Donne begins Holy Sonnet XI by asking to be persecuted and subjected to the suffering that Jesus endured, acknowledging his own sinfulness. The document discusses an article that speaks about how this relates to the thoughts of St. Augustine and his disciple St. Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure promoted meditating on joining Christ in his crucifixion, ending in the same way Donne begins the sonnet - with a desire to be crucified with Christ. The audio recording conveys Donne's intention of continuous, intensifying suffering through his use of "and" between each punishment listed without pause.
2. SPIT IN MY FACE, YOU JEWS, AND PIERCE MY SIDE, BUFFET, AND SCOFF, and SCOURGE AND CRUCIFY ME, In the beginning of Sonnet XI, Donne gives us quite a violent awakening. He is essentially asking to be persecuted and subjected to the suffering that Jesus endured, acknowledging his life as a sinner and the fact that he continues to persecute Jesus in his sinfulness, in his humanity. Anarticle entitled “Augustinian Spirituality an the Holy Sonnets of John Donne”, written by Patrick Grant and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press speaks about this, and in particular these two beginning lines; it begins with St. Bonaventure, who was a faithful disciple of St. Augustine, and his thoughts on atonement. Grant the author, quotes verses from a meditation that St. Bonaventure is promoting, which, in the last lines he interjects with a prayer of strength for himself, saying: “Crucifixefac me mortem, Utlibentertuam mortem, Plangam, donecvixero Tecumvolovulnerari, Te libenteramplexari In crucedesidero.” Bonaventure is essentially ending the way Donne begins – with a desire to join Christ in his crucifixion. With regards to the audio, I notice how Donne writes the sonnet, in particular the first two lines where he says "Spit in my face, you Jews, and pierce my side, buffet, and scoff, and scourge, and crucify me" - this gives the impression of continuous suffering, in his use of the word "and" between each punishment, as there is no pause that would have been granted by the use of a comma alone. We can hear from the voiceover how the speaker recites it as well that the suffering verbs just seem to go from one to the other without a break, and also increase in intensity.
