Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day. (1608) by John Donne (Poem, Summary, Paraphrase, Analysis & Questions)

 

Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day. (1608)

by John Donne

(Poem, Summary, Paraphrase, Analysis & Questions) 

Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day. (1608)

Tamely, frail body, abstain today; today

My soul eats twice, Christ hither and away.

She sees him man, so like God made in this,

That of them both a circle emblem is,

Whose first and last concur; this doubtful day

Of feast or fast, Christ came and went away;

She sees him nothing twice at once, who’s all;

She sees a Cedar plant itself, and fall;

Her Maker put to making, and the head

Of life, at once not yet alive, yet dead;

She sees at once the virgin mother stay

Reclused at home, public at Golgotha;

Sad and rejoiced she’s seen at once, and seen

At almost fifty, and at scarce fifteen;

At once a son is promised her, and gone;

Gabriel gives Christ to her, he her to John;

Not fully a mother, she’s in orbity,

At once receiver and the legacy.

All this, and all betwixt, this day hath shown,

Th’abridgement of Christ’s story, which makes one—

As in plain maps, the furthest west is east—

Of the angel’s Ave and Consummatum est.

How well the Church, God’s Court of Faculties,

Deals, in sometimes, and seldom joining these!

As by the self-fixed pole we never do

Direct our course, but the next star thereto,

Which shows where the pole is, the church by these

Sets out true North, whereby to go to peace.

That Christ is one, so one, and th’Church is one,

So one we know, and fly to, seeking none.

He which, to th’Church, confessed Christ, does now

To th’Church confess the same Christ, anyhow;

The same faith is required, old men must be,

And the same faith is infancy’s degree;

Old lambs and new are sacrificed all one,

Newer by tens of centuries, than one.

(Oh, if God had given Thy servant, Donne, the art

To sing Thy Word with a seraphic heart!)

This day, this day, his partner in Thy smart

Thy son is nailed; and Thou art stabbed, at heart.

 

Summary

This poem reflects on a rare and spiritually intense occasion: March 25th, the day that sometimes sees two major Christian events coincide—the Annunciation (when the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary she would bear Jesus) and Good Friday (the day of Christ’s crucifixion). Donne explores the paradoxes and deep meanings of these events happening on the same day.

 

Lines 1–2

Donne tells his body to fast or abstain from physical pleasures because his soul is feasting—on the spiritual significance of Christ coming into the world (Annunciation) and leaving it (Passion). These two major moments—Incarnation and Crucifixion—are spiritually nourishing.

 

Lines 3–4

His soul sees Christ as man, yet so like God that He forms a circle—an emblem of eternity and perfection—linking beginning and end.

 

Lines 5–6

This is a day of conflict—should it be a feast or a fast? Because it celebrates both Christ’s conception and death—His arrival and departure.

 

Lines 7–8

The soul sees Christ become nothing (humble in conception, humiliated in death) yet He is all (divine). The Cedar symbolizes Christ’s majesty, both planted (born) and felled (crucified) on the same day.

 

Lines 9–10

Christ, the Creator, becomes part of creation. At once, He is conceived (not yet born/alive) and dead (on the cross)—a paradox of time and divinity.

 

Lines 11–12

The Virgin Mary is imagined simultaneously in two places: quietly receiving the angel at home and publicly grieving at the cross.

 

Lines 13–14

Mary is at once joyful and sorrowful, young girl at the Annunciation, and older woman at the Cross. Time collapses.

 

Lines 15–16

At the Annunciation, the angel promises her a son; on the Cross, Jesus entrusts her to John the disciple. Mary both receives and loses Christ on this same day.

 

Lines 17–18

She is not fully a mother (Jesus dies childless); she is both the recipient of Christ and his legacy—left behind after His death.

 

Lines 19–20

This one day contains the whole story of Christ—from conception to death—compressed into a single, unified narrative.

 

Lines 21–22

Just like east and west meet on a flat map, this day connects "Ave" (the angel’s greeting to Mary) with "Consummatum est" ("It is finished"—Jesus’ last words). The beginning and end of salvation are joined.

 

Lines 23–24

Donne praises the Church’s wisdom in sometimes aligning these two days, showing the unity of doctrine even when this overlap is rare.

 

Lines 25–26

We don’t steer by the invisible North Pole, but by a visible star nearby. Likewise, doctrine guides faith indirectly but surely.

 

Lines 27–28

Just as a star helps sailors find the pole, the Church uses these holy days to show believers the way to salvation and peace.

 

Lines 29–30

Christ is one and unified, and so is His Church—there is no need to seek another.

 

Lines 31–32

Whether through faith in Christ’s birth or death, one confesses the same Christ to the same Church.

 

Lines 33–34

Both old believers and newborns are saved by the same faith—there’s no difference in requirement.

 

Lines 35–36

Whether believers from long ago or today, they are like lambs sacrificed together, even though centuries apart.

 

Lines 37–38

Donne humbly wishes he had the ability to praise God perfectly, with the passion of an angel (seraphim).

 

Lines 39–40

He concludes with emotional intensity: this day, Christ is nailed to the cross, and Mary’s heart is pierced—she suffers with her son.

 

Line-by-line Paraphrase

1. Tamely, frail body, abstain today; today

→ Quiet yourself, my weak body—today, refrain from indulgence;

 

2. My soul eats twice, Christ hither and away.

→ Because my soul is feasting doubly: on Christ’s coming into the world and His going out of it.

 

3. She sees him man, so like God made in this,

→ My soul sees Christ as man, yet made so like God in this moment,

 

4. That of them both a circle emblem is,

→ That both His divinity and humanity form a perfect whole—like a circle.

 

5. Whose first and last concur; this doubtful day

→ A day when Christ’s beginning (conception) and end (death) come together;

 

6. Of feast or fast, Christ came and went away;

→ A confusing day—should we celebrate (feast) or mourn (fast)?—because Christ is both born and dies.

 

7. She sees him nothing twice at once, who’s all;

→ My soul sees Him appear as nothing twice—both in the womb and on the cross—even though He is everything.

 

8. She sees a Cedar plant itself, and fall;

→ She sees the great Cedar (a biblical symbol for Christ) both be planted (born) and fall (die).

 

9. Her Maker put to making, and the head

→ Christ, the Creator, becomes part of creation,

 

10. Of life, at once not yet alive, yet dead;

→ The source of life is, at the same time, not yet born and already crucified.

 

11. She sees at once the virgin mother stay

→ She sees the Virgin Mary at home, quietly staying in private,

 

12. Reclused at home, public at Golgotha;

→ Yet also publicly present at Christ’s crucifixion at Golgotha.

 

13. Sad and rejoiced she’s seen at once, and seen

→ She is seen both joyful and sorrowful at the same moment,

 

14. At almost fifty, and at scarce fifteen;

→ She appears both nearly fifty years old (at the crucifixion) and scarcely fifteen (at the Annunciation).

 

15. At once a son is promised her, and gone;

→ She is both receiving the promise of a son, and losing him through death.

 

16. Gabriel gives Christ to her, he her to John;

→ The angel Gabriel gives Christ to Mary; on the Cross, Christ gives her to the disciple John.

 

17. Not fully a mother, she’s in orbity,

→ She is not fully a mother anymore, since she has lost her son—she is bereaved.

 

18. At once receiver and the legacy.

→ She is both the one who received Christ and the one left behind as part of His legacy.

 

19. All this, and all betwixt, this day hath shown,

→ This single day reveals all of this, and everything in between.

 

20. Th’abridgement of Christ’s story, which makes one—

→ It is like a short summary of Christ’s entire life, which is all one united story.

 

21. As in plain maps, the furthest west is east—

→ Like in flat maps where the far west meets the east,

 

22. Of the angel’s Ave and Consummatum est.

→ So too, the angel’s greeting (“Ave”) and Christ’s final words (“It is finished”) meet today.

 

23. How well the Church, God’s Court of Faculties,

→ How wisely the Church, God’s authorized body,

 

24. Deals, in sometimes, and seldom joining these!

→ Chooses sometimes—though rarely—to let these two events fall on the same day.

 

25. As by the self-fixed pole we never do

→ Just as we never guide our ships by the actual (invisible) North Pole,

 

26. Direct our course, but the next star thereto,

→ But instead use the nearest visible star to it,

 

27. Which shows where the pole is, the church by these

→ That visible star helps us know where the Pole is; likewise, the Church shows us truth through such holy days,

 

28. Sets out true North, whereby to go to peace.

→ Giving us true spiritual direction—how to reach eternal peace.

 

29. That Christ is one, so one, and th’Church is one,

→ Christ is one and undivided, and so is His Church—one in faith and purpose.

 

30. So one we know, and fly to, seeking none.

→ We know it’s the one Church we must seek, not look for others.

 

31. He which, to th’Church, confessed Christ, does now

→ The one who confessed Christ to the Church before,

 

32. To th’Church confess the same Christ, anyhow;

→ Still confesses the same Christ today, regardless of the circumstances.

 

33. The same faith is required, old men must be,

→ Both old people must have faith to be saved,

 

34. And the same faith is infancy’s degree;

→ And the same faith also applies to infants—it is universal.

 

35. Old lambs and new are sacrificed all one,

→ Older believers and new converts are all alike, like lambs sacrificed together,

 

36. Newer by tens of centuries, than one.

→ Even though they may be separated by thousands of years.

 

37. (Oh, if God had given Thy servant, Donne, the art

→ (Oh, if only God had given me, Donne, the skill

 

38. To sing Thy Word with a seraphic heart!)

→ To praise Your Word with the passion and purity of an angel!)

 

39. This day, this day, his partner in Thy smart

→ On this day, Your mother shares in Your pain,

 

40. Thy son is nailed; and Thou art stabbed, at heart.

→ Your Son is nailed to the cross; and You, Mary, are pierced in your heart.

 

Analysis in Detail

Historical and Liturgical Setting

March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, occasionally coincides with Good Friday on the Christian calendar. Medieval and early‑modern theologians treated such a convergence as a sign of Divine orchestration, folding the whole drama of salvation—Incarnation and Crucifixion—into a single 24‑hour span. Donne, recently ordained (he became an Anglican priest in 1615 but was already preaching by 1612), seizes this calendrical curiosity to build an extended meditation that is at once intellectual, affective, and doctrinal.

 

Form and Movement

The poem is written in heroic couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter), but Donne’s syntax is restless: enjambment, inversions, and swift shifts of focus propel the reader through 40 dense lines. The structure mimics the poem’s central paradox—two distinct mysteries locked into one day—by refusing neat pauses. Semicolons dominate; full stops are sparse, so the thought keeps folding back on itself the way Annunciation and Passion fold together.

 

Incarnation & Atonement as a Single Arc

Donne argues that the moment God assumes flesh already contains the seed of sacrifice. In his scheme, beginning and end are a “circle,” an emblem of eternity that abolishes sequential time. The line “Whose first and last concur” crystalises this: conception and death are not steps but coordinates of the same divine act.

 

Mary as Nexus of Joy and Sorrow

The virgin is “sad and rejoiced… at once,” figured both as a teenage girl receiving Gabriel and as a mature woman beneath the cross. Donne thereby turns her into the human embodiment of the poem’s temporal compression. She is simultaneously promise‑bearer and mourner, “receiver and the legacy.”

 

Church Unity & Doctrinal Continuity

Shifting from biblical drama to ecclesiology, Donne praises the Church for “sometimes, and seldom” aligning the feasts. The institutional calendar becomes a compass rose: just as sailors use Polaris’s neighboring star to fix North, believers use the liturgy to orient their souls toward peace. Unity of feast models unity of faith: old and young, “old lambs and new,” share the same confession.

 

Imagery and Conceits

Circle and Map Conceit

The metaphor of a flat map where “the furthest west is east” dramatizes how opposite edges meet. By pairing Gabriel’s “Ave” with Christ’s “Consummatum est,” Donne reduces salvation history to two visible points touching across a cosmic fold.

 

Cedar Tree

In the Bible, cedars symbolize regal grandeur (cf. Ezekiel 17). Donne’s “Cedar” both “plants itself” (birth) and “falls” (death) in the same breath, a botanical shorthand for the Incarnation‑Crucifixion paradox.

 

Polar Navigation

The Church is likened to the “next star” that shows where the true but invisible pole sits. This conceit elevates liturgical rhythm from mere custom to celestial navigation, guiding souls safely through doctrinal seas.

 

Tone and Speaker

The apostrophe in line 1—“Tamely, frail body, abstain”—sets an ascetic mood: the speaker disciplines flesh so the soul can feast. Yet intellectual fireworks quickly take over. Donne’s hallmark is the fusion of passionate devotion and razor‑sharp wit; the poem’s theological density never fully suppresses the pulse of personal longing, audible in the parenthetical sigh lines 37‑38 (“Oh, if God had given… Donne, the art / To sing Thy Word with a seraphic heart!”). That self‑reflexive plea reveals both humility and ambition: Donne knows he is attempting something audacious.

 

Place in Donne’s Devotional Canon

Among Donne’s “Holy Sonnets” and sermons, this poem stands out for its calendrical focus. It exemplifies the Metaphysical inclination to mine doctrine for startling connections and to translate abstract theology into visceral experience. The poem anticipates Donne’s later sermons, especially those delivered at St. Paul’s after he became Dean, where he often welded Scripture, liturgy, and calendar into a single expository flame.

 

Why It Still Resonates

Liturgical Depth: Modern readers attuned to Holy Week and Advent/Annunciation spirituality find in Donne a reminder that the cradle and the cross are inseparable.

Imaginative Time‑Travel: The poem dissolves chronological boundaries, a device now familiar in cinema and fiction but radical in 1608.

Human–Divine Interplay: Donne’s focus on Mary’s psychological double exposure makes the abstract paradox touchable; grief and joy, promise and loss, inhabit every believer’s walk.

 

Concluding Note

Donne’s poem is not merely an exercise in devotional cleverness; it is a liturgical meditation that invites the reader to experience salvation history whole, not piecemeal. By forcing Annunciation and Passion to “concur,” he shows that Christian joy demands a cross‑shaped horizon, and that Christian sorrow is never without the seed of new life. The poem’s final thrust—“Thy son is nailed; and Thou art stabbed, at heart”—lands on human emotion, ensuring that the grand doctrinal circle always closes on a beating, suffering heart.

 

Possible Exam Questions

What two Christian events coincide in Donne’s poem “Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day”?

 

Why does Donne describe the day as both a “feast” and a “fast”?

 

Explain the significance of the cedar tree image in the poem.

 

What role does the Virgin Mary play in the paradoxes presented in the poem?

 

What is the meaning of the phrase: “Whose first and last concur”?

 

What two biblical phrases are brought together in the line: “Of the angel’s Ave and Consummatum est”?

 

Why does Donne refer to the Church as setting out “true North”?

 

What tone does the speaker adopt in the final couplet of the poem?

 

Reference to Context

“Her Maker put to making, and the head

Of life, at once not yet alive, yet dead;”

a) Who is “Her Maker,” and what paradox is being presented here?

b) How does this couplet reflect the central theme of the poem?

c) Comment on the style and language used in this extract.

 

Discuss how Donne presents time and eternity in the poem.

 

How does Donne use paradox and imagery to explore the unity of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion?

 

Examine the portrayal of the Virgin Mary in the poem and her symbolic role.

 

How does the poem reflect Donne’s religious and theological concerns?

 

Describe the poem as an example of Metaphysical poetry.

 

“Donne compresses the whole of Christ’s redemptive story into one symbolic day.” Discuss this statement with close reference to the poem.

 

Explore how Donne unites devotion and intellect in “Upon the Annunciation and Passion Falling upon One Day.”

 

How does Donne use structure, imagery, and theological reflection to examine the convergence of life and death in the figure of Christ?

 

Discuss the significance of liturgical time and the Church calendar in shaping the theme and argument of the poem.

 

Examine how Donne merges personal humility with doctrinal insight in his meditation on this unique day.