Analysis of Holy Sonnet XI: Spit In My Face You Jewes

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Spit in my face you Jewes, and pierce my side,
Buffet, and scoffe, scourge, and crucifie mee,
For I have sinn'd, and sinn'd, and onely hee,
Who could do no iniquitie, hath dyed:
But by my death can not be satisfied
My sinnes, which passe the Jewes impiety:
They kill'd once an inglorious man, but I
Crucifie him daily, being now glorified.
Oh let mee then, his strange love still admire:
Kings pardon, but he bore our punishment.
And Jacob came cloth'd in vile harsh attire
But to supplant, and with gainfull intent:
God cloth'd himselfe in vile mans flesh, that so
Hee might be weake enough to suffer woe.


Scheme ABBAAACADEFGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1011110111 10011011 111101011 1111111 111111110 1111011 11110100111 111010110 1111111101 11011110100 01011011010 110101101 111011111 1111011101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 614
Words 112
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 468
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

35 sec read
144

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

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