John Donne: Quixotic yet Sacrosanct

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Recommended: Conceits in Done's poetry

Love and religion are two of the most common topics of poetry, even though many of Donne’s poems are either on love or religion, two different topic, they are connected thru the continuous use of devices such as allusions, metaphors, and puns; providing a bond for each poem yet each for a different context. “The Flea,” “Holy Sonnet VII”, and “A Hymn to God the Father” each have distinct themes, but find common ground by the use of common literary devices.

Donne consistently uses allusions, usually biblical, throughout his poems. Even in an erotic love poem, he manages to insert that “three lives in one flea spare,” alluding to the Christian idea of The Holy Trinity. In “The Flea,” the speaker sheds his religious values by comparing the three bloods mixed inside of the parasite to God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit. This biblical allusion seems like a paradox, since the speakers tries to pursue an unholy deed by using a spiritual thought. Donne’s use of biblical allusions follows into “Holy Sonnet VII,” with the overall apocalyptic visions that are present in the sonnet. The first three lines of the sonnet begin with an allusion to Judgment day, a reminder that the angels will blow their trumpets and then the humans will “arise, arise/ from death, you numberless infinities.” Not only does this allusion provide a reminder for the end of the world, it also serves as an apostrophe by declaring the angels to “blow your trumpets” and starts a conversation in midst of the sonnet. These multiple biblical allusions from “flood” to “fire” serve a remembrance of previous and future happening to the people of earth. Not only are these allusions reminiscence the sayings of God, they are a way to converse with God, for a “devotional poem can be...

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...ugh the puns that Donne uses are either quixotic or spiritual it still in evident in each of his poems.

Works Cited

Donne's "A Hymne to God the Father": New Dimensions

David J. Leigh

Studies in Philology , Vol. 75, No. 1 (Winter, 1978), pp. 84-92

Published by: University of North Carolina Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4173959

Explicating Donne: "The Apparition" and "The Flea"

Laurence Perrine

College Literature , Vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter, 1990), pp. 1-20

Published by: College Literature

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25111839

"Little Worlds Made Cunningly": Significant Form in Donne's "Holy Sonnets" and "Goodfriday, 1613"

Antony F. Bellette

Studies in Philology , Vol. 72, No. 3 (Jul., 1975), pp. 322-347

Published by: University of North Carolina Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4173878

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