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Metaphysical features in john donne's poetry
Analysis of John Donne's Holy Sonnet
John donne' s poetry compared with Elizabethan poetry
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In the Holy Sonnet XIV, John Donne use the exaggerated descriptions to display his tough attitude and faithfulness for God. Also, these words make the sonnet become more inspiring. In the Holy Sonnet XIV, John Donne describes his relationship with God. He uses the strong words to show his tough attitudes. He requests that God batter his heart more powerfully. He thinks that God just knock his heart and without hard strength. God only knocked but he thinks that it is not enough. He hopes that God use force to help him and save him. He uses “enthrall” to shows his “desire”. His “desire” is be saved by God and keep the relationship with God forever. He uses the strong word to display that he long to be “chaste” by God desperately. After “enthrall”,
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 others 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 on in heaven.
Earlier this semester I read about the Italian poet, Petrarch, whose sonnets followed certain romantic conventions as he recounted his unrequited love for Laura. In his poem, "Canonization," John Donne seems, at first glance, to be making fun of himself according to the conventions of courtly love. The poet is upset with an imaginary opponent. In the first stanza he tells him, "For God's sake, let me love in peace! Go about your own business." Then in the second stanza he admits that his love can't compare with the love of a poet whose tears are sufficient to sink a ship, whose heated passion brings a fever as fatal as the black death. So the tone appears to be wry amusement, self mockery. Thus we are surprised when the poem takes a more serious turn.
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.
Ribes, P. (2007, July 16). John Donne: Holy Sonnet XIV or the Plenitude of Metaphor. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from Sederi: http://sederi.org/docs/yearbooks/07/7_16_ribes.pdf
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.
A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one of several set of rhyme-schemes. Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications, but the two characteristic sonnet types are the Italian type (Petrarchan) and the English type (Shakespearean). Shakespeare is still nowadays seen as in idol in English literature. No one can read one of his works and be left indifferent. His way of writing is truly fascinating. His sonnets, which are his most popular work, reflect several strong themes. Several arguments attempt to find the full content of those themes.
iv[iv] Helen Gandner, ed., John Donne: A Collection of Critical Essays. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1962) 47.
In addition, the sonnet is a statement of respect about the beauty of his beloved; summ...
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.
His 64th sonnet is a fine example of well used symbolism, where his love is compared to a ripe and blooming garden, resplendent with glorious scents and flowers. More importantly, perhaps, the sonnet also draws from a powerful Biblical background, drawing from the Song of Solomon (4.10-14).
...ecurrent and startling as those of phrasing. Donne experiments with rhythmical effect a he does with conceits and words. The thought in his poetry is not the primary concern but the feeling. It is this very feeling , a delight in his conceits, and a new understanding of what the conceit is expressing and teaching, that he successfully imparts in his readers. The central theme of his poetry is his own intense personal dispositions, as a lover, a friend, a psychoanalyst of his own experiences, worldly and religious. Classical poetry cannot unify these experiences; it is John Donne’s use of the metaphysical that allows him to present his poetry as a whole experience, and to show feelings as they are. This technique proves him not only successful in teaching and delighting audience, but achieving both so effectively that they have the ability to affect readers deeply.
Although Donne employs iambic meter, where a stressed syllable follows an unstressed syllable, the first line opens with a bang by starting with a heavily stressed first syllable. The use of sonnet form immediately stands out as an another curious aspect of the poem. Poets traditionally wrote sonnets to express one's love for a woman, but in this poem Donne addresses God as his lover. Sonnets also usually changed subject or tone in the ninth line, and here Donne uses this tactic to surprise the reader. In lines seven and eight, Donne describes how he has wondered from God, but in the ninth line he reveals that "Yet dearly I love you" (9). From this point on, John speaks in a more personal tone to God and makes specific requests and pleas. The many poetic devices make the poem flow well and effectively complement its deep
Biespiel,David. “Sonnet14.” Masterplots II. Philip K. Jason. Vol. 7. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2002. 3521-3522. Print.
Granted that Donne's personification of God reduces the deity from an almighty force to a human archetype, divinity is not undermined. The metaphoric figures of inventor, ruler, and lover, each retain specific skills and purpose, but can not compare to the Christian suggestion of God's role and strength. However, the presentation of striking, violent imagery charges the poem with a sense of power and complete domination, and allows the image of God to transcend his designated human forms. Through the projection of life's frailty, powerlessness in captivity, and sexual