Lyric Poem · Sad

Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly

by John Donne

Reading room

1I am a little world made cunningly

2Of elements, and an angelic sprite;

3But black sin hath betrayed to endless night

4My worlds both parts, and (oh!) both parts must die.

5You which beyond that heaven which was most high

6Have found new spheres, and of new lands can write,

7Pour new seas in mine eyes, that so I might

8Drown my world with my weeping earnestly,

9Or wash it if it must be drowned no more:

10But oh it must be burnt! alas the fire

11Of lust and envy have burnt it heretofore,

12And made it fouler: Let their flames retire,

13And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal

14Of Thee and Thy house, which doth in eating heal.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly” by John Donne — quilloak.com/poems/holy-sonnet-v-i-am-a-little-world-made-cunningly

Quick facts

Poem: Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly
Poet: John Donne
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Sad, Peace, Death & Loss

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: John Donne1572–1631
Source record: PoetryDBHoly Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly by john-donne, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 b0583a5355537a63…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Sad Peace Death & Loss

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More sad poems →