John Donne was born into a prosperous Roman Catholic family during the reign of Elizabeth I, when England was anti-Catholic. Thousands of Catholics were prosecuted and killed in horrific ways if they were caught practising their faith. At a time when Britain and Spain were in war he travelled to Spain stating his love and pride for his faith, which quite clearly came before his country. He then began studying law in "Lincoln's Inn", with his brother. However, his brother and some of his friends were caught conducting a Catholic Mass. His brother was imprisoned, where he later died and his friends were killed. It was after this event that he began reading extensively in theology and history, and took a huge step and became an Anglican. This change helped his career greatly but left him confused and unsure of his decision for the rest of his life. This period of his life is shown in his "holy sonnets", in which he obsesses with the idea of death, sin and religion. We see in almost every peace his fear of rejection from God, as he believes he has sinned grea

He goes further by asking whether the way to the true Church is through hard work "travail" and "working knights". Catholics believe that salvation is earned due to hard work; therefore it is within your power to gain salvation. However, he also says, "Dwells she with us" which suggests the Protestant belief of pre destination, which means that if God wishes to save an individual then He will give grace and salvation directly. Here Donne seems to be confused, as he doesn't know how to gain salvation and whether he will receive it at all. His old faith says that he can still repent, but his new faith tells him that if he were to be saved then he would have been given salvation, the Protestant faith implies that there is nothing Donne can do in order to save himself. In the last lines, Donne uses an extended metaphor to describe his love for the true Church as well as his desperation to find the true church. He uses an image of a husband to describe God and personifies the Church as "spouse", suggesting that the true church is God's wife. He describes the Church as "mild dove", creating a peaceful and gentle image. He admits that he is in love with Christ's spouse and asks God to release his love for her so he can seduce the Church. This is a very witty and effective conceit as God who is the husband is very pleased when the Church, who is the wife, is open to other men.

Nevertheless, whichever Church he seems to favour it is clear to see his confusion and frustration, as he seems to be stuck in the middle of the two churches. We see this in Sonnet 18, the sonnet is mainly made up of unanswered questions that are thrown at us. We see the inconstancy in most of his Holy Sonnets; the constant change shows us his confusion. In sonnet 19, he begins with, "Oh, to vex me", showing his frustration and anger in not being able to make his mind up. In the second line he continues by saying "Inconstancy" which suggest that he is of no

Some common words found in the essay are:
Calvinist Geneva, Catholic Church, Catholic Mass, Protestant Church, Holy Sonnets, Henry VIII's, Church Nevertheless, Church Bible, Catholic Church's, Britain Spain, catholic church, true church, protestant church, sonnet 18, real church, holy sonnets, unable decide, donne confused, false beauty, church's false,
Approximate Word count = 1307
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)