Rhetorical Devices In Holy Sonnet

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.

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

John Donne’s diction, detail, point of view, metaphysical format, and tone used in “Holy Sonnet 10” convey both a feeling of cynical and domination, and also a sense of mockery of death. The effects on the reader include assurance and confidence in facing death.

Donne begins his fifth Holy Sonnet by utilizing a strong literary tool: a metaphor. He compares himself to the Earth saying, “I am a little world made cunningly / Of elements and an angelic sprite” (Donne 1-2). Donne states that he is “a little world made cunningly”, implying that he is whole, he is complete like the world is full. The word cunningly is intentional as it also means artfully, just in the same way God is often described as he made us and all creatures. The following line he describes his creation further, stating that he is made “of elements”. This is to say that he is made up of all things, as elements are just pieces which together form a greater whole. Amongst his elements is also something of another kind, “an angelic spirit”. This angelic spirit describes the part of him that reflects his creation by God, his strong faith to his faith, and fills his body with life, a soul. This is a strong parallel to a famous story of the Holy Book of Donne’s faith: The

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's purpose is clear: he is writing to convince himself and society that no matter what denomination one chooses to adhere to, they are all seen as one under the eyes of God. He concludes the

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

Donne even goes so far as to command God to destroy the person he has

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.

The Fusion of Content and Form in Sonnet 29 One of the most popular of the fixed poetic forms in English literature is the sonnet. Attributed to the Italian poet Petrarch in the fourteenth century, the sonnet is still used by many contemporary writers. The appeal of the sonnet lies in its two-part structure, which easily lends itself to the dynamics of much human emotional experience and to the intellectual mode of human sensibility for argument based on complication and resolution. In the last decade of the sixteenth century, sonnet writing became highly fashionable following the publication of Sir Philip Sydney’s sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella, published in 1591.

I chose to admire “Shakespearean Sonnet”, because I enjoy reading Shakespeare although sometimes I have a difficult time understanding it. I find the poem to be unique, just by the way it was coordinated together. It basically is lines from each of Shakespeare’s famous plays of all time. The lines from the well-known plays was combined to form a sonnet of 14 lines using the ababa format. Throughout the poem you can find the use of a couplet in a couple of the poem’s lines.. It is very well written and excellent in ways like how it describes each of the plays in the lines of the sonnet, to the imagery, tone, and theme of the poem. The use of alliteration for example, in line 2, “Boy meets girl while feuding families fight,” is a description

The central theme, introduced quite early within the poem, is the helplessness of death. Throughout the poem the speaker belittles death and approaches it with such bravery and poise. Donne confronts death by saying it is not in any regard “mighty and dreadful” (2), but rather brings “much pleasure” (7). Death is personified in the poem, and in this regard, possess no greater power over man. The speaker of the poem is Donne himself. He uses his literary tools of rhetoric and poetic devices to belittle death. Throughout the poem, the speaker comes across as being slightly arrogant, but he refuses to show weakness. His arrogance shows that he is not afraid of death as he demands death not to be proud. Donne takes the association of death and sleep, and reinvents this comparison to a greater effect. He describes sleep as being “pictures” (5) of death and death is no more different or more frightening. He extends this metaphor throughout the poem. In the second last line of the poem he

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

242). He rhetorically questions ‘Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won / Others to sin, and made my sin their door?’ (Donne, 2012c, L. 7-8). He does this despite being influenced by the Calvinist teachings that predetermined humans were saved by God’s grace not by their own good deeds. His doubt leads him to ask God to ‘swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son / Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore’ (Donne, 2012c, L. 15-16) as Donne fears that if he ‘… awakes from death to find out that he is a non-elect, damned forever … or [there will be] no awakening at all … [that] Christianity's promise of resurrection is a lie’ (Horn, 2010, p. 366). However, in ‘A Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness’, Donne is satisfied he will be received into heaven. In an extended metaphor, Donne is an instrument of the Lord who '... should try to prepare himself before entering the "door", or entrance to heaven' (Brackett, 2008, p. 224). He uses imagery to show his arrival in heaven, ‘So, in his purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord’ (Donne, 2018, L. 26). He makes purple a metaphorical cloak as it is associated Christ, therefore, he asks God to cover him with Christ as he ascends into heaven so he can be sure of his salvation. The final line of the poem ‘“Therefore that he may raise, the Lord throws down”’ (Donne, 2018, L. 30) explains Donne’s doubts and faith, the oxymoronic statement claims that in order to be raised to heaven, one must suffer what the Lord