John Donne 's Metaphysical Poetry

One’s identity may be questioned when suffering; ultimately suffering is what creates one’s sense of self or what destroys it. The poetry of John Donne and the play W;t, 1993, by Margaret Edson, both illustrate and explore a sense of suffering and identity. In John Donne’s poetry, suffering, both emotionally and physically allows the speaker to understand their identity in more depth, in comparison to Margaret Edson’s play, W;t, Vivian’s suffering leads her identity to be stripped away. In Donne’s sonnet, ‘If poysonous mineralls’ we are shown suffering religiously and emotionally, through one’s sin’s, questioning god’s justice, which leads to a realisation of one’s identity. In Margaret Edson’s play, W;t, Vivian’s emotional suffering

Despite the differences in context, a comparative study of the poetry of John Donne and Margaret Edson’s play, ‘W;t’, is essential for a more complete understanding of the values and ideas presented in ‘W;t’. Discuss this with close reference to both texts.

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

Written during the 17th century, John Donne utilizes an unconventional genre in his poem, demeaning and objectifying the female sex. A common motif in poems of the Renaissance, Donne uses a flea as a metaphorical comparison to sexual intercourse and the eternal bind between man and woman. Illustrated throughout the poem, Donne

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

Love can be quite a difficult topic to write about, expressing one’s intimate and innermost emotions requires a great level of dedication and honesty. If done correctly, the outcome is truly stunning. John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and Katherine Philips’s “To Mrs. M.A. at Parting” are two masterpieces of this genre. These poems depict the concept of true love so meticulously that the reader cannot help but envy the relationships presented. Perhaps the reason that these works are so effective is due to the fact that they are incredibly similar to each other. Although some differences are present when it comes to structure and gender concerns, the poems share the same theme of love on a spiritual level and show many parallels in meaning.

John Donne’s central theme for “Meditation 17” is that all Christians are United. Everyone is united and no one stands alone. John Donne is adamant that no one should feel left out or be ostracized by anyone. He wants everyone to realize that no one is alone and we all share the same experiences; he describes this idea as “no man is an island” (Donne 2). No man is left floating in the water, instead all men are linked as pieces of the continents.

To this day John Donne is still considered to be one of the greatest love poets from England. He was born to a Elizabeth Heywood and John Donne, some time between January 24th and June 19th in 1572. His mother Elizabeth Heywood was the youngest of her siblings and the grand-niece to the Catholic Martyr Thomas More. His father John Donne was a prosperous London merchant, but his actual father died when Donne was only four and was believed to be a descendant from an ancient family in Wales. The family was Roman Catholic and this was a very anti-catholic period in England and this would greatly affect Donne in many ways throughout his life.

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.

One of the poem’s main premises as to why having sex is superior to making love is that the participants are not giving in to a “false Messiah” (15). People who claim to be in love or fawn over their sexual partners are missing the true point of the intimate act. The notion of a false Messiah, which is love and affection, argues that love is not a true savior for people, and it is more of an imposter of happiness. The poem states that when people extract love from the act of sex, each person does not mistakenly love the mediator of satisfaction, but instead focus on praising the true “God”. If one spends so much time admiring a person, he or she will ultimately be disappointed or lose time with the real goal of sex. In the words of the poem, to be attached to the person one is having sex with would mean to “mistake the lover for their own pleasure” (17). He or she would then fail in their endeavors to reach true satisfaction.

The poem, ‘The Ecstasy” is one of the more well-known works written by John Donne. In the poem, Donne seems to agree with the philosophy that true love can only be available on a spiritual level and explains what the process is to get there. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the poem expresses the unique ideas of love and how two people make connections through different pathways, aside from just the physical bonds.

Donne’s poetic verbiage is clearly seen from the very beginning, “How little that which thou deniest me is” (1.2). Confidently, Donne speaks is if the act of sex is as tiny as the size of the flea. Using the word, “dentist” is placed in the poem to initiate feelings of deprivation; denial of an act he is entitled to. Donne’s impeccable choice of words continue as he tells that their blood already lies together within the flea; equating

The ideas that are received from the poems of John Donne and George Herbert present us with a very distinct view on God, and more generally, religion. Both were writing in the late 1500s and early 1600s; however the methodologies used by each are very distinct.

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