John Donne Traduzione O Might Those Sighs and Tears Return Again

John Donne'southward early poems focus on secular topics, while his Holy Sonnets enlighten and enliven the beautiful tradition in spiritual writing.

John Donne

Luminarium

Introduction and Text of Holy Sonnet Iii

John Donne'southward speaker in Holy Sonnet III is lamenting through many episodes of tears and the agony of sighing that take left him in a deep state of melancholic grief. He avers that those who have committed ordinary sins against order such as thieves and the overweening proud, at least, have by joys to retrieve on. He cannot look back at his own transgressions with simply a jaundiced centre. He committed his sins in suffering, and now he must face connected penalization as he experiences keen sorrow for his earlier transgressions.

Holy Sonnet Three

O! might those sighs and tears return over again
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, as I take mourn'd in vain.
In mine idolatry what showers of rain
Mine optics did waste matter? what griefs my centre did hire?
That sufferance was my sin, I now repent;
'Cause I did suffer, I must suffer pain.
Th' hydroptic drunkard, and night-scouting thief,
The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud
Take the remembrance of past joys, for relief
Of coming ills. To poor me is allow'd
No ease ; for long, yet vehement grief hath been
Thursday' effect and cause, the penalization and sin.

Reading of Holy Sonnet III

The speaker is continuing to complaining his lot of suffering the pain of having transgressed against his higher nature earlier in his lifetime.

First Quatrain: A Request for Deliverance

O! might those sighs and tears return again
Into my chest and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, equally I accept mourn'd in vain.

The speaker begins his complaining past requesting that all the sorrow that has caused him to shed tears and engaging in sighing come up once again to him and so that he can ultimately find some results from his suffering. Thus far, he has cried and sighed and mourned without result. His vain lament seems to have gone unnoticed by his Divine Dear, and he has determined to continue in his heretofore vain efforts until he has touched the heart of God and has proof of his connection with the Divine.

Second Quatrain: Wasted Tears

In mine idolatry what showers of rain
Mine optics did waste product? what griefs my heart did rent?
That sufferance was my sin, I now apologize;
'Cause I did suffer, I must suffer hurting.

The speaker at present castigates himself for his "idolatry" and how that sin has caused him to weep tears in abundance. He exaggerates his crying spells calling them colorfully, "showers of rain." And he also asserts that his eyes have wasted that water on his grief. But the speaker frames his mention of vast tears and griefs as questions, in order to usher in his conclusions regarding their origin.

The speaker then lays the blame for his tears and grief at the door of his "sin." He remarks that he is suffering because of his earlier sin. But now he comes before his Lord Creator to "repent." He reports that because of the sin has suffered he now must endure "pain." He demonstrates his awareness of the concept of sowing and reaping, although he may have come to empathise that concept a little too late for his liking.

Third Quatrain: Memory of Earlier Happiness

Th' hydroptic drunk, and night-scouting thief,
The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud
Accept the remembrance of past joys, for relief
Of coming ills. To poor me is allow'd

The speaker now catalogues a list of other types of sinners, including the "drunkard," the "thief," the "lecher," and the "proud." He asserts all of these sinners who take sown evil in their wake at to the lowest degree possess a memory of "by joys." And he surmises that those joys may somehow mitigate the "coming ills" that are sure to follow their transgressions.

Curl to Continue

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The speaker is now setting up a contrast between himself and his commission of sin and that of what one might remember of equally ordinary sins against society. This speaker has not named his ain sin, and thus his audition must assume that his sin is a private affair, a transgression that but a marriage between himself and Maker can mitigate, which would return that transgression of even mightier import and seriousness.

The Couplet: Harsh Self-Judgment

No ease; for long, yet vehement grief hath been
Th' upshot and crusade, the penalization and sin.

Beginning in the fourth quatrain and completing itself in the couplet, the evaluation of the speaker'due south lot determines that this speaker thinks of himself as "poor me," and to this "poor me" no comfort is forthcoming, thus far.

The speaker believes this state of his condition to be what it is because for a long time his deep pain remained the consequence of his transgression, while the cause of his pain is the "punishment" that he now must have for the sin he has committed.

Reading of Holy Sonnet III interspersed with scenes from "Breaking Bad"

Reading of "Expiry's Duel"

© 2018 Linda Sue Grimes

Linda Sue Grimes (author) from UsaA. on October 09, 2018:

Patrick,

Thanks for your response. You make a valid signal. It doesn't matter, though, whether the speaker of the poem identifies a specific sin or non; after all, it is desire for anything worldly that keeps the soul veiled off from its spiritual Goal.

I personally believe that Donne's main complaining in the Holy Sonnet sequence is that he engaged in too many sexual conquests as a immature man. Examples of this beliefs tin exist seen in his early poems, such as "The Fleas," "The Apparition," and "The Bait"—and these are only the ones I have written about.

Donne seems to hint that physically that lustful activeness has destroyed his health, and of course, it usurped his spiritual journey. Simply because he has finally come to understand his problem, he can now study his situation and pray without ceasing to alleviate it.

Patrick from Colorado Mountains on Oct 08, 2018:

I think that the speaker's "sin" is maybe less specific than many say.

The editor of the Norton edition of 1966, for example, glosses the speaker's "idolatry" as "[a time] when I worshipped a mistress." Much too specific, I think. Lately I've been meditating with this sonnet. I find myself thinking that his grief lies in his having wasted and then much of his life grieving over worldly things, grieving in the way Buddhism says is inevitable when nosotros live with desire for the earth. All along, he knew his grieving was wasteful, unnecessary, sinful (in the sense that information technology caused him to focus on vain things rather than on God. Thus information technology was simultaneously a sin and even then incurred its own punishment.

Now, the promise is that past true repentance (turning away from worldly want and the grief and suffering that such want brings with it) he may grieve in a more productive way, bringing him closer to communion with his God. He grieves over the wasted grief of the by, he grieves over the separation from God such wasted grief has brought, and he hopes that now, "in this holy discontent" he might "mourn with some fruit." Thank you for your entry on this Sonnet.

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Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/John-Donnes-Holy-Sonnet-III-O-might-those-sighs-and-tears-return-again

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