Attempt a critical appreciation of Donne's "A Hymn to God the Father"

John Donne's "A Hymn to God the Father" is characteristic
of the wit and passion displayed in metaphysical poetry.  The poem is a prayer made by
the speaker to god for forgiveness of his sins.

The first
stanza refers to original sin, the sin that according to Christian belief, we all have
at birth because we are imperfect.  The second stanza refers most likely to a sin that
the speaker committed with others or a sin in which the speaker negatively influenced
others. In the last stanza, the speaker admits that his sin is fear that he will not be
saved or reach salvation.  Here Donne puns on the word "Sun" whose light will shine on
his eternally, as will God's son's light. The speaker wants forgiveness for all these
sins.

However, thoughout this prayer, there are two other
puns that give the poem another, more specific reading.  The last two lines of each
stanza end with "done" and "more."  We know that John Donne married Anne More and that
he loved her passionately, even though this marriage proved quite costly to his career
at court. As a devout Anglican, he felt it important to put god above all earthly
things, including his wife, something the speaker finds very difficult to do.  In this
poem, Donne puns on both his and his wife's names.  Read in this light, it is clear what
the speaker is most concerned about.  God does not have "done" or Donne, as long as
Donne loves his wife Anne More, more than he does his
god:

When thou
has done, thou hast not done,

For I have
more.

When he no longer has
Anne More, the poet believes, and he himself is near death, he pleads that God will
grant him salvation and then he will give himself completely to
God.

And
having done that, thou hast done.

I have no
more.