Holy Sonnet 14: An Explication Of Figurative Language

In our society, words and what order those words fall in contribute to their meaning. That’s why it is very important to use words in the correct grammatical order, correct context and exact language. The power of words affects our senses, thinking, feelings creativity and the way we think. It is imperative that we must understand the phrases and meanings of words before they can properly be used. When language is shaped properly, it will assimilate into a culture. Since the English language is rich and varied, it offers an array of choices when communicating. Here are a few of those choices.

A text is essentially a product of its context, as its prevailing values are inherently derived by the author from society. However, the emergence of post-modern theories allows for audience interpretation, thus it must be recognised that meaning in texts can be shaped and reshaped. Significantly, this may occur as connections between texts are explored. These notions are reflected in the compostion of Edson’s W;t and Donne’s poetry as their relationship is established through intertextual references, corresponding values and ideas and the use of language features. Edson particularly portrays key values surrounding the notions of the importance of loved based relationships, and death and resurrection: central themes of Donne’s Holy Sonnets

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.

In the poem “Unholy sonnet 5,” Mark Jarman shows us a philosophical reflection about what is worth to do in this life based on a repetition of some patters during the poem. The structure of this poem make it a Petrarchan sonnet. This kind of sonnet is composed by two arguments, the first consist on two octaves with a rhyme ABBA and ABBA. Denoting repetition of the words have, hive, mean and men; highlighting these as significant to found sense to the first argument of the sonnet. In a deeper reading of the poem, this first argument is centered in questioning que purpose and meaning of life for human beings, coinciding with the pattern of rhymes and sounds. Following this structure of a Petrarchan sonnet, the second argument is composed by a sestet. This means that the sonnet has a rhyme CDECDE, denoting repetition of the words joy, death and forget; highlighting these as significant to found sense to the second argument of the sonnet. Also, the second argument of the poem centered on a practical analysis of what is worth to do in life (enjoying) before the death, coinciding with the pattern of rhymes and sounds.

Every morning, a 71 year-old male stranger accompanies me on my way to school. I only know of his name, but I enjoy his company and chuckle as he comments on my generation’s use of language. Yet once NPR’s linguistic segment of Fresh Air ends, Geoff Nunberg’s witty remarks fade into the abyss. In the quietness of the car, I am left to revel in my own passion for languages: a transformative journey through Spanish and Chinese.

The speaker did a very good job with his speech. His speech I believe is more informative, because he is describing his recent experience with appendicitis. The area that I liked most about his speech was his introduction. He had a very good hooked that got a lot of people’s attention including my own. He scared me for a moment, because he made everybody believe that he was going to show everybody his appendix that he just had removed from his body. Instead he showed the appendix of a book. Also, as he presented his speech he expressed what happened to him with very personal information. This information helped him establish his credibility. He presented his speech very well and sounded very confident. However, there were a few brief pauses

In 1573, George Gascoigne published “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” a poem in which his careful and methodical approach to the sonnet form is evident. Two years later, he published “Certayne Notes of Instruction on Making of Verse,” which only further served to cement his reputation as meticulous and deliberate with his choice of language and form—every choice Gascoigne makes is made with a purpose in mind. This is especially evident in “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” wherein Gascoigne utilizes both the intentionally-chosen sonnet form and vivid imagery to develop his criticism of the classic sonnet in which the beloved’s refusal of the author only serves to make him more determined to pursue her.

Richard Connell uses figurative language to describe the mood and the tone because he wants us to the reader to know the character feeling and the emotion they are going to. Also the attitude the character gives in a situation. So Richard Connell uses figurative language to show the mood and the tone. For example “Rainsford and his friend Whitney are sailing in the middle of the night so dark that it look like moist black velvet.” The mood that Rainsford is calm. Another example is “Rainsford's impulse was to hurt himself down like a panther.” He is being compared to the panther. The mood is angry and the tone is aggressive. This is how Richard Connell uses figurative language to describe the mood and the tone.

Throughout John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet XIV” and William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29”, the reader can notice shifts which also contribute to both of the poem’s pleading and wishful tone. While the two structures are indeed different, with Donne having an Italian sonnet and Shakespeare having a Shakespearean sonnet, there are also evident similarities, such as both containing a single word that signifies a major shift. Both poems are also spoken in first person narrative, which engages the reader and makes one feel as though they are also travelling down the same emotional road as the speaker. In Donne’s “Holy Sonnet XIV”, he starts very early on with “Batter my heart”, (1), to set a commanding tone to the poem.

In " Batter my heart three- personed God, for you" He looks at himself as almighty but still struggles with his human desires as he fights with no end and wanting his strength to continue. He sees God as his only savior from all the tyranny and worldly temptations “take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, and never shall be free”. He wants to be fully committed to God and he feels that God wants him be. His own human power is not enough to enable him to be free from his sinful human nature and giving himself entirely to a spiritual relationship. He is asking God to overpower him, to sweep him off his feet (eNotes, 2002). John Donne “Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you” initially seems to have a fairly sonnet. The best way to understand this poem is that it is a religious poetry that shows part of a series of progressions of a man that was conflicted by his sin. The themes that are present in this Holy sonnet are religion, love, sex, violence and

In “Holy Sonnet 14” by John Donne, dramatizes the conflict between contradictions and a relationship with God.

This sonnet serves to invoke a strong sense of realism in love, arguing that as strong an intensity of emotion as may be held, may be held, without the need for delusions of grandeur, taking the view that trying to reconcile two essentially different and diverse things as equal is to do true justice to neither. The beloved in this case thus represents more the need for a character developed to challenge stereotype than an actual real-life woman,

Sonnet 129 is about the sin of lust and the actions and feelings that correspond with it. The author tells a story of sorts, outlining the feelings one goes through before, during, and after indulging in lust. It tells of the urge before, the bliss during, and the regret and shame after. The author states that although men know the unhealthy cycle, they continue to take part in it. Underlying, however, is the speaker’s own struggles within lust. The speaker feels great religious guilt and shame for his sin. Moreover, the act of lust itself as well and his fear, and regret surrounding it, drive the speaker towards madness that he attempts to remedy by finding a logical solution to this human struggle.

In this research, the researcher discusses the figurative language based on Perrine’s perception. According to Perrine (1977:61-109), figurative language consists of 12 kinds, they are: simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, hyperbole/overstatement, understatement, and irony.

John Donne’s poem “Sonnet XIV” delves into the relationship with God and his enemy, Satan. The form of the poem is a source of tension. When conflicting elements resist, one another tension is produced. Therefore, Donne creates tension by abandoning the traditional Petrarchan Sonnet that conforms to the speaker’s love for a woman and he speaks about his love for God. Donne’s resolution to the conflict of an overcrowded relationship is in him telling God to take control, so that he can be free from sin.