John Donne: An Influential English Poet

Donne conveys how religion is a central idea through the use of many religious references throughout the holy sonnets. In ‘Death Be Not Proud’, Donne makes a religious reference to Jesus, ‘Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee’, expressing how religion was an underlying theme when handling many issues. When the two texts are studied in alliance, it allows the responder to draw a better understanding of the themes presented in ‘W;t’. This theme, science VS religion, has been emphasised due to the contrasts between Vivian and Donne and their context.

John Donne’s poems are similar in their content. They usually point out at same topics like love, lust, sex and religion; only they are dissimilar in the feelings they express. These subjects reflect the different stages of his life: the lust of his youth, the love of his married middle age, and the piety of the latter part of his life. His poem,’ The Flea’ represents the restless feeling of lust during his youthful days but it comes together with a true respect for women through the metaphysical conceit of the flea as a church in the rhythm of the sexual act.

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

Donne’s 17th century neo-classical metaphysical poetry is based around his own personal experiences and the historic context. While Margaret Edson’s 20th century metatheatrical post-modern play Wit has exploited Donne’s strong religious ideas and metaphysical conceits, it has deciphered it towards a more secular context and audience. Despite contextual differences, the two composers, through in textual reading, shares and explores the common values and ideas including the value of relationships and the concept of death.

Unlike Dickinson’s poem Donne’s poem is basically trash talking death to make death seem harmless. Donne, is personifying death as if it were a person and talking down to it. In line 2 Donne writes “Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;” he is saying even though people say death is mighty and dreadful in reality it is not. Donne also compares death like sleeping and says that it is just as pleasurable (Lines 5, 6). Donne’s poem is more about once you die you do not die forever but live eternally in Heaven. So compared to Dickinson’s poem Donne’s poem is more of a religious outlook on death.

Bailey Dennard Ms. Heard AP Language 27 Jan. 2016 Analysis of a Poem: “Holy Sonnet X” by John Donne “Holy Sonnet X”, written by John Donne, directly pertains to Death. Throughout the poem, he ridicules Death to a point where the reader would begin to question their own belief on the inevitable event. The speaker has an in depth conversation with Death, bringing out the uselessness of the unfortunate event. In the poem, Donne uses a serious tone and figurative language to display the unnecessary need to fear Death.

John Donne authored poetry that relied on intelligent allusions and wordplay. He strung together paradoxical ideas that utilized more of a philosophical structure than his counterparts, in some ways making him an outlier in relation to the normative poetry of his time period. Donne’s poetry dealt outside of the physical realm. He conjured biblical allusions in secular poems and often reversed that formula to make secular connections in otherwise religious poems. He used extended metaphors to make unusual literary comparisons, but he did so with acumen. His “holy sonnets” are an excellent example of the multifarious way that Donne crammed his intellectual capacity into verse. In holy sonnet number 14, later titled Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God Donne employs a menacing tone throughout the sonnet, aggressively combining imagery and paradox to describe his anxiety towards his salvation and sinful nature. His poetry is often seen as unmatched in the category he falls into, but a contemporary of his surely gives him a run for his money. On the seemingly opposite spectrum we have a poet who utilizes a tranquil tone in his poetry: George Herbert. Herbert was characteristically different in diction and tone. A friend of Donne, Herbert’s poetry was often full of composure and confidence, in contrast with Donne who seemed to grapple with uncertainty. Although

John Donne was a metaphysical poet who wrote of love and religion. Metaphysical poetry is characterized as being difficult poetry that questions life and religion. John Donne’s poetry was published in 1633, but no one knows the exact date most poems were written. John Donne present many realistic types of love through monologue characterizations. In the poems The Flea, The Canonization, and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Donne presents raw sexual love, boastful love, and true spiritual love.

The implications of the first few lines of the poem emit the notion that the poems text and word choice show the dilemma Donne felt on Good Friday,1613. He is stuck traveling, when in fact he should be praying and honoring the death and sacrifice of Christ. By implementing that feeling into the subject of the poem, Donne is able to exaggerate the struggle the subject is having about his deviation from God, which cripples him. Furthermore, at the time Donne wrote this poem, it is clear he was engulfed in the thought of his own sin and struggled to face God. Therefore, the subject in the poem acts as a martyr for which Donne can confess and repent by submerging the subject in a state of sin.

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

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.

This week’s lecture is about John Donne. This essay is going to cover the differences between Donne and Jonson, metaphysical poetry, Donne’s life, his work, techniques, religious poems & sermons, and the final poems. John Donne was very close with Ben Johnson and sometimes they were compared. However, they are extremely different people. These two men had different temperaments, personalities, and world outlook, etc.. During his time, Johnson was the more popular and influential between the two men. His was able to continue this popularity to other generations. Donne was only able to expand throughout a private group but he was well-known during his time and he was even admired by people. However, he was never able to compete against Johnson. He reputation even faded over several years but his work was able to make a comeback.

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

In this essay I will mainly focus on two poems written by John Donne, The Rising Sun and Death be not proud. These poems were written during the Elizabethan era, which was an era mainly characterized by love and colonialism, on separate terms of course. These principles often influenced poets who lived during this period. Their poetry acts as testimonies of their underlying thoughts and desires. Furthermore, metaphysical poets deliver a more divine and profound perspective to their poetry. Within their conceits, they manage to engage and delight themselves in deeper movements. This essay will further discuss how John Donne used death and the sun to his disposal. I will also critically analyse the two poems as well grasp on external aspects

I shall now talk about how religion relates to Donne’s poetry. His life passed during a major change of religion in England the king wanted all control of the church so he could divorce his wife, he declared himself head of the Church of England. My first poem that relates to religion is ‘The Flea’ in this poem Donne is trying to convince a woman to sleep with him by using religion to sanctify him sleeping with her for example when he says ‘Where we almost, nay more, than married are…our marriage bed, and marriage temple is[2]’, he makes the bed seem holy and that g-d wants them to sleep together this may of reassured her as it connects g-d and the church together to make everything alright and holy . This poem proves that Donne is a very