Through the retrospective outlook maintained during a comparative study, responders are able to discern the extent to which contextual shifts influence the evolution of societal concerns into a fundamental constant of human existence. These are then interpreted through the varying social lenses of each composer and contextual audience. This is exemplified through the comparative analysis of the poetry of John Donne (1633-1635) and Margaret Edson’s one act tragedy, W;t (1995), where the varying depiction of the acceptance of death and the value of interpersonal relationships are derived from differences between their respective Elizabethan and post-modern context. In particular, Donne’s metaphysical poetry offers social commentary upon the ability …show more content…
In particular Donne’s perception of death as a brief period of transition and judgment leading into salvation can be attributed to his beliefs of spiritual transcendence which he gained from his following of the Anglican Church. This is indicated in his Holy Sonnet ‘Death be not proud’ where the narrator invokes his religious belief of salvation through resurrection and then subsequently belittles the spiritual lethality of death. The apostrophic personification of morality throughout allows for the perception of death as a tangible being that is “a slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men” whereby it is then fallible. Paradoxically, this positions audiences to accept and to subsequently live in acceptance of its existence whilst simultaneously providing consolation for those in the midst of impending …show more content…
The acceptance of death in the context of Donne was derived from the religious belief in the continuation of life through resurrection and this contrasts against the secular context of W;t where thanatophobia is present due to widespread cultural censorship and the lack of a rational explanation for life posthumous. An intertextual allusion is the grammatical semantics of the anaphora “And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die” whereby the edition used by Vivian, deemed “in authentically punctuated”, consists of a semicolon which considers death as a point of closure in contrast to the original which utilises a comma, suggesting continuity. This embodies the shift in the perspective of death within each context. In addition, W;t shows individuals attempting to undermine death via academic impassivity and this is made evident with the simultaneous dialogue where Vivian analyses medical jargon similar to how she analyses Donne’s literature, “aggressively probing and intensely rational”. In doing so Vivian attains an impartial outlook towards her terminal condition and this linguistic debilitation serves as an ironic device that highlights Vivian’s inability to apply Donne’s principles of carpe diem to her own life despite a lifelong endeavour to becoming a respected “scholar of Donne’s Holy
While this may at first seem to counter the idea that death is an elevation, it is in fact complementary. For when Donne said that "any man's death diminishes me," the emphasis is not on death, but on man. Each person's death is the loss of a chapter from the book of life, and because each and every person shares that very volume, that loss affects everyone. Temporarily, their book is less magnificent; humanity as a whole has lost that person's contributions, thoughts, identity, and feelings. But the second implication rectifies this seemingly bleak answer to life's riddle: Everyone of the church will reunite in the end, and all of humanity's splendour shall come together again. Incidentally, this is also where Meditation 17 converges upon the first
Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both parallel and opposing views on death.
Death is merely being controlled by things like fate, which is the only way he can act. He has no way to move on his own without these other forces. Like with war, death is the result, not the cause: death cannot physically make people fight. This comparison devalues death in its importance and therefore its necessity. John Donne’s use of metaphors and personifications in his poem emphasizes his belief that death is not as bad as people think it really is, but can actually be advantageous.
Primarily, while Vivian does not truly come out and state if she is religious or not, she makes supply hints though out the play that she may not be religious and she truly fears the unknown journey of death. Numerous critics may argue that Vivian’s real struggle is against the cancer, nevertheless instead her real struggle is against what her past student Jason, calls the theme of “salvation anxiety” in the poetry of John Donne. Vivian’s anxiety resides precisely with the relationship, or God, that might finally carry her past death and into eternal life.
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.
In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors. Dickinson organizes the lines into quatrains—stanzas containing four lines—which are frequently used in religious hymns.
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)
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.
Both "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Death Be Not Proud" see death as an opponent; however, one sees it as an adversary that is already defeated while the other sees it as an enemy that must be defeated. In "Death Be Not Proud" Donne says "those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow / Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me"(lines 3-4). This passage shows Donne's belief that people will always overcome death. In Thomas' poem, he writes "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in the green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (7-9). Even the "good men" are in the end defeated by death according to Thomas.
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.
It is quite feasible to state that poetry at its finest is a dazzling and expressive art of words. A poem not only can expose the diplomatic beliefs of societies, but can also articulate passions and sentiments of the author to whom the poem belongs. One of the many fine poems that have been prevalent among the study of literature that is irrefutably powerful is Meditation 17 by John Donne. This poetic essay exposes John Donne’s opinions and beliefs on humanity, and covers much cogitation from religion all the way to death. Of course, the poem has been written so profoundly that one may not grasp it completely at first glimpse, however John Donne does use explicit strategies to better convey his message to readers of all sorts. John Donne utilizes situation, structure, language, and musical devices to enhance the poem and to aid in delivering his message efficiently.
John Donne’s poems are similar in their content. They usually point out at same topics like love, lust, sex and religion; only they are dissimilar in the feelings they express. These subjects reflect the different stages of his life: the lust of his youth, the love of his married middle age, and the piety of the latter part of his life. His poem,’ The Flea’ represents the restless feeling of lust during his youthful days but it comes together with a true respect for women through the metaphysical conceit of the flea as a church in the rhythm of the sexual act.
The “rituals” of death within literature can be seen as based upon the protagonist. Usually the deaths of those surrounding the protagonist, will ironically suffer the same fate. Whether from Beowulf, or from William Shakespeare’s well-known plays Hamlet, and Macbeth, there stands a ritualistic “connection” between these literary works. These literary works possess the acts of dying a purposeful, heroic death as well as heinous suicides. These deaths are ritualized differently on the basis of religious beliefs—influenced by the year written—as well as the overall “goodness” of the departed.
middle of paper ... ... akespeare’s poetic language to colloquialism creates a new form of communication reflecting that the fear of death that claimed for so many by world wars, the influenza epidemic and the Depression, was pointless and unnecessary as life means nothing and as a result death means nothing either. Context essentially is the base for all transformation and it influences the values of a society and how these values are expressed and interpreted. R and G… highlights the shift of the purposeless uncertainties of the contemporary context from the religious and social hierarchical certainties of Shakespeare’s social, cultural and historical contexts. The transformation processes evident demonstrate the concept that everyone questions and desires to know what is either reality or unknown, the meaning and certainty of death and the afterlife and ultimately the purpose of life.
In John Donne’s sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud” death is closely examined and Donne writes about his views on death and his belief that people should not live in fear of death, but embrace it. “Death, Be Not Proud” is a Shakespearean sonnet that consists of three quatrains and one concluding couplet, of which I individually analyzed each quatrain and the couplet to elucidate Donne’s arguments with death. Donne converses with death, and argues that death is not the universal destroyer of life. He elaborates on the conflict with death in each quatrain through the use of imagery, figurative language, and structure. These elements not only increase the power of Donne’s message, but also symbolize the meaning of hope of eternal life as the ultimate escape to death.