IX.
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
And, mercy being easy, and glorious
To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?
But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee ?
O God, O ! of Thine only worthy blood,
And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drown in it my sin's black memory.
That Thou remember them, some claim as debt ;
I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget.
Title: the title hints us towards the subject of the sonnet. The word "Holy" has a connection to religion. From the title we can infer that the author has religious affiliations and perhaps feels strong about his faith. Being that it is a sonnet, the author perhaps feels a force that attracts him to religion and the evidence can be found in the authors religious and social history.
Paraphrase: If deathly substances, and if that tree,
whose fruit led humans to mortality,
if evil being beings, and sneaky and treacherous human beings
If they were responsible for it, why should I have to suffer for their actions.
Why should my qualities be overshadowed and ignored
everyone is a sinner, why do you only focus on mine?
If forgiving is so easy for god why is he ignoring me.
but who am I t question god?
oh God! only the good will be with you.
and I hope that my tiers will convince you to forgive me
and my sins be forgiven.
I am always in debt with you, Please forget what I have done.
Speaker: The speaker of the poem is a fellow sinner who is asking for forgiveness from God.
Figurative language: Allusion: there is allusion to the lethean flood. There is also an allusion to Adam and Eve.
Attitude: the attitude of the poem is depressing and realistic. Many times we do not take into account, as a spiritual person, that eternal salvation can only be achieved through good acts and a close relationship to God. As a sinner, we are on the contrary path and we do not realize we are on that path until its too late.
Shifts: The attitude of the poem shifts from accusing and stern to calm and asking for forgiveness. His attitude changes when he realism that everyone has sins and that his only path to salvation is found in the forgiveness in God.
Title: after reading the sonnet, I came to the conclusion that the title of the sonnet indeed has a close relation to religion. This affiliation is evident in the them of the poem.
Theme: The theme of the poem is asking for forgives through realization. Now that the speaker has realized the importance of forgiveness in achieving eternal salvation, he has come to the conclusion that forgiveness of his past sins must be achieved. In order to fulfill that we see him plea for forgiveness claiming that he is just a regular day-to-day human who sins.
The speaker of the poem is going through a change in his faith. Perhaps he is getting older and has come to realize that a human being does not live forever and in the back of his mind begins to wonder if indeed he will achieve eternal salvation. Based on the poem, I believe that the speaker has come to the conclusion that he will not go to heaven but rather end up in hell. This is evident due to the shift in tone as well as the context of the sonnet. The speaker of the poem has begun to create a closer relationship to God by asking for forgiveness. The theme of the poem is very realistic in that the context of the sonnet also occurs to many Catholics and people from other religions. Many people can describe themselves to be "Catholic" but may only attend mass during Christmas season or the beginning of lent, ash Wednesday. In my opinion that is hypocrisy. How can an individual go to church every Sunday, ask for forgiveness by being the loudest one in church praying, sitting in the front of the church or asking for penitence by hitting there chest, but once mass is over turn the other way and goes about doing mindful sins believing that there sins can always be forgiven later.
Another instance were we come to remember God is when we have a family member or even ourselves are sick or have been hurt. I have heard the quote "If you cure him/her I promise I will......" many times. Once that individual is cured we come to keep our promise for a week, a fee weeks or perhaps a month. And then...... we move on. Of course this description of a religious person does not apply to every single person, but it does to the majority of the "religious" population including myself. This sonnet invites us to reflect on our faith and ask ourselves a question: if I l was to die tomorrow, would I end up in heaven."
I believe that this poem should make us realize the path that we are in and perhaps change the direction we are going, not waiting until it is too late when we are in our deathbed asking God to take us into his kingdom.
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