"If Poisonous Minerals"

In John Donne's If poisonous Minerals, the tone or attitude shifts from the beginning of the poem to the end. At the beginning of the poem, John Donne's speaker has a demanding, judgmental, and insubordinate tone. He is questioning why many bad things in this world, such as poisonous minerals, do not ever get punished for anything, but he does. Poisonous minerals are lethal and therefore are essentially committing murder when somebody consumes them, but there are no consequences for them. But, if he kills somebody and commits murder he will be greatly punished, because it is a sin. Another example that John Donne uses is an allusion to the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. He says, "if that tree whose fruit threw death on else immortal us." By this he means that the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge is responsible for the downfall of humanity. If that tree did not exist then humans would be perfect, without sin, and be immortal. But, even though that tree caused this terrible thing, or the entering of sin into the world, there are no consequences for it as there are for humans who commit "bad things". In this first part the speaker is being disrespectful to authority and questioning God when really he has no reason to do this because he is inferior to God. In this part he is also not talking directly to God, but he is speaking about him in the third person. It is almost like he is talking about God behind his back. Then in the second part of the poem, there is a change of attitude by the speaker. This is where the tone shift occurs. He says, "But who am I, that dare dispute with thee, O God?" Now he recognizes that he has no right or reason to be questioning his creator. He also changes from speaking about God in the third person and now he is talking directly to God like a prayer. This is called an apostrophe because he is directly talking to somebody in the poem. This also makes it seem more personal. He then makes reference to a Lethean flood and asks God to drown his sins in it so they can be forgotten. This second part can be described in one word by remorse. He feels bad about all the sins he has committed and is asking for forgiveness. In the final two lines of the poem, the poet not only asks God to forget about his sins, but he is asking God to completely forget about him completely. The tone shifts from an insubordinate and demanding attitude, to one of remorse, and finally to one that seems almost hopeless as he asks God to completely forget about him.