Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

In this hymn the reader is talking about his final days. He knows that he is dying and is now asking God what is to be expected. In line 1 he says he is going to the "holy room" meaning heaven or the after life and he says he there will be " chior of saints ofr evermore".
In the second stanza the writer compares the doctors to cosmographers and himself to the maps they would analyze since he is "flat on his bed, that by them may be shown that this is my southwest discovery per fretum febris, by these straits to die". He then compares his death to the soutwest discovery, because Magellan travel SW to the philippines shortly before his death as well.
In the third stanza "What shall my west hurt me? As west and east in all flat maps(and I am on) are one, so death doth touch the resurrection." Here west is meaning death and east is birth/rebrith. When you look at a mad flat then the eastern and western borders are goign to touch and therefore the reader feels a sense of relief in know that the resurrection will occur in this imagry.

4th and 5th stanzas - yeah they still confuse me so Im still working on those

Finally, the writer concludes the poem as he asked for God to fully recieve him when he passes away. "In his purple wrapped, recieve me, Lord" This is referring to the blood of Jesus when the Romans mocked him and dressed him in purple robes.

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