It was interesting to read “A Hymn to Christ” and noticing the way, yet again, Donne inverts and twists a metaphor. When writing about a tree, he says, “as the tree’s sap doth seek the root below, in winter, in my winter now I go…” Rarely do we think about downward motion with nature: trees and flowers evoke imagery of growth, of blooming upwards. Usually the “movement” of literature is towards spring and summer, instead of winter. This is especially fascinating to me when taken in the context of religious imagery: “the tree of life”; “the tree of knowledge,” but also Ovid, and Pagan connotations. Any thoughts about how Donne uses nature to speak about religious themes in these poems?