Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Holy Sonnet Xix: Oh, To Vex Me, Contraries Meet In One

Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:Inconstancy unnaturally hath begotA constant habit; that when I would notI change in vows, and in devotion.As..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Xi: Spit In My Face You Jews, And Pierce My Side

Spit in my face you Jews, and pierce my side,Buffet, and scoff, scourge, and crucify me,For I have sinned, and sinned, and only heWho could do no..

© John Donne

The Dissolution

She's dead; and all which dieTo their first elements resolve;And we were mutual elements to us,And made of one another.My body then doth hers..

© John Donne

Hero And Leander

Both robb'd of air, we both lie in one ground ;Both whom one fire had burnt, one water drown'd

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Vi: This Is My Playes Last Scene

This is my playes last scene, here heavens appointMy pilgrimages last mile; and my raceIdly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,My spans last..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Ii: As Due By Many Titles I Resign

As due by many titles I resignMy self to Thee, O God; first I was madeBy Thee, and for Thee, and when I was decayedThy blood bought that, the which..

© John Donne

Elegy Vii

Nature's lay idiot, I taught thee to love,And in that sophistry, Oh, thou dost proveToo subtle: Foole, thou didst not understandThe mystic language..

© John Donne

Elegy Ii: The Anagram

Marry, and love thy Flavia, for sheHath all things whereby others beautious be,For, though her eyes be small, her mouth is great,Though they be..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Ix: If Poisonous Minerals, And If That Tree

If poisonous minerals, and if that treeWhose fruit threw death on else immortal us,If lecherous goats, if serpents enviousCannot be damned, alas, why..

© John Donne

To His Mistress Going To Bed

Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,Until I labour, I in labour lie.The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,Is tired with standing though..

© John Donne

Elegy Ix: The Autumnal

No spring nor summer beauty hath such graceAs I have seen in one autumnal face.Young beauties force our love, and that's a rape,This doth but..

© John Donne

Satire Iii

Kind pity chokes my spleen; brave scorn forbidsThose tears to issue which swell my eyelids;I must not laugh, nor weep sins and be wise;Can railing..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Xiv

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for youAs yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bendYour..

© John Donne

That Time And Absence Proves Rather Helps Than Hurts To Loves

ABSENCE, hear thou my protestation Against thy strength, Distance and length:Do what thou canst for alteration, For hearts of truest..

© John Donne

Elegy Iv: The Perfume

Once, and but once found in thy company,All thy supposed escapes are laid on me;And as a thief at bar is questioned thereBy all the men that have..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Ii: As Due By Many Titles

As due by many titles I resigneMy selfe to thee, O God, first I was madeBy thee, and for thee, and when I was decay'dThy blood bought that, the which..

© John Donne

The Apparition

When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am deadAnd that thou think'st thee freeFrom all solicitation from me,Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,And thee..

© John Donne

Elegy Xiii: His Parting From Her

SINCE she must go, and I must mourn, come night,Environ me with darkness, whilst I write ;Shadow that hell unto me, which aloneI am to suffer when my..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World

I am a little world made cunninglyOf Elements, and an Angelike spright,But black sinne hath betraid to endlesse nightMy worlds both parts, and (oh)..

© John Donne

The Undertaking

I have done one braver thingThan all the Worthies did,And yet a braver thence doth spring,Which is, to keep that hid.It were but madness now..

© John Donne

Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward

Let mans Soule be a Spheare, and then, in this,The intelligence that moves, devotion isAnd as the other Spheares, by being growneSubject to forraigne..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet Xix: Oh, To Vex Me

Oh, to vex me, contraryes meet in one:Inconstancy unnaturally hath begottA constant habit; that when I would notI change in vowes, and in..

© John Donne

The Message

Send home my long stray'd eyes to me,Which O too long have dwelt on thee,Yet since there they have learn'd such ill,Such forc'd fashions,And false..

© John Donne

The Funerall

Who ever comes to shroud me, do not harmeNor question muchThat subtile wreath of haire, which crowns my arme;The mystery, the signe you must not..

© John Donne

Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly

I am a little world made cunninglyOf elements, and an angelic sprite;But black sin hath betrayed to endless nightMy worlds both parts, and (oh!) both..

© John Donne