’d” in it for about twenty years. After the Great Soul has unburdened him from that sin, the speaker still has more to ask.
Third Stanza: “I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun”
The speaker then names his final sin, and that is the “sin of fear.” He fears that when he dies he shall simply disappear. He believes in his immortal, eternal soul, but he confesses to doubts, because he knows he has not yet achieved union with the Divine.
He then avers that he strongly believes in Christ, and with God the Father’s help, he will become aware of Christ’s shining presence. He knows that his Christ-consciousness “shines now and heretofore.” With that strong faith and complete reliance of “God the Father,” the speaker then can finally say, “I fear no more.”
Commentary
Because John Donne married Anne More, who was only seventeen years old, some scholars have interpreted a pun in the lines, “For I have more” and “I fear no more.” Also, the word “done” is used seven times in the poem. The interpretation of those two terms as puns, however, adds no useful information about the poem.
However, the fact that the rime scheme features only words riming with “Donne” and “More” does emphasize that the speaker realizes his great obstacle to spiritual advancement has been throughout his life his indulgence of his lustful appetite.
The obstacle to the speaker’s God-union is his own lack of self-control, not the object of this lust, which Anne More certainly had been. She bore him twelve children in fifteen years and died at age thirty-three.
