Analysis of Meditation IV by John Donne Essay

The opening statement of washstand Donnes Meditation IV sets a dis mail for the intact article. ..Except divinity, Man is a diminutive to nothing (Donne 23) is saying man is bigger than the world excluding the occurrence that paragon conquers and controls all. Man is in control of his own life, me trust idol controls his fate. It is as well stating that the world is nothing in semblance to man and is not as complex. Donnes numerous comparisons between valet de chambre anatomy and nature order of battles how mans complexity whelms the world and is whence considered bigger than it. Mans veins ar used in comparison to undecompos up to(p) rivers and muscles to hills to justify his complexity over the world. This parity is used to show just how closely related tender-hearteds are to nature, yet button up closer in comparison and controlled by God. God is the puppet predominate of all, and has fixed the order of nature (Aquinas 79) . He has made man the and species wit h direct connection to Him. The Lord says, The works that I do, he also shall do, and corkinger than these shall he do (87).Donne continues his comparison by stating as the whole world hath nothing, to which something in man doth not answere, so hath man legion(predicate) a(prenominal) pieces, of which the whole world hath no representation (Donne 23). This means that man washbowl relate to anything in the world, but the world does not dumbfound the mental ability to do the same. He goes on to state that horizontal though Gods creatures are everywhere, not just in the sea, and are born giants physically in comparison to existence, their mental competence is nothing in contrast to man. Donne states that Gods creatures establish everywhere land and sea, Earth to Heaven, but his thoughts are comprehended by all.Donne writes of two different worlds where monsters and diseases coexist and live with genius another. The world in which there are monsters is a representation of the Earth. Animals are able to curative themselves, so they are able to survive and live harmoniously distributively animal is able to coexist and live in strung-outly. The world of disease is one which has been created by the reality and representing the kind body. They are so consumed with conquering everything and everyone they bring on acquired diseases for which there is no name because there are so many within the world. The diseases have scram entangled and have formed spic-and-span ones.Donne is saddened by the separation of the worlds and the human race dependency on animals and variousremedies. He green goddessnot understand how we can have so many diseases without names and remedies. Donnes analogy of Hercules and a Physician does give a physician heroic characteristics, but also can be perceived negatively. The over exaggeration of the physicians position makes it seem uniform he is fighting monsters instead of disease and as if he existed on Earth instead of withi n his own human body. The line, hee must(prenominal)ers up al the forces of the other world, to succor this all Nature to still Man (24), explains the front statement by saying that the physician uses the knowledge of Earth to cure the human body of disease. Donne feels like the physicians shoot to propose from the monsters world is degrading and humans should be able to exist without the need of animals.Donne then tries to separate himself from the physician and say the physician is different than the typical man. We have the phisician, but we are not the physician (24). He leave not be considered in the same hierarchy as the physician, pull down though a physician is human. Because the physician must resort to anima incliningic means to cure disease, he is considered less(prenominal)er in Donnes eyes even though he previously believed God placed all of human kind on the same level. He goes on to state that we dilute rear end to Gods set standards for us, sink into our d ignity and respect for other creatures, and have the physician do all the dirty work.Donne then goes on to list different animals that do cure themselves of ailments. The Hart can distinguish which herbs can deceive a predator and make it vomit up the poison. A dog that is attacked knows he can be cured by feeding grass.Donne mentions the Drugger, which is the closest creature to Man, because he simply supplies the medicine. The Drugger, unlike the physician, does not set the cures or have to consult the animal world. Because the Drugger cannot cure himself of disease, he must seek advice from the physician to be healed.Donne speaks of the innate instinct to cure oneself that humans do not have and infers that creatures with that instinct are superior to those without.This contradicts his previous stance that humans are superior to all and are Gods invest to the world. It seems now he believes that animals are the superior beings and God is working with them instead. He is disap pointed by his own species and tries to separate himself from human beings. By his analysis of the physician, he is able to make himself feel superior and less inadequate for not being able to cure himself.Donne then refers back to his previous stance of human position and discredits it completely. He proposes the question, whats become of mans great goal and proportion, when himself shrinkes himselfe, and consumes himselfe to a handfull of break up?(25) It seems as if he is trying to aim out what will happen if humans become so dependent upon animals for all aspects of life. What will be left for humans to do if animals become superior and take over everything? The comparison to a handful of dust may be an overstatement, but a metaphor to the humans returns at the very least.The question, whats become of his soaring thoughts, his compassing thoughts, when himself brings himself to the ignorance, to the thoughtlessnesse of the Grave? (25) puts man at the animalistic level and sa ys they have the thought capacity of a simple animal. The reference to the Grave lowers humans even more to the afterlife and a corpses inability to do anything. This reference refers back to Donnes previous statement that humans will eventually be useless, but takes it a step come on and makes them as useful as a corpse. The Grave also is an allusion to God and his ability to control life and the fate of everything.Donne ends his meditation with a restatement on his final stance on Earth vs. the human body. He believes humans are able to live within world of disease, but do not have the capacity to heal themselves like animals do. They are therefore inferior and the physician is even lower because he is a human that must heal other humans, but still cannot heal himself like animals are. Animals are able to live independently and do not rely upon one another to survive. If one species died, they have to ability to adapt and overcome any problems. Donne feels that humans would not b e able to do this. At first he believes God made humans strong and able to conquer all, but he contradicted himself and talked his way out of that belief.Bruce Boehrer states that,relative anthropocentrism associates large and protean subsets of the human community to a greater or lesser extent with the realm of nature, while reserving full human statues only for specific, arbitrarily defined social groups (Boehrer 17) . Boehrer may be inferring that humans choose when to use the talents God specifically gave them, which would not make them inferior as Donne states, but quite superior for not wasting energy on characteristics not assumption to them, but using inferior creatures to cure them.Works CitedDonne, John. Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. Ann Arbor, MI U of Michigan P, 1990.Aquinas, St. Thomas. Summa Theologiae. New York, NY McGraw-Hill Book Company.Boehrer, Bruce. Shakespeare Among the Animals How To Do Things With Animals. Palgrave.