Summary of Thou Hast Made Me

This poem is primarily a declaration of the spiritual indignity of the speaker. We can think of it as a penitential poem, based on the penitential Psalms of the Old Testament. Donne’s religious disposition contained a strong element of self-laceration and strain, and this poem shows this. We can distinguish two facets of the desperate plight of the speaker — the drift toward death and the profound sense of personal sin.