Critical Essay IN Critical Issues in Humanities
John Donne’s ‘La Corona’
Annunciation
Salvation to all that will is nigh,
That All, which always is All everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful Virgin, yields himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though he there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in his mind, who is thy Son, and Brother,
Whom thou conceivest, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark; and shutt’st in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb[1] (Donne, 1839)
Introduction
The Renaissance[2] period, was marked by sequences of historical happenings influencing points of view concerning religious formation and expansion. During this period, most perceived European thinkers express interests to recover the purity from Roman Catholic Church which they thought that at the time had become too corrupt. These ‘thinkers’[3] were ready to reconstruct the new face of the church[4]. Bartlett (2011) argues that the modern concepts of humanism developed in the midst of a Christian setting, more particularly in the Northern Renaissance[5]. The changes effected by this radical thinkers on the church and its views during that special period, has changed religion to what we now know it to be today. This thesis serves to unearth the new development witnessed in religion over the years by creating a deeper understanding in relation to the alteration in religious principles over the years that developed during the renaissance period. The paper will examine the encouraging factors that led to the shift from traditional ecclesiastic beliefs to an age of religious inquiry and reason. The thesis will embrace a hypothetical and research oriented approach in its examination of literature written by distinguished scholars in the field of religious renaissance.
The literature will seek to reveal how the writers, thinkers and poets of the period struggled to have their messages heard through their works. The thesis will use John Donne’s work to illustrate Religious Renaissance by using Historicism to interpret John Donne’s second sonnet ‘Annunciation’ from his ‘La Corona’ (Dunne, 1839) work, in order to get the meaning and impacts of Religious Renaissance as portrayed by the poet. The theories discussed below present changes that affected human nature and perceptions concerning religions. This dissertation seeks to explain the religious and historical significance of Renaissance progress and its impact in modern religion.
Historicism
Historicism is a phenomenon that that is used to explain the placing of significant importance on any precise situation (Foucault, 2002). Contrary to nonconformist theories of understanding such as rationalism and empiricism[6], Historicism, tends to be interpretative, by giving great significance to careful, thorough and background understanding of particular information[7]. Historicism compared to relativist for this research is better, since the latter discards concepts of universal, basic and unchallengeable interpretations. When historicism is applied to any studies in the religious field, this is known as religion historicism[8]. By using Historicism the research will be able to interpret the work by John Donne called ‘La Corona’ which involves seven sonnets that are said to represent the life of Jesus Christ from his coming to earth to his Ascension. My theses will however only analyze the second sonnet, ‘Annunciation’ due to the expansiveness of the topic.
Historicism in fact started in Europe then spread to American colonies in the seventeenth century. The aim was to change the society by applying reason to challenging ideas based on tradition and belief. This move opened the intellectual eye of people as to the abuse of power by the church which in turn created skepticism in the minds of individuals who had in the past followed church edicts blindly. The position of the then catholic church was why Religion was major contributor of Renaissance literary disapproval whether directed into the old historicism of rational and ecclesiastical history, or the “newer” channels of artistic and materialist strategies, where religion occupies its position after gender, class and race, as a determinant group of artistic identity (Kahan, 1997). In essence, Studies such as those on “religious circle” conducted through historicism, whether old or new, are but a tip of the ice burg in Renaissance research. There is need for research to delve deeper so as to further understand why teachings on elements such as humanism were very popular during the renaissance period, More so with respect to religion.
Historicism is not just a type or cluster of ideas for interpreting human reality. It also assigns a movement or perception that arose at a particular moment and context in history and that was as a reaction to a particular motivation during that period and backdrop. For instance, historicism rose, in its European form, out of a decisive response to the age of enquiry and reason and signified both a continuance of early modern suppositions, for instance a desire for particular knowledge and an apparent divergence from them. Richard Sugg argues that of Donne’s conviction that it is ‘a relentlessly rational one,’ (Sugg, 2007) and in his work La Corona faith is tested against inconsistent propositions apparently adversative to reason[9].
First Donne ponders in The Annunciation on the mission and nature of Christ: ‘Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear or which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die.’ goes ahead to reflect on the story of the Virgin Mary and her affiliation to Christ. Virgin Mary was conceived by God thus the Immaculate Conception which in fact explained the actuality of Mary who will give birth to God: ‘Thy maker’s maker and thy father’s mother’ (Donne 12). The sonnet concludes in the final inconsistency of ‘immensity cloistered in thy dear womb’ at the point where Donne present us the ineffable idea of the universe bonded into Mary’s womb. This goes to show that much as Dunne showed his Christianity in the poem, inside, he kept on questioning and applying reality which ended up bringing out plenty of paradox in the sonnet.
Additionally, paradox sets apart Christianity and reality even for Dunne, and La Corona look at this subject matter through the logical context of the poem[10]. According to Baumlin (1991), Donne tries to reflect through the paradoxes at the center of religion, and by so doing made the religion available for everyone. Donne’s La Corona seeks to get ready both him and others for the Christian’s action of faith[11]. In La Corona Donne observes and asserts the Christian narrative and its accounts, inviting the audience to participate in its magnificence, and gesture at the last and undying day. The annunciation of the real Christ, as narrated by Dunne made it possible for his audience to establish some form of emotional human link with him.
Finally, in its common orientation toward historical research, New Historicism center on the stature of the late Michel Foucault who advocated for use of reason to analyze issues. From his work the audience is able to analyze the poem by Donne and relate it to real annunciation as announced by Angel Gabriel. The influence Foucault had is a comprehensive and contentious one: it infuses the New Historicist idea of history as a sequence of thought that shape everything within religion.
Doctrine of ecclesiastic
The effects of renaissance on religion analyzed based on the ecclesiastical record and in the history which both consists of the truth about the past. Pope Pius XII[12] revealed some truth as the fact that historicists may have succeeded one another in relation to various opinions and teachings that have emerged during the centuries. Therefore historicism can be used to dissect some truth about the life of Jesus Christ from John Donne’s ‘La Corona’. La Corona is a poem, containing seven connected sonnets, with each celebrating not so much incidences in the life of Jesus Christ as secrecy of faith. The focus on the start and end of the Christ life is evidenced in medieval art where different artists tried to depict their understanding of the life of Christ. It was stated by the need to display with simplicity the Christian system of man's salvation. The nature of the prayer similar to early habits, can endure Renaissance of a man's logical capacity[13]. It is uncertain if Donne felt there was something especially Catholic in focusing on the Mysteries of the Faith, or in tackling his second sonnets to the Blessed Virgin, but it is also uncertain if anybody who had lived as a Protestant was willing to do so (Richard, 2007).
The Annunciation
The Annunciation, which is the second sonnet, is full of paradox. Initially, Donne ponders on the mission and nature of Christ: ‘Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear/which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die.’ Then Donne carries on reflecting on the account of the Virgin Mary and her connection to Christ. Virgin Mary was conceived by God, just like us, and yet now, by means of the mystery of Immaculate Conception, it is actually Mary who is going to conceive God: ‘Thy maker’s maker, and thy father’s mother.’ The sonnet concludes in the final paradox of ‘immensity confined in thy dear womb’ where Donne offers the inexpressible idea of the universe that portrays the belly of Mary (Baumlin, 1991). The subject matter of Christian paradox is expressed all through the series which gives the sonnet a new life of intellect. The religion perspective of the speaker in La Corona is conservative and respectful to the ordinary tropes and traditions[14]. While William Blake[15] fundamentally streamlined the Christian account to develop a distinctive religion, Donne is committed to Christian traditions, and faithful to its point.
This is shown in the poem ‘La Corona’ by the concept Christocentrism. Whereas the verses are supposedly talk about the Virgin Mary, the work focuses on the life of Christ. In the second sonnet, ‘Annunciation’, Mary is just actor in a place characterized by the existence of the Christ. The sonnet addresses Mary, though also keen on the “immensity of persons confined in the womb” Christ appear as the main actor in the literary work, and the speaker is forced to make known the main figure in the religious poem is Christ. Richard (2007) explores that the sonnet is an expression for the life of Christ, and is ‘anticipated to intensify’ both the narrator’s and the audience’s knowledge of Christ and the Christian narrative in order to expand and build up their faith: Richard goes on to state in his work ‘John Donne: Critical Issues’ that ‘the noticeable impersonality of several of the succession is actually a essential part of the narrator’s journey towards discovery himself, which relies for the Christian on the past awareness of the personality of Christ’.
Annunciation as a symbol of Renaissance
Biblically, the Annunciation, as well as the Crucifixion and Resurrection are commonly portrayed as the Renaissance. All these three events, only the Annunciation are fascinating on the basis of the space it portrays. The primary meaning to Christianity is the divine meeting of human in the image of Christ, which can be regarded as the ‘meeting’ between God and man . This event is foreshadowed by the Annunciation, where the divinity (Gabriel) and the being (Mary) team up in a common space. The Annunciation holds the Christian meaning within it resembling a seed, as certainly it is. To be conceived in flesh involves that Christ has to suffer and finally die; therefore this time has within it everything that Christ signifies on the basis of man’s salvation. The Annunciation offers a chance for artists of religion like John Donne to examine these concepts through their works of the incarcerations of the dwelling of Mary. Annunciation stands out as one of the often topics of the Christian art. The illustrations of the Annunciation revisit the early religions or Christianity, such as, the Priscilla catacomb of Rome as well as Annunciation fresco that date back to the 4th century. In particular famous in Renaissance and the Middle Ages, it looks in the work of nearly every great master. Lupton (2006) says that the image of Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Mary were ,at that time, preferred subjects in Roman Catholic art. Looking at the poet work, John Donne, it shows some consistency with the vent where Gabriel usually but not all the times standing left facing Virgin Mary, who is normally seated, save for later portrayals (Guibbory, 2006). She at least is normally depicted doors, or in a balcony of some nature, where Gabriel case may be outside structure wholly. ‘The house, at times, clears from the virgin’s home’, in the annunciation sonnet also frequently meant to represent Jerusalem temple as placed there by legendary accounts. Late medieval observers differentiated many phases of Virgins response to Gabriel’s appearance from initial news at the unexpected vision, followed by unwillingness to meet the responsibilities, the ultimate acceptance. These are revealed in poem ‘La Corona’ by John Done. In early Religious Renaissance and late medieval the God’s impregnation of the Virgin Mary could be shown by rays reflecting on her, usually through the window which is a metaphor for conception of Jesus.
Transformation of church from traditional ecclesiastics’ belief to an age of enquiry and reason
Experts in religious matters contend that there are certain similarities between religious social constructs and religious institution at any phase of social progress. Societal change is related to religious Renaissance. These sorts of changes were an interest center of classical researchers. Emil Durkheim (1902). In debating these issues, he singled out the religious individualization. This period was manifested by Enlightenment Age. This was the age of reason founded on faith, and not the age of faith anchored in reason. Therefore according to Emil (1902) ‘The Enlightenment manifested the belief of religious power, humanized theological mechanisms, and liberated people from physical oppression. It should be noted that during Enlightenment, and not the Renaissance or the Reformation that extricated the ecclesiastical foundation from central authority of intellectual and cultural life’.
By unshackling knowledge from the restrains of religious tradition the Enlightenment provided the independent development of modern culture. The major subject of the Enlightenment has always been and still is the effort to improve religion (Baumlin 1991). All theorists rebuffed the original sin. With the Religious Renaissance, reformation predestined testifying or fulfilling the religion based on the logic.
Today’s contemporary world is completely different from the period of Renaissance. In the past, Individuals used to have unsighted faith in their religion, which is different from the current situation. This reality also justifies the complexities that were experianced by reformers. The reformation of religion was not received well by individuals; instead they regarded it as a danger to the divinity of religious factors. The piece of John Donne has been manifested with religious concepts. He puts interests on raising the spirit by being close to God. The effect of Renaissance is clear in the poem ‘La Corona’ by John Donne. Baumlin (1991) thinks the sonnets are rooted in spiritual beliefs; however, he does not attempt to unravel the rational facet from the religion. In the second sonnet from, poem ‘Annunciation’, John Donne has explained the amazing birth of Jesus Christ by Virgin Mary. He has cited the whole event by depicting himself as the angel Gabriel.
He communicates the revelation to Mary that, as the chosen one by God to delivery a miraculous baby. In the whole sonnet, Donne has attempted to disclose realities like creation and birth of Christ. His sonnet clarifies that even though Christ was born by Virgin Mary however this was not a normal birth. In the second sonnet Donne maintains that Christ opt for Virgin Mary’s womb which acted as a Christ container (Guibbory, 2006). He attempts to assist individuals understand regarding this extraordinary event. In the same sonnet, Donne acting as Gabriel conveys to Mary that even though Christ is ‘in all places’ but he will only lie in her womb prior delivery to this public. This defends the Mary’s virginity and purity.
Annunciation illustrates that though Christ was dissimilar from other normal children and Mary was not similar to any other mothers. This sonnet does not refute the conceiving of Christ who remained within the womb similar to other children. La Corona’s dependence on the intellect to struggle with the secrecies of religion is suggestive of Donne because for him, the intellect and reason supported faith (Guibbory, 2006). Just like Soren Kierkegaard, who praises Christian belief partly since it involves great suffering at the time of Renaissance, Donne is inclined to associate sadness with spiritual salvation. Reason puts the strategies of reasons that comprehend the connection between God and conception. Donne frequently elucidates euphoric religious practice with the similar metaphors of earthly volatility and material metamorphosis he applies to catalogue his dejectedness, self-destructive linings. Contemporary thinkers focusing in depression have frequently talked with regard to circular religious despair nature. Julia Kristeva argues that "the obliqueness of love and as a result of reconciliation and mercy completely changes the nature of Christian initiation by offering it a sensation of glory and firm hope for the believers" (John & Maria, 2005).
Christian faith looks, therefore, as a remedy to depression and hiatus. Additionally, Donne set hurdles with the relationship he conceives between sadness and religious belief; make difficult it in such a manner as to go beyond Kristeva's concept of what it implies to be narcissistically saddened. Whilst he is careful that his excessive self- centeredness sometimes incites and adds to his sadness, dejection is not Donne's sole objective He is overwhelmed by other issues, other challenges, even other agonize: religious, proficient, and ecclesiastical. In this poem, it is claimed that Donne's scholarly sadness stimulated particularly by learned attempts which forms an integral division of his religious misery. Donne's, melancholic nature thus marked itself in his strategy to learning including in his pronunciations of his understandings as a Christian. In the background of Reformation theology, whether one can count himself among the elect is difficult to predict. La Corona is possibly no more than religious practices, although it is an achieved one. The sonnets are arranged with significance, with outstanding and excellent expressions of the reflecting on religious beliefs.
The change from traditional ecclesiastics’ beliefs to an age of enquiry and reason
The paper argues that the link between the relationship of early religion and the current status of religion is the growing in estrangement and discontent with founded institutionalized and hierarchical religious bodies. Several modern religious groups seek out in place of finding God via individual searching as opposed to via the institutional meditation. They also concentrate on the responsibility of societies in creating positive transformation in members’ livelihood by means of group effort. With regard to this, the paper claims that religion’s relations with religious issues contain a significant message of societal Renaissance and renewal, which can challenge the religious authority and other elites. It also offers an indication of the connection between religion and renewal. It reviews the conflicting impacts of Renaissance on morals values in various cultural and religious backgrounds (Bellah, 1964).
The relationship between religion and humanity has normally been very close, provided with uneven effects of Renaissance in developing nations. Beckford (2003) affirms that traditional beliefs are strengthened by religious practices and beliefs while traditional issues permeate to the core of the religious platform as a result. Efforts in several countries to disconnect traditions from religion have mostly been fruitless; particularly as various crisis and church restructuring weaken past arrangements for enhancing social and religious cohesion. As much as Renaissance has been manifested in the Annunciation sonnet, in real life religion faces a lot of challenges in transforming from traditional beliefs to modern age of reason. There are groups that opposed church a leading course for failure of social welfare. Such groups are either culturalist, syncretistic and fundamentalist whose concepts are still rooted in the traditional teachings. These threats from external forces try to derail the religion from embracing change in this informed age. The philosophers of Enlightenment age accounts that religion in the past was marred by superstition attack, intolerance and religious extremism. These issues were regarded as the biggest hurdles in the growth and free think of the religion (Lupton, 2006).
As a result, the Enlightenment impacted every sector of the community. With several changes happening in religion, Enlightenment contributed to civilization of religion, economy, politics and society. Enlightenment marked the transformation of people’s reasoning with regards to religious beliefs. In the past years, theological doctrine and church organization questions was the major focus of the researcher interests. The moment challenges about the religion change, the Enlightenment theorists shifted their focus from religious issues to the more general view of the society and the roles which people play.
Kahan, (1997) maintains that the opponent of the Enlightenments firmness in the religious reforms resulted to the condemnation of both Protestantism and Catholicism. The religion condemned mostly because it applied excess authority in the society. For example, the peasants were to give their taxes to the church whilst denomination such as the Catholic Church agreed on the principle of indulgence in response to the forgiveness of sin. The most powerful individuals regarded religion as the foundation of an outstanding society and social construct. Before the age of enquiry and reason most Europeans believed in God, however, after, individuals began to use reason to arrive at conclusions concerning different ideas in life[16]. However, it must be noted that enquiry age also led to emerging of various groups like atheists and deists (Beckford, 2003).As much as annunciation made human to believe in the connection between God and man through conception of Christ, it has also made rulers to begin being tolerant to other forthcoming religious which did not practice Catholicism.
Theorists such as Rousseau took on the philosophers for disregarding these components of life that conflicted the power of reason. The religious renewals emerged in 1740s and 1750s because of romanticism. However, the Protestant denominations went through the renewal from 1740s. Christianity is a manifested religion, enclosed in the religious books and the practice of Christian hearts; the religious poet cannot travel alone. The realities of Donne's religious poetry are realities of the thoughts, which freely transform individual experience.
Conclusion
There is no persuasive testimony on the position of the Enlightenment in determining the contemporary world except for the massive difference there is between the current world and the renaissance one. Some individuals might take the successes of Enlightenment lightly due to the society they exist in, but the changes that rose with an age of enquiry were perfect for the people who existed in that era. Even though the conception of Christ with a normal human being is extremely unbelievable several poets and writers like Donne validate this miracle with numerous spiritual explanations. The Religious Renaissance has put forth of literary work that ponders on Virgin Mary and the birth of Christ. People finally began to use reason to reorganize all the religions in the society. With an age of enquiry; church leaders turned more religious liberal, people's zeal for knowledge grown, administrations became more accountable to their nationals, and industrialization took a center stage. Essentially, all things transform. Activists who were entitled to in this age emerged due to the age of enquiry and reason. Reasoning raised expectation and ambition to the individuals across the world now understanding that renaissance was possible.
References
Anidjar, Gil, (2002). Jacques Derrida: Acts of Religion. NY: Routledge
Bartlett, Kenneth, ed. (2011), “The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance”, A Sourcebook
Beckford, J. A. (2003), “Social Theory and Religion”, Cambridge University Press.
Baumlin S. J. (1991), “John Donne and the Rhetorics of Renaissance Discourse,” University of Missouri Press. Pp. 245-246
Bellah, R. (1964), “Religious Evolution”, American Sociological Review 29:358-374
Dunne, J (1839), ‘The works of John Donne: With a memoir of his life’, Parker.
Richard Sugg, (2007), John Donne: Critical Issues, Palgrave Macmillan,
Foucault, Michel (2002), “The Archaeology of Knowledge”, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith.
London: Routledge.
Gallagher, Catherine and Greenblatt, Stephen (2000), Practicing New Historicism, Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press
Guibbory, A. (2006), The Cambridge Companion to John Donne, Published By University Press Cambridge. P. 151.
John Lechte, Maria Margaroni, (2005), “Julia Kristeva: Live Theory “, Continuum International
Publishing Group Ltd.
Kahan, Jeffrey. (1997), "Historicism: Renaissance Quarterly, p. 1202
Lupton, J.R. (2006), “The Religious Turn (to Theory) in Shakespeare Studies”, English Language Notes 44.1.
[1] Quoted from john Dunne’s , ‘The works of John Donne: With a memoir of his life’
[2] The term RENAISSANCE sprung from the French word renaissance which means re-birth and the Italian word Rinascimento which also roughly translates to ‘to be reborn’. It was a term coined to define a cultural movement between the 14th and the 17th century that began in Italy and spread through out Europe.
[3] Most of whom were philosophers, religious authors and poet, and who strongly believed in religion thus extremely valued it.
[4] Thus the whole aspect of religious renaissance during this period occurred due to the change that was intended to be effected on the Catholic Church.
[5] The northern renaissance occurred in the northern part of Europe. It affected the Germans, French, English, Netherlands, and the Polish.
[6] …which tend to desert the responsibility of traditions
[7] It is believed that during the Enlightenment Age often referred to as Reasoning Age, that the intellectuals used Historicism to interpret their work in order to reflect on the Renaissance.
[8] Christian historicism refers to the method of interpretation in Christian theology that mostly associates biblical prophesies with actual events that occurred in history and trying to identify symbols with people or societies.
[9] This means that Donne was at a constant ‘crossroad’ in his work. While he tried to conform to the traditional norms set by the then church, there was the urge to question this traditions set up by the church and religion as a whole that he felt needed to be addressed the topic using intellect rather that blindly following the churches edicts created the constant state of paradox in his particular work.
[10] In his sonnet, Dunne outlines phenomenon in religion that traditionally were blindly believed by outlining them such as the fact that Mary conceived by immaculate conception which was not logical given the fact that she had not had any sexual activity that would have warranted the conception of her baby.
[11] Which involved blindly following the Christian doctrine without questioning it I,e having blind faith.
[12] Who reigned as pope of the Catholic Church from 1939- 1958
[13]This putting into consideration the fact that man was trying to now logically understand religion rather than following blindly
[14] This meant that even a Christian strong in faith could read the sonnet without feeling that they are offended by the nature of sonnet.
[15] A famous English poet
[16] Such an example is the emergence of alchemists who believed in science who believed that power was known from antiquity. During the renaissance period alchemy was coupled up with magic, astrology, and Christian cabala. In response the enlightenment and the extreme dependence of power of human reason, a new artistic group known as romanticism were formed. This group focused on personal deep emotion, mastermind and pleasure of nature.
