Metaphysically Speaking: Seeking Peace
In the 17th century the metaphysical poems Peace and The Sun Rising, written by George Herbert and John Donne respectively, both revolve around an elaborate personification in order to detail a journey in which one seeks a physical manifestation of the idea of peace and the other without ever leaving his bedroom seeks to rid him and his lover of the pestering Sun to also find peace. The two's journeys for peace parallel one another. The authors manage through their similar implementation of allusion, apostrophe and the aforementioned personification to develop analogous poems with contrasting topics of religion and a very physical love.
Personification within the poems creates a greater physical connection and gives a sense of actual presence. In Herbert's Peace he inquires "Sweet Peace" where it could possibly "dwell" as he "humbly" desires the answer. Every place he visits he asks if Peace is there or is already thoroughly convinced that he must be able to find it there but is met with unfortunate luck. Not until the end does he realize that peace was always with him as for an honest man in pursuit of it he shall not be denied. The honest man in him can be seen with the humbleness in which he seeks peace. He becomes one with peace in a way. The constant availableness connects flawlessly with the religious theme flowing throughout as the church at his time and in any time really would not deny a man of pure desire seeking to find God. Donne also utilizes personification albeit in a different way. The journey in his poem seeks to rid himself of an "old fool", the "unruly Sun" who for some reason shines "through curtains" to "call on" the lovers. To him his love is the most important thing in ...
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... depiction of the love between the two and the allusion to both the presently called India with spice and the western Indians with their mines help to show the vastness he thinks his room encompasses. If even the riches of two places spanning across the world are there with him there's no question the room holds much more. The allusion plays to his arrogance whilst telling the Sun that compared to him it is nothing.
Metaphysical poetry all has connections regardless of the topic. The authors were classified into this because of the similarities in their writing styles even if certain devices were used in different ways. Both Herbert and Donne's implementation of devices create the same emotions and purposes just placed into different contexts. Their poems parallel each other in the a search for peace despite the fact that one concerns religion and the other love.