The Florist's at Midnight.
The Florist's at Midnight (Analyse paying attention to language and imagery) 'The Florist's at Midnight' is a poem concentrating on the superfluous trade of flowers, making us appear almost murderous while we 'nail', 'cloister' and tear flowers 'up from their roots'. Maguire uses bold, contrasting and religious imagery to assist in conveying her thoughts and making us question our actions. Aggressive imagery is extended throughout the poem (the 'stems bleed', they are 'cloistered in cellophane', have a 'wax shawl curl(ing) round (their) throat' and they are 'stood in zinc buckets' in 'clouding dank water') to emphasise the reality that these flowers were once growing, had a 'promise of pollen' and were ultimately alive, but have now been brutally 'torn up from their roots' and turned into 'cargo', merchandise, for us to buy. Personification of the flowers is another technique used, parallel to this one of aggressive imagery, to further highlight the fact that we have murdered these flowers that were once alive, as we are ~ the 'dark mouth' of a lily, once full of 'breath', has now been suffocated by its own 'wax shawl curl(ing) around its throat' and 'packed' in 'buckets'. The use of enjambment at the start of the poem reinforces the flow of the plants breathing, again granting them a human-like quality and reminding us that they too, were living beings. After we hear
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
A Common Donne Theme, In Three of his Poems.
Essay #3 Rakesh Penumalli A Common Donne Theme, In Three of his Poems. In the poems "The Sun Rising," "The Good Morrow," and "The Canonization," John Donne emphasizes on the power of the lovers' unity, which is identified through his idiosyncratic style. Donne accomplishes this through his diction, and the effective use of imagery and structure throughout these poems. In "The Sun Rising," Donne conveys to the reader that this unity, attained by these lovers, is all encompassing; including the whole world which the speaker says is in the lovers' room, with their bed and unity at the core of this world (lines 28-30). Similarly, in "The Good Morrow," Donne informs his audience of how the world of the speaker in this poem, is in his "little room" (line 11), unlike the all encompassing one in the other poem, is perfect, without the imperfectness of the real world like "sharp north" (line 18). Then there is "The Canonization," where Donne includes the point of unity among the lovers, but uses it rather to argue for the point that they deserve to be sanctified for this incredible unity. In all three of these poems, Donne creates a progression from "bad" to "good." In "The Sun Rising," as the title suggests, Donne starts out using early dawn, which is bad for the speaker because he has to wakeup since the sun is bugging the lovers with his overwhelming
The Persuasive Tone of The Flea
The Persuasive Tone of ¡§The Flea¡¨ John Donne, a member of metaphysical school in the Seventeenth century, exhibited his brilliant talent in poetry. In ¡§The Flea,¡¨ he showed the passion to his mistress via persuasive attitude. The tone might straightforwardly create playfulness or sinfulness; yet, the poem contains none of either. What impress readers most is situation and device. The situation between the speaker and the audience is persuasion, love or marriage. As to device, the notable parts are diction and rhetoric skills. Furthermore, unique characteristics of this poem are also an important element of his persuasive tone. First of all, the situation created by Donne is remarkable. Although there is only one speaker in ¡§The Flea,¡¨ the poem itself reveals a profound interaction between speaker and audience. Here is an example: ¡§Mark but this flea, and mark in this,¡¨ (line 1) and ¡§Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,¡¨ (line 10). In line one, the poet asked his coy mistress to notice a flea and explain that the flea symbolized the combination of their love. Whereas, when the poem goes on to the first line of the second stanza, the lady ignores Donne¡¦s enthusiasm by intending to slay the flea. From the two lines, it shows the female¡¦s emotional reaction to Donne¡¦s persuasion, which provokes his urge by applying poetic device in the
Explore the various arguments used by John Donne to achieve his aim. In what ways does the language and style of the poem make the arguments persuasive and effective?
Explore the various arguments used by John Donne to achieve his aim. In what ways does the language and style of the poem make the arguments persuasive and effective? Graham Ross 9/02/2004 Donne's main aim in the poem is to persuade his lover to go to bed with him, to do this he uses various techniques and arguments throughout the poem to tempt her into doing so. We see Donne trying to lure his partner into sleeping with him, "And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee" By use of this conceit he suggests that as their bloods have already been mixed by the flea, they have been joined. This implies that when the blood mixes it is the same result as if they had had sex nevertheless as their bloods would have united. This is a very weak argument on behalf of Donne as the blood does not actually pass from one person to another during sexual intercourse; it is only bodily fluids. We can see that in "The Sunne Rising" that Donne suggests ideas that are unrealistic. "goe childe" and "goe tell court-huntsmen" This is obviously not thought about, because if the sun was to go away, life could not continue as the sun is vital to survival. Donne knows that his partner is religious, and so uses this to his advantage by exploiting her weaknesses. "This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;" Donne compares the flea to being a temple, which
Essay on "The Broken Heart" - The imagery in John Donne's poetry is not just a vital part in his works,
Essay on "The Broken Heart" Mrs. Jauregui 09-22-02 Essay on "The Broken Heart" The imagery in John Donne´s poetry is not just a vital part in his works, it's essential in combining his feelings and emotions so that he is able to write them down and create poems like this one. ´The Broken Heart´ is an example of how John Donne uses wordplay to construct images in the reader's mind, enveloping them in every word which was meticulously put to make his poem perfect. The tone he uses also gives the impression he was almost desperate to be understood. He makes the poem personal to him by asking rhetorical questions like "Who will believe me, if I swear, That I have had the plague a year?" and "Who would not laugh at me, if I should say, I saw a flask of powder burn a day?" When revised carefully, these questions have a feeling of extreme anxiety and grief. The images and the tone of all of Donne´s poetry is what gives him his own classic, artistic approach. When Donne wrote this poem, evidently he was heartbroken. Otherwise, he would have never had such antagonistic feelings towards love and never would have described it as being something like a monster. He writes "but us Love draws, He swallows us, and never chaws." This makes one imagine a viscous beast enticing you to come forth, but then when his grasp is fixed, he swallows you whole, with no mercy, and ´takes no
Although Donne seemingly flatters his lover in"The Sun Rising," nevertheless she is effectively silenced.
"Although Donne seemingly flatters his lover in "The Sun Rising," nevertheless she is effectively silenced." In the light of this critical comment, explore the ways in which women are presented and addressed. In this Anthology, using, as your starting point an examination of "The Sun Rising" and including references to at least two other poems covering at least two groups. I disagree with the statement that Donne's lover is "effectively silenced." Donne's lover isn't even mentioned to have said anything so how could she have been effectively silenced? I think that at the time the poem was written society oppressed women. It was believed that women shouldn't talk unless they were spoken to. Therefore I think it would be more accurate to say that society "effectively silenced" women not Donne. In "The Sun Rising" Donne believes that him and his lover become the world and occupy the same position as the sun. They create an almost minature world which is more important than the larger universe within their bedroom, and everything revolves around them. "The Sun Rising" Donne objects of the Sun's intrusion "through windows" and "through curtains." Windows and curtains are what separate the two lovers from the physical world. "Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time" "The Sun Rising" reveals the motive to engage