Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Short note on the metaphysical conceit
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Metaphysical Conceit in the Poetry of John Donne
Many of John Donne's poems contain metaphysical conceits and intellectual reasoning to build a deeper understanding of the speaker's emotional state. A metaphysical conceit can be defined as an extended, unconventional metaphor between objects that appear to be unrelated. Donne is exceptionally good at creating unusual unions between different elements in order to illustrate his point and form a persuasive argument in his poems.
By using metaphysical conceits in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," Donne attempts to convince his love (presumably his wife) that parting is a positive experience which should not be looked upon with sadness. In the first stanza, Donne compares the speaker's departure to the mild death of virtuous men who pass on so peacefully that their loved ones find it difficult to detect the exact moment of their death. Their separation must be a calm transition like this form of death which Donne describes. The poet writes, "let us melt, and make no noise"(line 5). Cavanaugh explains that the word "melt" refers to a change in physical state and says that "the bond of the lovers will dissolve quietly like the soul of a dying man separating from his body"(par. 5). I do not entirely agree with Cavanaugh's idea that the lovers' bond will dissolve, but I do agree that there is a change in physical state. The bond will still be present, only altered because of the absence of a physical presence.
The next conceit that is used by Donne is based on the Ptolemaic view of the universe as being divided into moving spheres. This obsolete fact would only be known by individuals who were well educated, as Donne obviously was. Donne's allusion to the studies...
... middle of paper ...
...Donne, it can be seen that although every poem is unique, there are specific elements that are common in all of them.
Works Cited
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
Cavanaugh, Cynthia A. "The Circle of Souls in John Donne's A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." The Luminarium. 1999. ( 3 December 1999)
Donne, John. "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." Abrams, 1093-1094.
Donne, John. "A Valediction: Of Weeping." Abrams, 1089.
Donne, John. "The Indifferent." Abrams, 1085-1086.
Donne, John. "The Flea." Abrams, 1090-1091.
Mourgues, Odette De. Metaphysical, Baroque and Precieux Poetry. Folcroft, PA: The Folcroft Press, Inc., 1969.
"Venus, of Greek Religion." The 1997 Canadian Encyclopedia Plus. CD-ROM. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996.
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.
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.
DeAngelis, Tori. " Promising treatments for anorexia and bulimia." American Psychological Association (APA). Amrican Phychological Assositation, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
[8-16] Donne, John. “From Meditation 17”. Excerpt from McDougal Litell’s “The Language of Literature”, Page 455. McDougal Litell Inc., 2000.
Division of the Body and Soul 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.
In 'Twickernham Garden ' Donne cleverly uses a spider as the conceit of the poem to comment on the nature of love, to emphasise that just like a spider love traps you insidiously and leaves you helpless. As well as that there is religious connotations to transubstantiation and manna and serpents. By doing this Donne finds another way to create an effective poem in emphasising his meaning and thoughts. The Major conceit in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning ' is that of a compass. Samuel Johnson a fellow poet, who coined the term metaphysical poetry criticised Donne by stating that 'the poem 's compass analogy highlights the violence used by metaphysical poets to force the most heterogeneous ideas together. Disagreeing with this statement, Donne 's use of the compass to reinforce the idea that their souls are like the legs of the compass, even though they will physically separate he will always come back as they create something perfect 'Thy firmness makes my circle just and make me end where I begun '. The conceit reassures his lover that it is inevitable that he will return because they are joined spiritually, mentally and physically, and their love is strong because he will always come back to
The metaphysical era in poetry started in the 17th century when a number of poets extended the content of their poems to a more elaborate one which investigated the principles of nature and thought. John Donne was part of this literary movement and he explored the themes of love, death, and religion to such an extent, that he instilled his own beliefs and theories into his poems. His earlier works, such as The Flea and The Sunne Rising, exhibit his sexist views of women as he wrote more about the physical pleasures of being in a relationship with women. However, John Donne displays maturity and adulthood in his later works, The Canonization and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, in which his attitude transcends to a more grown up one. The content of his earlier works focused on pursuing women for his sexual desires, which contrasts heavily with his latter work. John Donne’s desire for physical pleasure subsides and he seeks to gain an emotional bond with women, as expressed in his later poetry.
...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’.
Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are described as psychological eating disorders (Keel and Levitt, 1). They are both characterized by an over evaluation of weight. Despite being primarily eating disorders, the manifestations of bulimia and anorexia are different. They both present a very conspicuous example of dangerous psychological disorders, as according to the South Carolina Department of Health, “Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness” (Eating Order Statistics, 1). While Bulimia and anorexia both psychological disorders primarily prevalent in women, anorexia tend to have different diagnostic complexities, symptoms and physiological effects as compared to bulimia.
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
It 's true that lottery money does go to into a special fund for education. But when it does, tax dollars get pulled out of education and spent elsewhere, in the end, the schools are no better off. In reality, most of the money from lottery revenues end up covering the cost of running a lottery. And no matter how much state lotteries try to convinced us that they do benefit schools, it is important to know that lottery revenues hardly make a difference in education and public
John Donne will not accept death as the finale, his religious conviction supports in the belief of eternal life proceeding death. Throughout the poem Donne’s main purpose was the personification of death, his use of figurative language gave death humanistic characteristics and made death vulnerable and unintimidating. The structure of three quatrains and a couplet for the poem allowed for easier understanding of the context because the layout and rhyme scheme helped the poem flow and also revealed the tones. The imagery of death described by Donne breaks down death’s pride and bravado, as well as shine an encouraging light past the process of dying, on to the hope of delivery to eternal life. Each element played a significant role in the interpretation of the paradox of the poem, that ultimately death is not the universal destroyer of life.
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.
John Donne is known as being one of the most famous and influential metaphysical poets. The term “metaphysical," as applied to English and continental European poets of the seventeenth century, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their “unnaturalness.” As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, however, “The unnatural, that too is natural," and the metaphysical poets continue to be studied and revered for their intricacy and originality. Due to Donne’s personal experiences with spirituality and love, he is able to grasp the true meaning of metaphysical poetry (Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets). Using all the aspects of metaphysical poetry, Donne creates a mysterious metaphoric poem titled, “The Flea.” Throughout this poem, the use of metaphors and breaks into the separate stanzas allow for the audiences to understand what The Flea is really about. At first glance, many read The Flea as a poem that compares sexual intimacy with an animal, but when broken down, it can be seen that the meaning is much deeper than intimacy, but it
Put simply, John Donne’s “The Flea” is about a man trying to convince his love interest to have sexual relations with him by using a flea that has bitten both of them as a metaphor for their relationship. The speaker argues that the flea, which holds both of their bloods, has become the embodiment of their love and its overall sanctity. Donne’s use of the flea as an extended metaphor of their relationship represents a metaphysical conceit that dramatizes the conflict between the woman losing her virginity to the speaker and the far-fetched attempt of the speaker to emphasize the significance of the flea which is being used to represent a sacred bond between the couple.