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John Donne - The Progres Of The Soule
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Wherein, 
BY OCCASION OF 
The Religious death of Mistris 
E L I Z A B E T H   D R V R Y, 
the incommodities of the Soule 
in this life, and her exaltation in 
the next, are Contemplated. 
The Second Anniversarie. 


NOthing could make me sooner to confesse.   [The entrance.]
That this world had an euerlastingnesse, 
Then to consider, that a yeare is runne, 
Since both this lower worlds, and the Sunnes, Sunne, 
The Lustre, and the vigor of this All, 
Did set; t`were Blasphemy, to say, did fall. 
But as a ship which hath strooke saile, doth runne, 
By force of that force which before, it wonne: 
Or as sometimes in a beheaded man, 
Though at those two Red seas, which freely ran, 
One from the Trunke, another from the Head, 
His soule he saild, to her eternall bed, 
His eies will twinckle, and his tongue will roll, 
As though he beckned, and cal`d backe his Soul, 
He graspes his hands, and he puls vp his feet, 
And seemes to reach, and to step forth to meet 
His soule; when all these motions which we saw, 
Are but as Ice, which crackles at a thaw: 
Or as a lute, which in moist weather, rings 
Her knell alone, by cracking of her strings. 
So strugles this dead world, now shee is gone; 
For there is motion in corruption. 
As some Daies are, at the Creation nam`d, 
Before the Sunne, the which fram`d Daies, was fram`d, 
So after this Sunnes set some show appeares, 
And orderly vicissitude of yeares. 
Yet a new Deluge, and of Lethe flood, 
Hath drown`vs all, All haue forgot all good, 
Forgetting her, the m[ai]ne Reserue of all, 
Yet in this Deluge, grosse and generall, 
Thou seest me striue for life; my life shall be, 
To bee hereafter prais`d, for praysing thee, 
Immortall Maid, who though thou wouldst refuse 
The name of Mother, be vnto my Muse, 
A Father since her chaste ambition is, 
Yearely to bring forth such a child as this. 
These Hymnes may worke on future wits, and so 
May great Grand-children of thy praises grow. 
And so, though not Reuiue, enbalme, and spice 
The world which else would putrifie with vice. 
For thus, Man may extend thy progeny, 
Vntill man doe but vanish, and not die. 
These Hymns they issue, may encrease so long, 
As till Gods great Venite change the song. 
Thirst for that time, O my initiate soule,  [A iust dis-estimation of 

this vvorld.] 

And serue thy thirst, with Gods safe-sealing Bowle. 
Bee thirsty still, and drinke still till thou goe; 
To th`onely Health, to be Hydroptique so. 
Forget this rotten world; And vnto thee, 
Let thine owne times as an old story be[.] 
Be not concern`d: study not why, nor whan; 
Doe not so much, as not beleeue a man. 
For though to erre, be worst, to try truths forth, 
Is far more busines, then this world is worth. 
The world is but a carcasse; thou art fed 
By it, but as a worme, that carcas bred; 
And why shouldst thou, poore worme, consider more, 
When this world will grow better then before, 
Then those thy fellow-wormes doe thinke vpone 
That carcasses last resurrectione. 
Forget this world, and scarse thinke of it so, 
As of old cloaths, cast off a yeere agoe. 
To be thus stupid as Alacrity; 
Men thus lethargique haue best Memory. 
Looke vpward; that`s towards her, whose happy state 
We now lament not, but congratulate. 
Shee, to whom all this world twas but a stage, 
Where all sat harkning how her youthfull age 
Should be emploid, because in all, shee did, 
Some Figure of the Golden times, was hid. 
Who could not lacke, what ere this world could giue, 
Because shee was the forme, that made it liue; 
Nor could complaine, that this world was vnfit, 
To be staid in, then when shee was in it; 
Shee that first tried indifferent desires 
By vertue, and vertue by religious fires, 
Shee to whose person Paradise adhear`d, 
As Courts to Princes, she whose eies enspheard 
Star-light inough, t`haue made the South controll, 
(Had shee beene there) the Starfull Northern Pole, 
Shee, shee is gone; shee is gone; when thou knowest this, 
What fragmentary rubbidge this world is. 
Thou knowest, and that it is not worth a thought; 
He honours it too much that thinkes it nought. 
Thinke then, My soule, that death is but a Groome,  [Contemplation of 

our state in our death-bed.] 

Which brings a Taper to the outward roome, 
Whence thou spiest first a glimmering light, 
And after brings it nearer to thy sight: 
For such approches doth heauen make it in death. 
Thinke thy selfe labouring now with broken breath, 
And thinke those broken & soft Notes to bee 
Diuision, and thy happiest Harmonee. 
Thinke thee laid on thy death-bed, loose and slacke; 
And thinke that but vnbinding of a packe, 
To take one precious thing, thy soule, from thence. 
Thinke thy selfe parch`d with feuers violence, 
Anger thine Ague more, by calling it 
Thy Physicke; chide the slacknes of the fit. 
Thinke that thou hear`st thy knell, and thinke no more, 
But that, as Bels cal`d thee to Church before, 
So this, to the Triumphant Church, cals thee. 
Thinke Satans Sergeants round about thee bee, 
And thinke that but for Legcies they thrust; 
Giue one thy Pride, to `another giue thy Lust: 
Giue them those sinnes which they gaue before, 
And trust th`immaculate blood to wash thy score. 
Thinke thy friends weeping round, and thinke that thay 
Weepe but because they goe not yet thy way. 
Thinke they confesse much in the world, amisse 
Who dare not trust a dead mans eye with that, 
Which they from God, and Angels couer not. 
Thinke that they shourd thee vp, and thinke from thence 
They reinuest thee in white innocence. 
Thinke that thy body rots, and (if so lowe, 
Thy soule exhalted so, thy thoughts can goe.) 
Thinke thee a Prince, who of themselues create 
Wormes which insensibly deuoure their state. 
Thinke that they bury thee, and thinke that right 
Laies thee to sleepe but a Saint Lucies night. 
Thinke these things cheerfully: and if thou bee 
Drowsie or slacke, remember then that shee, 
She whose Complexion was so euen made, 
That which of her Ingredients should inuade 
The other three, no Feare, no Art could guesse: 
So farre were all remou`d from more or lesse. 
But as in Mithridate, or iust perfumes, 
Where all good things being met, no one presumes 
To gouerne, or to triumph on the rest, 
Onely because all were, no part was best. 
And as, though all doe know, that quantities 
Are made of lines, and lines from Points arise, 
None can these lines or quantities vnioynt, 
And say this is a line, or this a point, 
So though the Elements and Humors were 
In her, one could not say, this gouerns there. 
Whose euen constitution might haue worne 
Any disease to venter on the Sunne, 
Rather then her: and make a spirit feare 
That he to disuniting subiect were. 
To whose proportions if we would compare 
Cubes, th`are vnstable, Circles, Angulare, 
Shee who was such a Chaine, as Fate emploies 
To bring mankind, all Fortunes it enioyes, 
So fast, so euen wrought, as one would thinke, 
No accident, could threaten any linke, 
Shee, shee embrac`d a sicknesse, gaue it meat, 
The purest Blood, and Breath, that ere it eat. 
And hath taught vs that though a good man hath 
Title to Heauen, and plead it by his Faith, 
And though he may pretend a conquest, since 
Heauen was content to suffer violence, 
Yea though he plead a long possesion too, 
(For they`re in heauen on earth, who heauens workes do,) 
Though he had right, & power and place before, 
Yet Death must vsher, and vnlocke the doore. 
Thinke further on thy selfe, my soule, and thinke; 
How thou at first was made but in a sinke; 
Thinke that it argued some infermitee, 
That those two soules, which then thou foundst in mee, 
Thou fedst upon, and drewst into thee, both 
My second soule of sence, and first of growth. 
Thinke but how poore thou wast, how obnoxious; 
Whom a small lumpe of flesh could poyson thus. 
This curded milke, this poore vnlittered whelpe 
My body, could, beyound escape, or helpe, 
Infect thee with originall sinne, and thou 
Couldst neither then refuse, nor leaue it now. 
Thinke that no stubborne sullen Anchorit, 
Which fixt to`a Pillar, or a Graue doth sit 
Bedded and Bath`d in all his Ordures, dwels 
So fowly as our soules, in their first-built Cels. 
Thinke in how poore a prison thou didst lie 
After, enabled but to sucke, and crie. 
Thinke, when t`was growne to most, t`was a poore Inne, 
A Prouince Pack`d vp in two yards of skinne. 
And that vsurped, or threatned with the rage 
Of sicknesses, or their true mother, Age. 
But thinke that Death hath now enfranchis`d thee,   [Her liberty by 

death.] 

Thou hast thy`expansion now and libertee; 
Thinke that a rusty Peece, discharg`d, is flowen 
In peeces, and the bullet is his owne, 
And freely flies: This to thy soule allow, 
Thinke thy sheell broke, thinke thy Soule hatch`d but now. 
And think this slow-pac`d soule, which late did cleaue, 
To a`body, and went but by the bodies leaue, 
Twenty, perchance, or thirty mile a day, 
Dispatches in a minute all the way, 
Twixt Heauen, and Earth: shee staies not in the Ayre, 
To looke what Meteors there themselues prepare; 
Shee carries no desire to know, nor sense, 
Whether th`Ayrs middle Region be intense, 
For th`Element of fire, shee doth not know, 
Whether shee past by such a place or no; 
Shee baits not at the Moone, nor cares to trie, 
Whether in that new world, men liue, and die. 
Venus recards her not, to`enquire, now shee 
Can, (being one Star) Hesper, and Vesper bee, 
Hee that charm`d Argus eyes, sweet Mercury, 
Workes not on her, who now is growen al Ey; 
Who, if shee meete the body of the Sunne, 
Goes through, not staying till his course be runne; 
Who finds in Mars his Campe, no corps of Guard; 
Nor is by Ioue, nor by his father bard; 
But ere she can consider how she went, 
At once is at, and through the Firmament. 
And as these starres were but so many beades 
Strunge on one string, speed vndistinguish`d leades 
Her through those spheares, as through the beades, a string, 
Whose quicke succession makes it still one thing: 
As doth the Pith, which, least our Bodies slacke, 
Strings fast the little bones of necke, and backe; 
So by the soule doth death string Heauen and Earth. 
For when our soule enioyes this her third birth, 
(Creation gaue her one, a second, grace,) 
Heauen is as neare, and present to her face, 
As colours are, and obiects, in a roome 
Where darkenesse was before, when Tapers come. 
This must, my soule, thy long-short Progresse bee; 
To`aduance these thoughts, remember then, that shee 
Shee, whose faire body no such prison was, 
But that a soule might well be pleas`d to passe 
An age in her; she whose rich beauty lent 
Mintage to others beauties, for they went 
But for so much, as they were like to her; 
Shee, in whose body (if we dare prefer 
This low world, to so high a marke, as shee,) 
The Westerne treasure, Esterne spiceree, 
Europe, and Afrique, and the vnknowen rest 
Were easily found, or what in them was best; 
And when w`haue made this large Discoueree. 
Of all in her some one part then will bee 
Twenty such patts, whose plenty and riches is 
Inough to make twenty such worlds as this, 
Shee, whom they had knowne who did first betroth 
The Tutelar Angel, and assigned one, both 
To Nations, Cities, and to Companies, 
To Fu[n]ctions, Offices, and Dignities, 
And to each seuerall man, to him, and him, 
They would haue giuen her one for euery limme; 
Shee, of whose soule, if we may say, t`was Gold, 
Her body was th`Electrum, and did hold 
Many degrees of that; (we vnderstood 
Her by the sight, her pure and eloquent blood 
Spoke in her cheekes, and so distinctly wrought, 
That one might almost say, her body thought, 
Shee, shee, thus richly, & largely hous`d, is gone: 
& chides vs slow-pac`d snailes who crawl vpon 
Our prisons prison, earth, nor thinke vs well 
Longer, then whil`st we beare our brittle shell. 
But t`were but little to haue chang`d our roome,   [Her ignorance in 

this life and knovvledge in the next.] 

If, as we were in this our liuing Toombe 
Oppress`d with ignorance, we still were so, 
Poore soule in this thy flesh what do`st thou know. 
Thou know[`]st thy selfe so little, as thou know`st not, 
How thou didst die, nor how thou wast begot. 
Thou neither know`st, how thou at first came in, 
Nor how thou took`st the poyson of mans sin. 
Nor dost thou, (though thou knowst, that thou art so) 
By what way thou art made immortall, know. 
Thou art to narrow, wretch, to comprehend 
Euen thy selfe: yea though thou wouldst but bend 
To know thy body. Haue not all soules thought 
For many ages, that our body`is wrought 
Of Ayre, and Fire, and other Elements? 
And now they thinke of new ingredients. 
And one soule thinkes one, and another way 
Another thinkes, and ty`s an euen lay. 
Know`st thou but how the stone doth enter in 
The bladders Caue, and neuer brake the skin? 
Knowst thou how blood, which to the heart doth flow, 
Doth from one ventricle to th`other goe? 
And for the putrid stuffe, which thou dost spit, 
Knowst how thy lungs haue attracted it? 
There are no passages so that there is 
(For ought thou knowst) piercing of substances. 
And of those many opinions which men raise 
Of Nayles and Haires, dost thou know which to praise? 
What hope haue we to know our selves, when we 
Know not the least things, which for our vse be? 
We see in Authors, too stiffe to recant. 
A hundred controuersies of an Ant. 
And yet one watches, starues, freeses, and sweats, 
To know but Catechismes and Alphabets 
Of vnconcerning things, matters of fact; 
How others on our stage their parts did Act; 
What Cæsar did, yea, and what Cicero said. 
Why grasse is greene, or why our blood is red, 
Are mysteries which none haue reach`d vnto. 
In this low forme, poore soule what wilt thou doe? 
When wilt thou shake off this Pedantery, 
Of being thought by sense, and Fantasy 
Thou look`st through spectacles; small things seeme great, 
Below; But vp vnto the watch-towre get, 
And see all things despoyld of fallacies: 
Thou shalt not peepe though lattices of eies, 
Nor heare through Laberinths of eares, nor learne 
By circuit, or collections to discerne. 
In heauen thou straight know`st all, concerning it, 
And what concerns it not, shall straight forget. 
There thou (but in no other schoole) maist bee 
Perchance, as learned, and as full, as shee, 
Shee who all Libraries had throughly red 
At home, in her own thoughts, and practised 
So much good as would make as many more: 
Shee whose example they must all implore, 
Who would or doe, or thinke well, and confesse 
That aie the vertuous Actions they expresse, 
Are but a new, and worse edition, 
Of her some one thought, or one action: 
Shee, who in th`Art of knowing Heauen, was growen 
Here vpon Earth, to such perfection, 
That shee hath, euer since to Heauen shee came, 
(In a far fairer point,) but read the same: 
Shee, shee, not satisfied withall this waite, 
(For so much knowledge, as would ouer-fraite 
Another, did but Ballast her) is gone, 
As well t`enioy, as get perfectione. 
And cals vs after her, in that shee tooke, 
(Taking her selfe) our best, and worthiest booke. 
Returne not, my soule, from this extasee,  [Of our company in this life 

and in the next.] 

And meditation of what thou shalt bee, 
To earthly thoughts, till it to thee appeare, 
With whom thy conuersation must be there. 
With whom wilt thou Conuerse? what station 
Canst thou choose out, free from infection, 
That will not giue thee theirs, nor drinke in thine? 
Shalt thou not finde a spungy slacke Diuine 
Drinke and sucke in th`Instructions of Great men, 
And for the word of God, vent them agen? 
Are there not some Courts, (And then, no things bee 
So like as Courts) which, in this let vs see, 
That wits and tongues of Libellars are weake, 
Because they doe more ill, then these can speake? 
The poyson`is gone though all, poysons affect 
Chiefly the cheefest parts, but some effect 
In Nailes, and Haires, yea excrements, will show, 
So wise the poyson of sinne, in the most low. 
Vp vp, my drowsie soule, where thy new eare 
Shall in the Angels songs no discord heare; 
Where thou shalt see the blessed Mother-maid 
Ioy in not being that, which men haue said. 
Where shee is exalted more for being good, 
Then for her interest, of mother-hood. 
Vp to those Patriarckes, which did longer sit 
Expecting Christ, then they haue enioy`d him yet. 
Vp to those Prophets, which now gladly see 
Their Prophesies growen to be Historee. 
Vp to th`Apostles, who did brauely runne, 
All the Suns course, with more light then the Sunne. 
Vp to those Martyrs, who did calmely bleed 
Oyle to th`Apostles lamps, dew to their seed. 
Vp to those Virgins, who thoughts that almost 
They made ioyntenants with the Holy Ghost, 
If they to any should his Temple giue. 
Vp, vp, for in that squadron there doth liue 
Shee, who hath carried thether, new degrees 
Shee coynd, in this, that her impressions gaue 
To all our actions all the worth they haue: 
Shee gaue protections; the thoughts of her brest 
Satans rude Officers could nere arrest. 
As these prerogatiues being met in one, 
Made her a Church; and these two made her all. 
Shee who was all this All, and could not fall 
To worse, by company; (for she was still 
More Antidote, then all the world was ill, 
Shee, shee doth leaue it, and by Death, suruiue 
(As to their number) to their dignities. 
Shee, who being to her selfe, a state enioyd 
All royalties which any state emploid, 
For shee made wars, and triumph`d, reason still 
Did not ouerthrow, but rectifie her will: 
And shee made peace, for no peace is like this, 
That beauty and chastity together kisse: 
Shee did high iustice; for shee crucified 
Euery first motion of rebellious pride: 
And shee gaue pardons, and was liberall, 
For, onely her selfe except, shee pardond all: 
All this, in Heauen; whether who doth not striue 
The more, because shee`s there, he doth not know 
That accidentall ioyes in Heauen doe grow.  [Of essentiall ioy in this 

life and in the next.] 

But pause, My soule, and study ere thou fall 
On accidentall ioyes, th`essentiall. 
Still before Accessories doe abide 
A triall, must the principall be tride. 
And what essentiall ioy canst thou expect 
Here vpon earth? what permanent effect 
Of transitory causes? Dost thou loue 
Beauty? (And Beauty worthy`st is to moue) 
Poore couse`ned cose`nor, that she, and that thou, 
Which did begin to liue, are neither now. 
You are both fluid, chang`d since yesterday; 
Next day repaires, (but ill) last dayes decay. 
Nor are, (Although the riuer keepe the name) 
Yesterdayes waters, and to daies the same. 
So flowes her face, & thine eies, neither now 
That Saint, nor Pilgrime, which your louing row 
Concernd, remaines, but whil`st you thinke you bee 
Constant, you`are hourely in inconstancee. 
Honour may haue pretence vnto our loue, 
Because that God did liue so long aboue 
Without this Honour, and then lou`d it so, 
That he at last made Creatures to bestow 
Honour on him; not that he needed it, 
But that, to his hands, man might grow more fit. 
But since all honours from inferiours flow, 
(For they doe giue it; Princes doe but show 
Whom they would haue so honord) and that this 
On such opinions, and capacities 
Is built, as rise, and fall, to more and lesse, 
Alas, tis but a casuall happinesse. 
Hath euer any man to`himselfe assigned 
This or that happiness, to`arrest his minde, 
But that another man, which takes a worse, 
Thinke him a foole for hauing tane that course? 
They who did labour Babels tower to`erect, 
Might haue considered, that for that effect, 
All this whole solid Earth could not allow 
Nor furnish forth Materials enow; 
And that his Center, to raise such a place 
Was farre too little, to haue beene the Base; 
No more affoords this worlds, foundatione 
To erect true ioye, were all the meanes in one. 
But as the Heathen made them seuerall gods, 
Of all Gods Benefits, and all his Rods, 
(For as the Wine, and Corne, and Onions are 
Gods vnto them, so Agues bee, and warre) 
And as by changing that whole precious Gold 
To such small copper coynes, they lost the old, 
And lost their onely God, who euer must 
Be fought alone, and not in such a thrust, 
So much mankind true happinesse mistakes; 
No Ioye enioyes that man, that many makes. 
Then, soule, to thy first pitch worke vpon againe; 
Know that all lines which circles doe containe, 
For once that they the Center touch, doe touch 
Twice the circumference; and be thou such. 
Double on heauen, thy thoughts on earth emploid; 
All will not serue; Onely who haue enioyd 
The sight of God, in fulnesse, can thinke it; 
For it is both the obiect, and the wit. 
This is essentiall ioye, where neither hee 
Can suffer Diminution, nor wee; 
Tis such a full, and such a filling good; 
Had th`Angels once look`d on him, they had stood. 
To fill the place of one of them, or more, 
Shee whom we celebrate, is gone before. 
Shee, who had Here so much essentiall ioy. 
As no chance could distract, much lesse destroy; 
Who with Gods presence was acquainted so, 
(Hearing, and speaking to him) as to know 
His face, in any naturall Stone, or Tree, 
Better then when in Images they bee: 
Who kept by diligent deuotion, 
Gods Image, in such reparation, 
Within her heart, that what decay was growen, 
Was her first Parents fault, and not her own: 
Who being solicited to any Act, 
Still heard God pleading his safe precontract; 
Who by a faithfull confidence, was here 
Betrothed to God, and now is married there, 
Whose twilights were more cleare, then our mid-day, 
Who dreamt deuoutlier, then most vse to pray; 
Who being here fild with grace, yet stroue to bee, 
Both where more grace, & more capacitee 
At once is giuen: she to Heauen is gone, 
Who made this world in some proportion 
A heauen, and here, became vnto vs all, 
Ioye, (as our ioyes admit) essentiall. 
But could this low world ioyes essentiall touch,  [Of accidental ioyes 

in both places.] 

Heauens accidentall ioies would passe them much. 
How poore and lame, must then our casuall bee? 
If thy Prince will his subiects to call thee 
My Lord, and this doe swell thee, thou art than, 
By being a greater, growen to be lesse Man, 
When no Physician of Reders can speake, 
A ioyfull casuall violence may breake 
A dangerous Apostem in thy brest; 
And whilst thou ioyest in this, the dangerous rest, 
The bag may rise vp, and so strangle thee. 
What eye was casuall, may euer bee. 
What should the Nature change? Or make the same 
Cer[t]a[i]ne, which was but casuall, when it came? 
All casuall ioye doth loud and plainly say, 
Onely by comming, that it can away. 
Onely in Heauen ioies strength is neuer spent; 
And accidentall things are permanent. 
Ioy of a soules arriuall neere decaies; 
For that soule euer ioyes & euer staies. 
Ioy that their last great Consummation 
Approches in the resurrection; 
When earthly bodies more celestiall 
Shalbe, then Angels were, for they could fall; 
This kind of ioy doth euery day admit 
Degrees of grouth, but none of loosing it. 
In this fresh ioy, tis no small part, that shee, 
Shee, in whose goodnesse, he that names degree, 
Doth iniure her; (Tis losse to be cald best, 
There where the stuffe is not such as the rest) 
Shee, who left such a body, as euen shee 
Onely in Heauen could learne, how it can bee 
Made better; for shee rather was two soules, 
Or like to full, on both sides written Rols, 
Where eies might read vpon the outward skin, 
As strong Records for God, as mindes within, 
Shee, who by making a full perfection grow, 
Peeces a Circle, and still keepes it so, 
Long`d for, and longing for`it, to heauen is gon, 
Where shee receiues, and giues addition.  [Conclusion.] 

Here in a place, where mis-deuotion frames 
A thousand praiers to Saints, whose very names 
The ancient Church knew not, Heauen knowes not yet, 
And where, what lawes of Poetry admit, 
Lawes of Religion, haue at least the same, 
Immortall Maid, I might in[u]oke thy name. 
Could any Saint prouoke that appetit, 
Thou here shouldst make mee a french conuertite. 
But thou wouldst not; nor wouldst thou be content, 
To take this, for my second yeeres true Rent, 
Did this Coine beare any other stampe, then his, 
That gaue thee power to doe me, to say this. 
Since his will is, that to posteritee, 
Thou shouldest for life, & death, a patterne bee, 
And that the world should notice haue of this, 
The purpose, and th`Authority is his; 
Thou art the Proclamation, and I ame 
The Trumpet, at whose voice the people came.
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