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Metaphysical conceit in john donne's poetry
Metaphysical conceit in john donne's poetry
The poetry of john donne hsc essay
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Free Essay on John Donne - A Journey Through Vulnerability
John Donne uses poetry to explore his own identity, express his feelings, and most of all, he uses it to deal with the personal experiences occurring in his life. Donne's poetry is a confrontation or struggle to find a place in this world, or rather, a role to play in a society from which he often finds himself detached or withdrawn. This essay will discuss Donne's states of mind, his views on love, women, religion, his relationship with God; and finally how the use of poetic form plays a part in his exploration for an identity and salvation.
The speaker in Donne's poetry is a theatrical character, constantly in different situations, and using different roles to suit the action. He can take on the role of the womanizer, as in "The Indifferent," or the faithful lover from "Lover's Infiniteness," but the speaker in each of these poems is always John Donne himself. Each poem contains a strong sense of Donne's own self-interest. According to Professor J. Crofts, Donne:
Throughout his life... was a man self-haunted, unable to escape from his own drama, unable to find any window that would not give him back the image of himself. Even the mistress of his most passionate love-verses, who must (one supposes) have been a real person, remains for him a mere abstraction of sex: a thing given. He does not see her --does not apparently want to see her; for it is not of her that he writes, but of his relation to her; not of love, but of himself loving.
In "Elegy XIX [To His Mistress Going to Bed]," we are confronted with one of Donne's personalities. The poem begins abruptly: Come, Madam, come! All rest my powers defy;/ Until I labour, I in l abour lie. The reader is immediately thrust into the middle of a private scene in which Donne attempts to convince his lover to undress and come to bed. There is only one speaker in this poem, Donne, we do not hear the voice or a description of the feelings of another person, but she is always present. If Samuel Johnson was correct when he made the statement that "the metaphysical poets were men of learning, and to show their learning was their whole endeavour.
Voltaire had a very opposite point of view in that he saw a world of needless pain and suffering all around him. Voltaire, a deist, believed that God created the world, yet he felt that the people were living in a situation that was anything but perfect. Thus, the major theme of Candide is one of the world not being the best of all possibilities, full of actions definitely not determined by reason or order, but by chance and coincidence.
Voltaire’s Candide is the apotheosis of an individual’s inability or refusal to question one’s philosophy or belief. Candide, the main protagonist of the novel, follows Pangloss’ philosophy that the world is “the best of all possible worlds”, despite the rigors he faces along his journey. Candide's inability to question his Mentor's so to speak wisdom, covers Candide with an optimistic perception of the world, but is simply blind to the peril he experiences. To elaborate, Candide’s acceptance of Pangloss’ theory hinders his ability to fully experience the luxuries in El Dorado, hinders his ability to accept other notions of how the world is, and deters
In order to better understand Philip's critique of Donne within the lines of her poetry, a reading
Voltaire’s “Candide or Optimism” was written in the enlightenment era. Voltaire’s story is published in The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Voltaire’s character Pangloss is a philosophy who taught about the all-powerful God, who created the world. Pangloss indicated the world must belong to God, for he was the only divine creator. Pangolss was also a mentor to Candide, who was the main character in the novel. Candide had a good heart, but felt very hopeless in life. Pangloss took Candide under his wings teaching him the “best of all possible worlds.” The enlightenment movement is closely seen in Voltaire’s writing style on page 378. Pangolss had an optimistic viewpoint, and belief that the world was good. Pangloss believed that a powerful God had created the world. Pangloss also believed that if people believed something was evil and wrong, it was mainly because they did not have a close relationship with God. The interpretation of the passage continues below on page 378 transforming from its original form of Enlightenment writing style to a piece literary work that represents Romantic content and style. The changing style of writing transforms, from the beliefs of natural law to humankind of freedom.
In Candide, Voltaire paints a dismal and satirical view of the world. Voltaire paints a pessimistic portrait of a naïve youth who is raised to believe that this is best of all worlds. Time and again, Voltaire clearly portrays his belief that this is not the best of all possible worlds.
Voltaire’s Candide targets things like optimism and religion. He primarily uses irony to get his points across. The optimistic theory in particular that Voltaire makes fun of is the idea that this is “the best of all possible worlds”. Candide and Pangloss explain away everything as “meant to happen” because it couldn’t possibly be bad if this is the best of all possible worlds. The irony there is that what they are describing as the “best world” is clearly not. For example, Pangloss uses circular logic to explain an earthquake in Lisbon. This makes Pangloss’ ideology seem ridiculous. By the end of the novel, even naive Candide has thrown away his acceptance of this optimistic standpoint.
Donne’s career was as a poet. He attended Hart Hall elementary and Margaret Garner high school. His writings are very common and you can easily relate to them. Donne published many poems. His first book was called “Saltines”. John Donne is an English poet of the Metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Donne studied at University of Oxford for three years. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne)
Autobiographer, essayist, playwright, poet, satirist, Enlightenment writer and philosopher – these are just a few of the hats worn by French born François-Marie Arouet, more famously known by the adopted pen name Voltaire. Beyond his written work Voltaire was an outspoken advocate for the freedom of religion, expression, and the separation of church and state. He used his versatile literary work as a tool to criticize the Catholic Church and overall intolerant French society. Voltaire’s cynical writing reached its highest potential in his rapid-fire satire Candide, or Optimism. In the novella, Voltaire told the story of Candide – a young man on a quest for happiness and spiritual fulfillment who encountered tragic setbacks that eventually led to bitter disillusionment. The purpose of Candide was to mock philosophers of the
Donne, John. “Hymn to God, my God, in My Sickness.” Poems of John Donne. vol I. E. K. Chambers, ed. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 211-212.
In the book “Candide” the author, Voltaire is critiquing and satirizing prejudice. Voltaire does this by making everything so absurd and irrational to the point where the audience has the right to laugh and question the scenarios and action of the naive Candide. Some may believe that he is rather capitalizing on and reinforcing them (explain?), but as a satirist, Voltaire must over exaggerate to get his points across. The ironic order of occurrence hences the idea of a satirical novel. Voltaire is critiquing and satirizing prejudice.
...ence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards’, Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, vol.1, no.1, p1-28.
The poem, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” has incredible wording. Donne is trying to explain to his wife that their love is much greater than physical love, and they are also conjoined in the mind. Some of the words he uses are “a love so much refined” and other enhance language like “two souls” to ease his wife when he is away. He is trying to calm his wife
...ne exclusively on himself and his lover. By doing so he says the sun will be shining on the entire world. It is apparent in both poems the tone and language is dramatic, as this is typical of Donne’s writing style. His use of imagery and symbolism effectively present his experience of love. However it is the structure that builds up the emotion throughout the poems as Donne starts in each poem to refer to a seductive love, then in conclusion realises the importance of true love. ‘The Good Morrow’ clearly shows evidence of this when at the beginning Donne states he ‘suck’d on country pleasures childishly’ and in the end understands that a ‘Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die’.
John Donne, an outstanding English poet of the Metaphysical school, is usually considered the greatest loved poet in the English language. The metaphysical poets are known for their capacity to frighten the reader and persuade new aspects through paradoxical images, inventive syntax and imagery using a metaphor known as conceit.
[6] Donne, John. “From Meditation 17”. Excerpt from McDougal Litell’s “The Language of Literature”, Page 455. McDougal Litell Inc., 2000.