less powerful than sin, which is why the latter imprisoned Reason and claimed it was traitorous. Ray takes into consideration Donne's other Christian works and comes to the conclusion that "the role of faith is quite essential to ward off sin" because "reason alone cannot do it." He highlights the theme of the necessity of God's intervention in a man's life and God's importance in saving people's souls by saying that "God's grace and power are essential." Bellette contrasts his analysis of the first quatrain with noting the breakdown of the previously described logical order in this quatrain, saying that "the sense of no purpose" is evident in the disproving phrase "but O, to no end." He argues that the monotone “but” is the most prominent element here and forms "the tone of the second half of the poem, in which forward progression is repeatedly checked by the 'yet,' 'but,' 'except' sequence which seems to make every thought double back on itself," and to surround closely the speaker – as well as the reader – with a constantly tightening barrier. Lines nine and ten In lines 9 and 10, the speaker expresses how much he loves God and wants to be loved back but is "wedded" to the enemy; here, Satan. Ray acknowledges that there is a shift in the "emphasis to another conceit or motif" and that the speaker starts seeing and addressing God in a more intimate tone, expressing the "wish to be reconquered by Him in terms of love, sexuality, and marriage," and positioning himself in the passive, feminine mode. The belief that the soul is feminine was common in Christian culture, as pointed out by Ray. In his article, he sees this metaphor at work in Holy Sonnet XIV, and he describes this "feminine soul" in the sonnet as "feel[ing] that she has been forced into a marriage with the conqueror and usurper Satan (i.e., sin)," further observing that the speaker himself states in the poem that he is "betroth'd unto your enemy." The absence of any expression of submissiveness or prayer is noticeable, which goes against what is often expected in more traditional poems of devotion dealing with this subject. From the line "Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain" up until "Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me," the usual attempt of carrying a sonnet to its resolution by a sequential