Love in the Poetry of John Donne.
Love in the Poetry of John Donne a paper by Iain Morrison, student of English Literature at The Edinburgh Academy, under the direction of Mr J. Marsh. It is impossible to say exactly what Donne's attitude to love is precisely because he seems to have many different attitudes. This is due, in part, to the nature of Donne's life which falls neatly into two different periods. The first was from his birth in 1572 to his ordination in January 1615 and the second was from then till his death in March 1631. Most of his devotional poetry stems from this second period and the love poetry from the first. There is however an element of love in the devotional poetry and vice versa. His love poetry can also be divided into two strains; that of the witty and the realistic. He draws some aspects of his style from Petrarch, the Italian sonateer who was perhaps the first poet to write about his love for a woman in an honest but still romantic way. However unlike Petrarch, who considered sexuality a burden, Donne appears not to condemn physical love. It seems unusual now but at the time of Donne's life it was thought that every time a couple indulged in sex, their lives were shortened but Donne treats this physical side of love as a gateway to something higher. In 'The Canonization' Donne takes this idea of death and turns it round. He says that if they die because of their love then they
Poetic Parallelism between Jonne Donne and Lope de Vega
Poetic Parallelism between John Donne and Lope de Vega The identification and comparison between English metaphysical poetry and Spanish poesía conceptista was suggested for the first time by James Smith, and then studied by Frank J. Warnke and Lowry Nelson. Later bibliography has focused almost exclusively on the analysis of Francisco de Quevedo's affinity with metaphysical poetry, and John Donne in particular. Critics and scholars have studied Quevedo's use of the conceit, and the metaphysical themes of some of his poems, and quite recently, the comparative study of Quevedo's and Donne's poems has been undertaken. As a contrast, only a few authors have dealt with John Donne in relationship with Lope de Vega, or viceversa, even though some of Lope de Vega's poems also belong to the conceptista vein. Frank Warnke included two sonnets by Lope de Vega in his collection of European metaphysical poems, and he pointed to the stylistic similarities between the devotional poems of Quevedo and Lope and those of Donne's (52, 59-60). Octavio Paz mentioned the existence of similarities between the passion, both amorous and religious, of Lope de Vega and Donne. Daniel L. Heiple discovered that Lope had used the term 'metaphysical' in much the same way as John Dryden and Dr. Johnson did later. Not long ago, Laurie Ann Kaplis, wrote, as her doctoral thesis, an extensive, yet not
Write a study of a sonnet, looking at examples by two different poets writing before 1900, showing how they use form to express their ideas. You should include at least two sonnets written by the same poet. Accompanying this with a sonnet of your own.
Write a study of a sonnet, looking at examples by two different poets writing before 1900, showing how they use form to express their ideas. You should include at least two sonnets written by the same poet. Accompanying this with a sonnet of your own. The greatest aspect of a sonnet is that it reflects hard work and vigour. It also displays some of the characteristics that the sonneteer may possess. For example, Shakespeare has given himself a wealth of characteristics throughout his works, but what struck me most, was his power to fulfil what he wanted to say and would take up innumerable roles in which to display his message. I believe that this unveils a new side of Shakespeare every time he writes. I feel that my main aim in this essay is to look at the differences, both subtle and outright that make some of the greatest sonnets and sonneteers so very contrasting from one another. Firstly, it is very important to explore a sonnet. The first sonnet is called, "Batter My Heart" by John Donne. This is a classic English sonnet written at the beginning of the Seventeenth century where Donne unravels his negativity towards himself, and how he demands to be freed from his evil and cast back to God's side. The second sonnet is called, "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne. This is a sort of argument against the rights of Death, exploring why Death does not, in fact, have any
Discuss the significance of the term metaphysical poetry in relation to three of the poems you have studied this term. You should also look up the word metaphysical in the OED and use some of the information given in your ess
Metaphysical poetry Analysis and comparison of three poems and their relation to the term 'metaphysical poetry' This essay will revolve around the genre of 'metaphysical poetry' and some of its most prominent poems, specifically 'Holy Sonnet X' and 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' by John Donne and 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell. 'Holy Sonnet X' and 'To His Coy Mistress' will be analysed together and will undergo an investigation to find parallels and contrasts. They will primarily focus on the subject of death. 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' will also be analysed and used to describe John Donne's authorship and his impact on metaphysical poetry. Lastly, this essay will try to explain the key features and aspects of the genre and, thereby, relate to the genre in a historical context. The term 'metaphysical poetry' was coined by the critic and poet, Samuel Johnson. Under its heading, Samuel Johnson gathered a large group of unaffiliated British lyric poets who had a common interest in the rising new sciences, debauchery, and the changing times. Despite their being unaffiliated, the group of poets shared a collective way of investigating and portraying their interests, namely through inventive ways of applying metaphors. This inventiveness in using metaphors has resulted in the genesis of the term 'metaphysical conceit'. Metaphysical conceit is 'a
"Explore how Donne's poetry was influenced by developments in scientific progressions, exploration and religion." Before becoming a Protestant, John Donne was a Catholic priest and
"Explore how Donne's poetry was influenced by developments in scientific progressions, exploration and religion." Before becoming a Protestant, John Donne was a Catholic priest and therefore had studied Latin. He also lived around the time of Shakespeare, a period of time when literature and writing was extremely popular. It was also a time of discovery, when new places were being found and humans were for the first time beginning to understand and believe in science. John Donne was an egocentric, a very self-centred man. He was also exceptionally sharp and witty, an intellectual. His ability to create seemingly pointless images and weave them into his arguments (as well as making them valid) is unrivalled. One brilliant pun in "A Hymn to God my Father" where he seeks forgiveness for his sins says, "When thou hast done, thou hast not done" (a play on his own name) followed by "For, I have more" [a pun on his wife's name (Anne More), he felt guilty about keeping his wife in a poor condition, both financially and physically. She bore twelve children and died in childbirth]. There is no doubt at all that he was clever. Donne wrote this poem when he was deem of St. Paul's and fearing he was at the end of his life, he was exploring his relationship with God and trying to come to terms with his previous sins "Wilt thou forgive that sin by which I have won others to sin? And made
Why has Donne's poetry been described as 'Metaphysical'?
Why has Donne's poetry been described as 'Metaphysical'? To answer this question one needs to define the term 'Metaphysical' because, although it can be applied to any poetry dealing with spiritual or philosophical matter, it is complicated by the fact that it is now generally only applied to a group of seventeenth century poets. Therefore as David Reid has aptly remarked it is a "particularly fuzzy term" and therefore it is "futile to try for watertight definition". The first problem is that behind the term, 'Metaphysical,' lies a history of different critical approaches - Giordano Bruno, the first critic to attempt a conceptual formulation of "concettismo", as the 'Metaphysical' style was known in Italy, concluded that 'Metaphysical poetry' was essentially concerned with perceiving and expressing the universal correspondence in his universe. However, Samuel Johnson wrote that "about the beginning of the seventeenth century [in England] there appeared a race" of Metaphysical poets and therefore the problem is that there are different descents of critical views about the term. Furthermore Johnson talks of a "race" of these poets but the problem is that there is not such a line of descent as this statement would suggest. There are connections between poets, who are classed as 'Metaphysical', like Dunne, Cowley, Hubert and Marvell, but only here and there; for example in
The muses garden with pedantic weeds o'erspread, was purged by thee....." Write an apppreciation of
The muses garden with pedantic weeds o'erspread, was purged by thee....." Write an apppreciation of Ben Jonson is reputed to have said that "John Donne was the first poet in the world in some things" That he was radically different from his predecessors is unmistakable and in this essay I will explore the probable reasons for this singularity and look at how it is chiefly manifested in his poetry. Probably the single most significant factor that differentiated Donne from his fellow poets and undoubtedly had a profound effect on his work was his Catholicism. Belonging to this faith in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries meant at best that one could not attend university, hold public office or attend Court. At worst it meant persecution, imprisonment, torture and execution. Donne was educated at home by Catholic tutors, reputedly anxious for a martyr's death themselves and he was often taken to see the public hanging, emasculation and disembowelling of priests supposedly in the hope that it would instil in him some sense of the heroicism of martyrdom. He was in his own words "ever kept awake in the meditation of martyrdom" and had "(his) first breeding and conversation with men of suppressed and afflicted religion, accustomed to the despite of death and hungry of an imagined martyrdom" There appears, however, to have been little of the martyr in Donne
Love in Donne's Songs and Sonnets.
Jennifer McCarthy 4/26/02 Renaissance Literature Love in Donne's Songs and Sonnets The presence of love is thematically interwoven into all of John Donne's Songs and Sonnets. Confronting the ideas of both the eroticism of physical love and the purity and intellectualism of spiritual love, Donne creates a world in which the reader is able to glimpse into the psyche of the poet. It is significant to understand that Donne does not attempt to describe a single and unchanging view of love. Rather, his poetry expresses a variety of emotions and attitudes. Throughout his Songs and Sonnets, Donne toys with the conflicting concepts of love, its flaws, as well as inherent values to humanity. Love can be an experience of the body, the soul, or both; it can be a religious experience, or merely a sexual one, resulting in emotions ranging from ecstasy to despair. Therefore, taking any one poem in isolation will give us a limited view of Donne's attitude towards love. The reader must treat each poem as part of a collectivity of the maturation process; represented by all the Songs and Sonnets, the poems give insight into the complex range of experiences that can be grouped under the single heading of "love". The ideal of the spiritual love is one in which Donne consistently utilizes in his poetry. By implementing metaphors of religious iconography into his verse, he creates a
John Donne 'Songs and Sonnets' - Secular or Sacred?
Word Count: 2,574 Essay 2: Seventeenth Century John Donne 'Songs and Sonnets' - Secular or Sacred? John Carey states in his book, John Donne: Life, Mind and Art, that: "The first thing to remember about Donne is that he was a Catholic; the second, that he betrayed his Faith". 1 Carey's argument continues with heavy emphasis on Donne's religious tendencies and implies that the perpetual worry about fidelity, falseness and the permanence of human relationships contained in the 'Songs and Sonnets' is a transference of Donne's apostatical guilt to women. However, Barbara Hardy in her essay 'Thinking and Feeling in the Songs and Sonnets' contradicts Carey's emphasis on the spiritual and religious, stating that: "Physicality...is the rule in Donne"2 These two critical views oppose each other and take extreme standpoints on the meaning and content of Donne's poetry. However, the common theme in Donne criticism is that there is a strong element of paradox and an overriding impression of ambiguity in his poems, and I believe that this prevents a definitive conclusion that the 'Songs and Sonnets' are, in a mutually exclusive sense, either secular or sacred. Donne's 'Songs and Sonnets' are complex. His use of philosophical, theological and scientific illustrations and analogies, captured in a colloquial language "such as men do use"3 make it extremely difficult to tease out the
Choose two poems and show in what ways you think they demonstrate the use of argument in John Donne's poetry.
Amy Clark Choose two poems and show in what ways you think they demonstrate the use of argument in John Donne's poetry. John Donne is considered to be one of the greatest of the English Metaphysical poets. He broke away from the "decorative and flowery" verse that characterized most poetry during the Elizabethan period to develop his own unique style. His poetry is rich in metaphor, wit and honesty. These are used by Donne to describe his views on the world. Donne uses argument in his poetry for many different purposes such as an for an expression of feeling, for seduction and persuasion, a declaration for his love, to harness, console and comfort emotion. The two poems that I think demonstrate his use of argument best are The Flea and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. The Flea is a poem of seduction enticing the women in to bed with him, it exhibits Donne's metaphysical love-poem mode, his aptitude for turning even the least likely images into elaborate symbols of love and romance. This poem uses the image of a flea that has just bitten the speaker and his beloved to sketch an amusing conflict over whether the two will engage in premarital sex. A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning is one if Donne's most famous and also probably his most direct statement of his ideal of spiritual love. For all his erotic sensuality in poems, such as The Flea, Donne professes a