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Theme of metaphysical poets
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John Donne and George Herbert are both known for being seventeenth century metaphysical poets. Metaphysical poetry is an intellectual poetry that uses a comparison that focuses on and science, religion, and mathematics. John Donne grew up into a religious family and was ordained an Angelican priest later in his life. George Herbert was also very religious; he was ordained a priest just as Donne had been. John Donne was acquainted with Herbert’s mother which caused him to become one of Herbert’s main influences. Both Donne and Herbert focused on writing religious poetry that would spread their beliefs. John Donne wrote “Holy Sonnet 10” an emotional religious poem about Death not having power because God promises an eternal life so Death itself is just temporarily doing God’s work. George Herbert wrote “Love (III)” which was also a religious poem that is about a guest who is a sinner and feels unworthy to be in the presence of Love who is personified as God. Throughout the poem Love tries to make the guest feel welcome regardless of what he has done. Both Donne and Herbert write their poems to express their faith in a way that also expresses how they feel. Although they use some reason throughout their poems ultimately their poems are emotionally based. In seventeenth century poetry Donne and Herbert found emotion more important that reason in their poems.
In “Love (III)” by George Herbert emotion was driving factor in the poem. God is personified as Love, the host and the guest is a sinner who feels unworthy. In the last stanza Love and the guest exchange words, “My dear, then I will serve,”/ ‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’/ So I did sit and eat.”(Herbert lines 16-18) The guest is offering to serve God, and a...
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...to convince himself of what he says rather than he is trying to convince Death. By the speaker doing that exact thing it not only shows the speakers fear of Death but Donne’s fear as well. In some ways Donne is writing to help his own doubts, although his doubts are subtle he manages to overcome them through writing “Holy Sonnet 10”. The emotion in the poem is driven from Donne’s own emotion. Without emotion the poem would lose the confidence it has. The poem would focus mainly on what Donne knows about his religion rather what he believes about his religion and that in ways makes it more close to his actual feelings. In conclusion emotion was more important in both “Holy Sonnet 10” and “Love (III)” because without either they would lose their complete meaning..
In seventeenth century poetry Donne and Herbert found emotion more important than reason in their poems.
When readers reflect on the poetry of the seventeenth century, poets such as John Donne and the
William Penn, an English philosopher and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, once said that, “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” He is saying that death is not the end of our lives, but just another stage. In the poem “Holy Sonnet 10” by John Donne, the poet talks to death itself and gives his opinion on his view of death and others’ views: it is something that cannot control anything, can be replaced by other things, and is not the end of a person’s life. Through the use of his figurative language, Petrachan form, and tone and language, Mr. Donne expresses the message that death is not to be feared because one lives in heaven. John uses many examples of figurative language in his sonnet.
In arguing against mourning and emotional confusion, Donne uses a series of bold and unexpected comparisons for the love between himself and his lady. Donne makes his first surprising analogy in the first stanza when he compares the approaching separation of the lovers to death. "he speaker compares his parting from his lover to the parting of the soul from a virtuous man at death. According to the speaker, "virtuous men pass mildly away" (line 1) because the virtue in their lives has assured them of glory and happiness in the afterlife; therefore, they die in peace without fear and emotion. By this he suggests that the separation of the lovers is parrallel to the separation caused by death.
Donne, John. “Holy Sonnet 5, Holy Sonnet 6, Holy Sonnet 10.” John Donne’s Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Donald R. Dickson. W.W. Norton & Company. New York, London. 2004. (Handout)
Holy Sonnet XV deals with the question of reciprocal love that runs throughout Donne’s religious poetry. The Sonnet is an address of the speaker’s mind to the speaker’s soul; it is a meditation on the Trinity and man’s relationship to God. The poem’s form and the multi-layered conflation throughout expound upon the nature of the Trinity. The theme of humility in reciprocal religious love or receiving and understanding God’s glory (as Donne understood it) runs throughout the poem. This allows the speaker’s soul to understand his own need for humility in order to love god fully. Donne uses the Sonnet form cunningly in this poem; the formal divisions of the Sonnet reflect the trinity, with three four-line sections, while the inner workings of the poem expound upon God’s love for mankind and the need for humility. The poem’s rhyme scheme is abba/abba/cddc/ee. This formally divides the poem into three four part sections that move from the spiritual to the physical downward through the Trinity, increasing tangibility with regard to the physical and allowing the speaker to achieve a closer relationship with God through Christ.
John Donne's "The Funeral" and "Holy Sonnet 3" are undeniably similar in their discussions of the separation of the body and soul. Each poem deals directly with the idea of death and afterlife. However, the topic of death is referred to not as an ending but more of as a beginning to a new life, exclusively for the soul. Each poem reflects the soul being released from the body as a way of cleansing the spirit while allowing the mind to rid itself of things that might have troubled the speaker while living. Through death the soul is given a second life, free of previous concerns and with new virginity to the blessings of the afterlife.
In 'Twickernham Garden ' Donne cleverly uses a spider as the conceit of the poem to comment on the nature of love, to emphasise that just like a spider love traps you insidiously and leaves you helpless. As well as that there is religious connotations to transubstantiation and manna and serpents. By doing this Donne finds another way to create an effective poem in emphasising his meaning and thoughts. The Major conceit in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning ' is that of a compass. Samuel Johnson a fellow poet, who coined the term metaphysical poetry criticised Donne by stating that 'the poem 's compass analogy highlights the violence used by metaphysical poets to force the most heterogeneous ideas together. Disagreeing with this statement, Donne 's use of the compass to reinforce the idea that their souls are like the legs of the compass, even though they will physically separate he will always come back as they create something perfect 'Thy firmness makes my circle just and make me end where I begun '. The conceit reassures his lover that it is inevitable that he will return because they are joined spiritually, mentally and physically, and their love is strong because he will always come back to
John Donne an English metaphysical poet and 16th century preacher made his name through his poems on love and his technique of creating opposing imagery through allegory and language (Ribes, 2007). Once Donne renounced his catholic faith and made a commitment to the Church of England in 1615, he wrote a series of religious poems, hymns, and sermons (Hodgson, 1999). The most well-known of his religious poetry is a series of nineteen Holy Sonnets spanning over the early 16th century, the most famous of these is Holy Sonnet XIV also known as ‘Batter My Heart’. Holy Sonnet XIV’s prominence in modern literature is due to the debate surrounding the intended meaning of the poem and the parallel the writer draws between the act of religious enlightenment and the pleasure derived from sexual activity. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne describes the poem as “best known literary text in English that figures spiritual redemption as a purifying sexual act” (Gibbory, 2006). This essay will link in to the description given by The Cambridge Companion and will apply a feminist reading by drawing on the writing of Judith Butler, Helene Cixous, and Sigmund Freud the theorised reading will be achieved by firstly examining the dominant or received reading of the for-mentioned poem.
The metaphysical era in poetry started in the 17th century when a number of poets extended the content of their poems to a more elaborate one which investigated the principles of nature and thought. John Donne was part of this literary movement and he explored the themes of love, death, and religion to such an extent, that he instilled his own beliefs and theories into his poems. His earlier works, such as The Flea and The Sunne Rising, exhibit his sexist views of women as he wrote more about the physical pleasures of being in a relationship with women. However, John Donne displays maturity and adulthood in his later works, The Canonization and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, in which his attitude transcends to a more grown up one. The content of his earlier works focused on pursuing women for his sexual desires, which contrasts heavily with his latter work. John Donne’s desire for physical pleasure subsides and he seeks to gain an emotional bond with women, as expressed in his later poetry.
In both ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘The Good Morrow’ Donne presents the experience of love, in a typical Metaphysical style, to engage his reader through sharing his own experiences. These poems show distinctive characteristics of Metaphysical poems which involve colloquial diction, drawing inventive imagery from unconventional sources, passionately analysing relationships and examining feelings. Donne presents the experience of love through conceits, Metaphysical wit, language techniques and imagery, in a confident tone using logical argument. The impact of Donne’s use of direct and idiomatic language shows the reader how he feels about a woman and ultimately love.
By making many references to the Bible, John Donne's Holy Sonnets reveal his want to be accepted and forgiven by God. A fear of death without God's forgiveness of sins is conveyed in these sonnets. Donne expresses extreme anxiety and fright that Satan has taken over his soul and God won't forgive him for it or his sins. A central theme of healing and forgiveness imply that John Donne, however much he wrote about God and being holy, wasn't such a holy man all of the time and tried to make up for it in his writing.
John Donne is known as being one of the most famous and influential metaphysical poets. The term “metaphysical," as applied to English and continental European poets of the seventeenth century, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their “unnaturalness.” As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, however, “The unnatural, that too is natural," and the metaphysical poets continue to be studied and revered for their intricacy and originality. Due to Donne’s personal experiences with spirituality and love, he is able to grasp the true meaning of metaphysical poetry (Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets). Using all the aspects of metaphysical poetry, Donne creates a mysterious metaphoric poem titled, “The Flea.” Throughout this poem, the use of metaphors and breaks into the separate stanzas allow for the audiences to understand what The Flea is really about. At first glance, many read The Flea as a poem that compares sexual intimacy with an animal, but when broken down, it can be seen that the meaning is much deeper than intimacy, but it
George Herbert’s poem ‘Love (III),’ published posthumously in a collection of his works entitled The Temple, centres around a dialogue between two characters. The characters are that of Love and an unnamed speaker, who most likely represents Herbert himself. Love, an abstract principle, is here the personification of God and exists as a tangible entity. In ‘Love (III),’ Love is acting as host to the unknown guest, who henceforth will be called the guest. This essay will discuss the poem’s argument, as well as the language and literary techniques Herbert utilises to reinforce his argument.
John Donne's use of deep religious themes, unique poetic devices, and vivid imagery create a stunning and convicting poem. Donne's talents are on full display as he moves through each line with such beauty and simplicity. One can easily imagine his sorrow and pain as he penned the words of this poem and poured his heart into it. Donne's work reminds readers of the sorrow of sin, the necessity of forgiveness, and the hope of restoration. Although he focuses on anguish and sorrow, his message is truly one of joy and hope. All who take his words to heart find internal peace and rejoice in the mercy of their
George Herbert’s struggle to be humble enough to fully accept God’s undying love can be located within each of his poems. The way in which Herbert conveys this conflict is by utilizing structure as well as metaphysical techniques. This combination of literary devices creates a physical reality that allows Herbert, or the poetic speaker, to “make his feelings immediately present” (245). These devices, at first, appear to be artificial and contradictory to the poet’s goal of making God’s word visible. Instead, literary techniques, for Herbert, help to emphasize how God controls everything from daily life to literature. Therefore, Herbert believes he is not the sole author of his writing; rather, he is an instrument of God chosen to write down poetry praising Him. Herbert battles with this idea as he must refuse the pride that comes with being the author of such beautiful devotional and metaphysical poetry. If Herbert were to give into this “temptation of success” (243), he would be giving himself up to sin and thus rejecting God’s love. This process of rejecting and accepting, or of “conflict and resolution” (243), is done throughout “The Temple,” which leads Herbert to an ultimate acceptance of God and to an “achieved character of humility, tenderness, moral sensitiveness” (249).