This is a comprehensive analysis of John Donne's poem 'Good Friday Riding Westward.' It provides information on the context, form and structure and language and imagery of the
- The poem is iambic pentameter
- It is made up of rhyming couplets, however there is some instances of half rhyme
- This is a single stanza poem. The elongated, protracted nature of the poem reflects the
journey and spiritual struggle of the speaker
- The central dilemma in the poem is the east / west polarity. The west is associated with the
mundane world of obligation and duty while the east is associated with the godly, spiritual
world. It is also associated with Christ and the Resurrection.
- The regularity of the rhythm and rhyme presents a logical argument (tension between
worldly / other worldly; spiritual / humane)
- The regularity of the rhythm and rhyme also creates aphoristic, pithy, proverbial sounding
lines that have a sentient feel
- The poem shifts from general philosophical musing son the nature of the soul and the
tensions between the spiritual and human side of man to a more personal reaction, which is
emphasised through the use of first person pronouns
LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY
Subject and Context of the Poem
- This is one of Donne’s religious poems. It was written around the time when he became a
cleric in the C.O.E
- The poem deals with struggles of faith, of which Donne had many
- Donne lived in a period of religious disputation and he came from a recusant family and he
did not get a degree as it would have involved taking an oath of allegiance to the C.O.E
- The poem makes reference to the need for God to intervene in the world- this has Calvinistic
doctrinal associations
- Donne lived in a god-fearing, Church-going society, where religion played a dominant role in
people’s lives
- Donne was both a committed Catholic in his early years and a committed member of the
C.O.E in his later years
- The biblical references would have been familiar to Donne’s contemporary audience- the
bible often made up the core of religious sermons
- The geographical tension of East and West is a major tension in the poem- this alludes to
idea of travel and journey which was increasingly popular in 17th Cent.
- The theme of guilt in the poem implies Donne’s catholic sensibilities. In some of Donne’s
poems there is an overwhelming sense of his guilt, unworthiness and sin
- The references to ‘Mary’ also imply Donne’s Catholic leanings as Mary was more of a
prominent figure in Catholic Church teaching than in Protestantism (latent Catholic
tendencies of Donne)
- However, there is also Calvinistic associations in the poem
- The poem also explores the cosmological idea of inner intelligence / angels in the sphere
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