If Poisonous Minerals

"If Poisonous Minerals" by John Donne has three quatrains and a final couplet like all sonnets. Also, like all sonnets there is a major tone shift after the first two quatrains. In the first two quatrains Donne is critical of why he goes to hell but animals don't. He writes it as a soliloquy by using God in the third person.  This helped define Donne's audience in the poem. In the third quatrain Donne used an apostrophe to change the mood from being defiant to a prayer. The line "But who am I that dare dispute with Thee?" is where the shift in tone begins. The punctuation helps us know that he is praying to God and the poem has now turned into a prayer. The last two lines combines the first tone as well as the second tone. Although this is true for most sonnets I really like the way that Donne writes this poem using this technique. By using multiple tones the reader is more capable of relating to the poem. When something detrimental happens to a person their emotions will change and by realizing that Donne does a nice job of allowing the reader to relate. Also a good technique that Donne used was when he used interrogatory sentences in the first two quatrains. I really enjoyed "If Poisonous Minerals" mostly due to John Donne's writing techniques. They keep the poem enjoyable and readable. 



(sorry this is late)