Song Meaning
This sonnet captures a speaker wrestling with a profound spiritual and emotional inconsistency. The opening lines immediately establish a sense of internal conflict, where opposing forces paradoxically unite within the speaker, creating a "constant habit" of change. This isn't a simple wavering; it's an "unnatural" state where the desire *not* to change is itself a catalyst for transformation, particularly in vows and devotion.
The core tension lies in the speaker's volatile relationship with faith and repentance. Their contrition is as fleeting and unpredictable as their "profane Love," forgotten as quickly as it's felt. The lyrics paint a picture of extreme emotional swings, from "cold and hott," "praying, as mute," and "infinite, as none," highlighting a desperate, almost performative, attempt to connect with the divine that lacks genuine, sustained presence. This internal "distemper" makes their spiritual state feel like a "ridling" puzzle.
The most striking craft element is the extended metaphor of the "fantistique Ague." The speaker's "devout fitts" are compared to a fever that comes and goes, but with a chilling twist: these moments of spiritual fervor, marked by "true feare of his rod," are paradoxically their "best dayes." This suggests a complex, perhaps masochistic, relationship with divine judgment, where fear and trembling offer a more tangible, albeit terrifying, connection than calm devotion.
This writing is effective because it lays bare a raw, relatable human struggle with faith and self-control, even if the context is intensely personal and spiritual. The speaker's self-awareness of their own "contraryes" and the vivid, almost physical descriptions of their emotional flux make the internal battle feel immediate and visceral. The final lines, where fear becomes the most cherished state, offer a haunting conclusion to this portrait of spiritual disquiet.
View Artist