존 던의 『풍자시 3』: 종교와 정치

Abstract

Donne's Satires express a sense of the degeneracy of late sixteenth century English society. Donne's five satires written in his early twenties satirize different aspects of society. In these 5 satires, 1 is closely related to 3, and 2 is closely related to 5. “Satire 3” reveals an aspect of Donne's complex feelings about the public world. This poem dramatizes the conflict between the individual conscience and civil law, and opens the question of a state religion's influence on the individual conscience. Donne rails at the world for being preoccupied with earthly things at the expense of the eternal soul. This poem is about the difficulty, yet necessity, of finding true religion. There is a sense of frustration and skepticism in his voice. It also suggests the anxiety and alienation that Donne felt in a Protestant society that persecuted Catholics. Donne surveys the existing Christian religious institutions and criticizes not only the vices of his society but also the corruption of its institutions and systems. He criticizes all forms of authority, Catholic as well as Protestant and religious as well as secular. Donne advises a distrust of all established dogma and emphasizes the responsibility of the individual in the quest for the truth. The speaker in the poem realizes that the quest itself, rather than the end of the quest, is the only attainable objective in this world. Though Donne is talking about religion and religious truth, his emphasis is on seeking and on the process of discovering religious truth.