Contemporary academic deliberations of “Love’s Alchemy” by John Donne and “On My First Son” by Ben Jonson has given rise to one controversial issue: whether love should be labeled as uncertainty. In fact, some argue that the poem “Love’s Alchemy” expresses the cynical love, whereas, the poem “On My First Son” focuses more on pious love. These contrasting views have also been articulately conveyed through words, such as, “Alchemy” and “Farewell” in the individual poetic works of both Donne and Jonson, respectively, with one conclusion: to alter men by first enticing them to a fantasy world, wherein they are rendered unstable, and later, compelling them to correct themselves. Furthermore, though both of these aforementioned poems are about …show more content…
In fact, Donne is in a constant quest to find a deeper meaning of love, though he is only met with disappointments at the end. To elaborate on this point, though Donne concedes that he had once found love when he mentions, “I have loved, and got, and told” (line 3), he (Donne) still carries the disjointed feelings that he got from this love.
Furthermore, Donne utters, “Tis not the bodies marry, but the minds,” (line 19). Here Donne’s profound connection and obsession with death, and that he is constantly aware of it. The words, ‘shadow’, ‘angelic’ ‘short scorn’ are related to the underworld that one may not easily embrace; thus, causing displeasure. Many who might object to the notion that a woman plays a special role in a man’s life and she has the ability to make her man happy, Donne attacks this very notion as well: “Our ease, our thrift, our honor, and our day, Shall we for this vain bubble’s shadow pay?” (line13-14). By these verses, Donne implies that though men have to work harder to serve their women, in return, however, men do not receive the same amount of true love that they deserve; their love remains unrequited. As a
While the first two stanzas illustrate his view of Love in general and all lovers, the third stanza relates his personal experience with Love and Donne reveals the reason for his view of Love as a cruel, consuming power. Donne entice the readers with his use of figurative language, specifically imagery and personification, and diction. The speakers own experience with Love has left him feeling empty. And makes his feel how powerful and cruel love can really be. Donne’s use of those certain literary elements allows him to create a hostile speaker who is against love and is currently feeling heartbreak from losing his
Donne uses imagery in an attempt to draw attention to the importance of his lover, but ends up insinuating ownership over her instead. He says, "She is all states, and all princes, I," whilst pairing him and his lover together in this metaphor establishes an idea of unity, the impression that he controls her is given from this choice of comparison and suggests to me that he thinks that she does not hold enough importance on her own, only when he has that ownership over her she is
In order to describe the form which Donne gives to true love he chooses to create a scene of separation. He insists that when in love, absence is not a cause for despair. Stanza two describes the usual reaction lovers have to separation but explains that such reactions of tears and sighs do not prove one’s love but rather the
Twicknam Garden was a poem written by John Donne in 1607. It is one of
Donne uses many forms of figurative language when building his argument in Holy Sonnet 10. The use of metaphors throughout the poem greatly enhances his argument with Death. Donne’s first use of a metaphor comes early on, when he says, “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,/Much pleasure from thee, much more must flow,” (5-6). He compares rest and sleep to death in this line, saying that they are both pictures of it. The comparison of them to being “pictures” of death allows Donne to draw to the conclusion that if we derive some pleasure from rest and sleep, death must be greatly pleasureful. Donne’s use of this metaphor to illustrate death as something pleasurable furthers his argument that Death is no longer a daunting and powerful figure to humanity. The next important metaphor yet again highlights how little power that Donne
The definition of love is truly unknown. The many emotions and forms associated with love make it a complicated thing to define. Many describe it as fleeting and all consuming, but the darker face of love lies just below the surface of simplicity. This seemingly innocent word brings out feelings of obsession, questioning of one’s self-worth, and jealousy. Can the light exist without the dark? In Pablo Neruda’s “Sonnet XVI”, his expressive language highlights the vital reliance of these two opposing forces in saying that it keeps the physical and emotional space between two people just wide enough to prevent the two forces from ever touching. On the same token, Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises, highlights the destructive consequences of trying to close this gap. The opposing contrasts coupled with the inability to close the widening gap between two individuals call attention to the dilemma spread out over time of the cyclical nature of why two people can never fully know and understand each other.
The tinker 's object is broken and remade, the town is taken, the love affair is irresistibly consummated, even as the paradox of virtue and passion is glowingly resolved.
Clearly, Donne is saying that since they have been together as one through blood means that they could be together as one physically. Moreover, he wants to reassure his love that it would not be “a sin, Nor shame” (l.6) in the hope to persuade her. Donne wants to transcend with his lover to the next level, hence his reason to create the poem.
Right from the beginning the speaker presents an argument against the power of death, whom he treats as a person. He tells Death not to be so proud as such power is merely an illusion. In the way in which Donne addresses death, the author is able to apply human qualities which make Death a more tangible being. In addition to the use of personification to embody Death as a living being, instead of a non-living being, the author also utilizes irony to show how Death himself can become as doomed or defeated as any man. Likewise, the audacity in which the speaker addresses Death indicates the ability of the speaker to undermine death’s power and to serve as a reminder that it is possible to stand in the face of Death and move forward. Another underlying idea in the opening lines is the fact that Death should not boast or be proud of all of the lives that he has snatched up from the world. In fact, Death is naive in thinking that when it takes someone away from this world that he is really dead, exemplified in the phrase “thou dost overthrow, die not, poor death”. This statement is used to conclude his introductory argument by declaring to Death that those it claims to kill “Die not”, and also implying that the poet himself
Donne transformed the love poetry he wrote in his early days, beginning in 1617 with the death of his wife Anne More, to religious poetry with a strong sense of awareness of death and its import. This poetic development from classical poetry to more personal poetry reflects the events that marked his own life, and can be traced throughout his poetry. This kind of personal and thereby
Donne utilizes symbolism to highlight the contrasting views within the poem. The speaker explains that he and the woman are already united by saying, “This flea is you and I, and this / Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is” (12-13). The symbol of the marriage bed and marriage temple emphasize the speaker’s effort to lay with the woman. In contrast, the woman crushes and kills the flea, which is the speakers symbol for sex, to show that she rejects his offer. These actions make clear that the speaker embodies natural desires while the woman embodies societal values. Another symbol throughout the poem is blood. After the woman kills the flea the speaker asks, “Cruel and sudden, hast thou since / Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?” (19-20). To the speaker, blood is a part of him and holds his essence. This allows him to justify his pursuit to make love to the woman he is addressing. Moreover, he views the woman’s blood with the same importance as his own and sees the flea’s death as homicide and “self-murder” (17). The woman’s disregard for symbolic nature of the flea and the blood it holds highlights her unwillingness to court with the speaker. Together, these symbols emphasize the speaker’s and the woman’s differing views in order to reveal insight into the conflict between nature and society.
Donne continues to profess his love for his wife through the poem with metaphors. He continues by mentioning how other people’s love is not as true and pure as his and his wife’s. “Dull sublunary lover’s love/ (whose soul is sense) cannot admit” (Donne13-14). Donne connects “…lover’s love” to earthquakes, which is disastrous, and not something that is sustainable. He says that the lovers on earth are only connected by earthly things rather than connecting their souls. He believes that all other couples are in a relationship for physical reasons, but it’s completely different for him and his wife. This metaphor is significant because he distracts his audience and tries to confuse them saying how unreal everyone’s love is. Donne continues professing his love for his wife by saying,
Structurally, the sonnet disregards the Petrarchan form of creating a problem in the first two quatrains before solving them in the final sestet. The sestet begins with ‘yet dearely’I love you, and would be lov’d faine’6. The term ‘yet’ should entail a reversal, yet Donne goes to merely insert what nearly amounts to a tautology by saying he loves God, and loves him like a temple. Donne is resisting the generic rules set down by other men to bring himself closer to a love of God, almost as though he is resisting the rulebook of poetry in order to follow the rules of God with greater strength.
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
There are three poems explore the idea of love as the prime theme for each.They have all been written by the same poet, John Donne. He covers so many different takes on the feeling through his writings, his poetry to be precise, with different moods, sometimes expressing cynical remorse and contempt or a completely opposite approach comprising of faith, acceptance and content, perhaps owing to the fact that he has had love affairs with a multitude of women, of course, ranging in quality and duration hence giving him such a wide array of focal points on the spectrum of love.