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

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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How do different poets treat the theme of love?

How do different poets treat the theme of love? In this essay, we will explore and discuss the similar and different interpretations of love when used by different poets. We will try to portray a clear, overall view of love and its effects on people and relationships when used in different contexts involving technical devices. This essay aims to include the poet's attitudes, motives and the type of love they feel at the time they wrote the poem and also the different strategies and procedures they make use of to reach their objectives. When looking at this we will in addition consider the different methods used by the poets to conceal their true intentions. Further more, we will endeavour to interpret the feelings of the person who is receiving the poem, their attitude to the poet after receiving the poem and how they respond to the poet's perspective of love. The poems we will be examining according to these aims are 'First Love', 'The Flea' and 'Porphyria's Lover. We will be trying to establish a link between these three poems that connects the poet's or the women in some way. The first poem I will examine is 'First Love'. In this poem Clare strives to illustrate the over-whelming power and strength of the love he is feeling for the woman. We can see this when he says 'I was ne'er struck before that hour'. The use of the word 'struck' is significant because it emphasises

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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From the Poems we have read so far, Identify the main Characteristics of Donne's Poetry.

Charlie Hanson From the Poems we have read so far, Identify the main Characteristics of Donne's Poetry. By referring closely to John Donne's poems we can examine the distinct characteristics of his poetry, paying particular attention to the Relationship Between understanding and Emotion. John Donne often uses a paradox and links things such as love and religion to other things as well. This also shows his range and variety of language also showing his academic and emotional feelings. This also illustrates how much thought goes into his work as well as feeling as it is relevant to him. Many things become apparent throughout John Donne's poetry however one theme is particularly apparent. This is his idea towards understanding the relationship between man, woman and God. Donne has a strong idea of how this relationship should take place and of how man is to relate to God and he often links it to a relationship between a man and a woman. However, Donne believes that however strong this bond between man's relationship with God and how alike to man and women it is, he believes that the spiritual bond is much stronger. Once this bond has been made, it is difficult to break. In the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Donne speaks of this relationship as, 'Stiff twin compasses' also indicating that each is always pointing towards the other. Through this poem and many other

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Piercy's Barbie Doll tells the short life story of a specific girl. How does this poem help to illustrate or dramatize some of the ideas we find in A Work of Artifice?

Maggie McDonald Dr. Sanders ENGL 227C - Visions of Childhood April 28, 2002 FINAL #1: 6. Piercy's Barbie Doll tells the short life story of a specific girl. How does this poem help to illustrate or dramatize some of the ideas we find in A Work of Artifice? The bounding of the feet, crippled brain, and the hair in curlers mentioned in the poem A Work of Artifice are all things that women do to look good. The bounding of the feet is an old Chinese custom because small feet were considered beautiful. Some girls pretend to act ditzy, or having a cripple brain, because they think men will like them better if they are that way. Many women curl their hair to be more beautiful. All of these things relate to the poem Barbie Doll because the girl in the poem is trying to achieve the perfect looks because someone once told her she had a big nose and fat legs. Barbie Doll exemplifies some of the concepts that we see in A Work of Artifice because like the girl in Barbie Doll the bonsai tree in A Work of Artifice is always trying to achieve the perfect look or shape. The gardener is always tending to the bonsai tree each day to make sure that it is pruned properly and that it is only 9 inches tall. The girl in Barbie Doll tried to achieve her perfect look by "cutting off her nose and her legs" and offering them up. The gardener in A Work of Artifice is the one that makes

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Two poems by Archbishop Jien.

Two poems by Archbishop Jien (Carter, p. 171, poem 327; p. 172, poem 330) and two by Shunzei's Daughter (Carter, p. 175, poem 341; p.176, poem 342) "plumb the depths of your intent without laying it [the situation] bare" (Kamo no Chomei, p.3, No. 6) to depict mankind's paradoxical approach to the moon: seeking reassurance and companionship in its permanence and predictability, despite it being an uncertain mystery, inaccessible directly and impossible to control nor fully understand. The poets merely provide a stark glimpse of the situations in which the speakers find themselves, so that the reader must fill in with his or her resonance to complete the poetic experience. The speakers' attempts to escape their predicament by seeking fulfillment in the deceptive permanence of the moon are left hanging incomplete, creating in turn for the reader an atmosphere embroiled with lack of fulfillment and the mystery of the moon, which probes the reader's depths of intent to understand as best he can. The sense of lack of fulfillment upon which the poems end creates a vacuum into which any careful reader fills to restore the equilibrium. The lingering sense of incompletion creates an atmosphere that "hovers over the poem" (Fujiwara no Shunzei, p.3, No. 7), "plumb[s] the depths of [their] intent", thereby extending the reader's frame of mind into a realm "distinct from its words"

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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'A Brilliant projection of a very common male viewpoint whereby women are to be denigrated (perhaps out of fear) and also celebrated as objects for male gratification'(George Parfitt). Is this an accurate description of the presentation of women in male-a

'A Brilliant projection of a very common male viewpoint whereby women are to be denigrated (perhaps out of fear) and also celebrated as objects for male gratification'(George Parfitt). Is this an accurate description of the presentation of women in male-authored poetry? The female, for years, as George Parfitt points out in his quotation, has been subject to the idea of male superiority. Even in Genesis, the earliest of literature, woman is not given her name until after the expulsion from the garden, and Milton very clearly looks down upon Eve in his Paradise Lost: he makes clear that the serpent aims to target Eve all along, as she is 'opportune to all attempts'1, unlike Adam who is of a 'higher intellectual'2 than his wife. Eve is seen as of little importance by Milton, although, of course, it is she who brings about the events of his epic poem. She has less value than Adam, is more open to the wiles of the devil, and has less care for the creation of God, or so Milton would have us believe. Parfitt suggests that it is possibly through fear that the male denigrates the female, perhaps, in Milton's case, this may be true. Eve is known to be the cause of the original sin, and a vessel of Satan in persuading Adam to eat the apple of knowledge, as such, she is dangerous, and outside of the control of God, since she is under the power of Satan. Women were often seen as

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With reference to two or three of Donne's Holy Sonnets, consider the similarities between his religious poetry and his romantic / love poetry.

With reference to two or three of Donne's Holy Sonnets, consider the similarities between his religious poetry and his romantic / love poetry. In two of Donne's romantic poems 'Valediction: Forbidding Morning' and 'The Sun Rising' The Narrator utilises several techniques and styles that are not dissimilar to those used in his Holy Sonnets ,two examples of which being Sonnet 10 and 1. These similarities stem from many separate sources throughout the poetry. These include an arresting first line, defiant tone and a strong sense of personal feeling on the part of the narrator, a hallmark of a metaphysical poet. In many of Donne's pieces its is apparent that each is begun with an arresting first line that immediately sets the tone for the rest of the Sonnet or Song , a tone that is usually unexpected and in direct contrast with the conventional way in which the subject matter , in this case romanticism or religion, is approached; "As virtuous men pass mildly away," (Valediction: Forbidding Morning line 1) "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?" (Holy Sonnet 1 line 1) Lines such as these grab the reader's attention, immediately drawing them to the strong sense of personal feeling felt by the narrator, highlighted by such an abrupt opening. Throughout both holy sonnets and the narrator's love poetry, strong personal feeling is apparent. The use of 'I' and 'me' is

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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

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What is a Metaphysical poem?

Metaphysical poetry What is a Metaphysical poem? There are many definitions of Metaphysical poetry. "Metaphysical" when applied to poetry usually involves Love, Science, Geology, Romance, Sensuality and man's relationship with God. Metaphysical poems are lyrical poems usually containing intense meditations, characterized by striking use of wit, irony, and play on words. Underneath the formal structure is the underlying structure of the poet's argument. Metaphysical poetry usually contains conceits, which is an image which you extend, which you develop; an extended metaphor. The Metaphysical poetry follows the structure of a strong first line; these "strong lines" brings attention to other elements in metaphysical poetry. The term is used in connection with prose as well as with verse and so invites us to look at metaphysical poetry in a wider context. At the time Metaphysical poetry's definition was 'An equal of ideas yoked by violence together.' However, it is very difficult to define a Metaphysical poem because at the time the writers were not writing under the category of a "metaphysical poem." So I have therefore attempted to describe the characteristics of a 'Metaphysical poem' rather then endeavour to construct a definition. The following three poems all fit into the Metaphysical category. You can tell this by looking at the characteristics of Metaphysical poetry.

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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

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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