The Holy Sonnet 'Death be not Proud' (Complete Poetry 283-4) seems to show Donne's mind grappling anew with the reality of death in the wake of his wife's demise. The form of the poem gives an impression of thinking aloud, as if the reader overhears the poet's thoughts as he engages directly with death in an attempt both to cut it down to size and to understand its true nature - by such understanding, Donne's words strongly imply, fear of death will be banished, for death will be seen in its true colors as a place of passage from one, unsatisfactory, existence, to another, equally real but more complete and joyful. The opening lines reflect the fact that Donne himself has been among those who have been in awe of death: 'Death be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful...'. Donne immediately argues against that perception,…...

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Works Cited

Bald, R.C. (1970). John Donne: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Beaston, Lawrence (1999). Talking to a Silent God: Donne's Holy Sonnets and the Via Negativa. Renascence, 51, 2: 95-110.

Bottrall, M. (1955). Izaak Walton. London: Longman.

Carey, John (1990). John Donne: Life, Mind and Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

John Donne's "The Canonization" begins relatively simply, as a familiar lyrical ode to his mistress. Gradually it deepens in meaning while approaching the final verses, where Donne reveals the true complexity of his vision of love. "The Canonization" is undoubtedly still a love poem; it revels in theatrical descriptions of the love he and his beloved share. ut there are also many layers of meaning and irony behind the words he chooses to express his feelings. "The Canonization" is brimming with powerful imagery and symbols, witty jabs at other poets and Elizabethan English society, and a playfully blasphemous attitude toward religion. Although Donne was ordained as a priest and therefore was presumably quite religious, many of his poetic works demonstrate his questioning of society's deemed superiority of religious love over romantic love. His love poetry often contains naturalistic, vivid bodily and sexual imagery that subverts traditional Petrarchan metaphors for love.…...

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Bibliography

Bach, Rebecca A. "(Re)placing John Donne in the History of Sexuality." ELH 72, no. 1 (2005):

259-289.

Donne, John. "The Canonization." 2003.

  (accessed August 20, 2011).http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/canonization.htm 

She is to remain quiet and calm, trusting the necessity and inevitability of the speaker's leaving.
The second and third strong images in the poem concern the love connection between the couple. The poet uses gold as a metaphor for the pliability and expanding properties of the couple's love. When gold is beaten, it bends and expands; it does not break. In the same way, the love between the man and the woman will only grow stronger and more expansive through the trial of their separation.

The strongest conceit in the poem is the drawing compass, which the poet uses to demonstrate the unbreakable connection provided by the love between the speaker and his lady. They are joined to each other like the two legs of the compass. The leg drawing the circle represents the speaker, while the leg remaining as an axis represents the lady remaining at home. Like the…...

" (Lines 5-7) the metaphor of the poet being like a battered and invaded town that is impinged upon by outsiders yet still strives to let in the saving forces suggests both a medieval castle and the poet's divided alliances between the world (evil) and God (good).
The second half of the poem creates further parallels the relationship of the poet to God. The next metaphor, after the castle, suggests that the poet and God's state of affections are like a marriage vow, as word 'yet' marks the transition between thoughts. "yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, / but am betrothed unto your enemy. / Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;" (8-11) the poet is like a bride who has been betrothed, because of human's fallen nature, to another being besides God, the enemy (presumably Satan or evil in general.) This is despite the bride's…...

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Works Cited

Donne, John. "Holy Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God." Poetry X. Ed. Jough Dempsey. 21 Jul 2003. 17 Feb. 2005  http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/870/ .

The conceit or metaphor in extended though an image of the world or globe. The tears become the entire world which encompasses the speaker's life and feelings.
So doth each tear,

Which thee doth wear, globe, yea world, by that impression grow, (Lines 14-16)

This comparison also leads to the insistence in the poem that without each other the two lovers in fact cease to exist and that their essential meaning is dependent on their proximity to one another. The speaker states that Till thy tears mix'd with mine do overflow

This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolved so. (lines 17, 18)

The tears shed by the two lovers at parting become a flood over the globe or world created by those tears; and this flood of sadness and despair causes the speaker to lose his "heaven."

The third stanza compares the lover to the moon; with its connotations of female influence…...

The poem emotionally appealing and with such invigorating language, is easily translatable as a sermon. The reader could easily manipulate the tone of the poem with slight incensed articulation by accenting the poem as horrifying, delightful, spiritually persuasive or even amusing tone. Throughout the reading of this sonnet, despite its recognition towards God, the sonnet still mimics the consistency Donne always had in his poetry. Consider the plethora of emotional content in this poem. It is hard to pin down one singular emotion. The emotions in Holy Sonnet Fourteen advance on a continuum like the wavelength of colors presented in a rainbow. Although the poem as a reaction to secularism is not obvious, consider his satires. His satires dealt with human instincts, corruption in the legal system and the problems of true religion. (Honig, 37) Hence most of these satires dealt with secular problems. His biggest obsession sex, masked…...

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Works Cited

Honig, Edwin and Williams, Oscar, eds. The Major Metaphysical Poets. New York;

Washington Square Press, 1969.

This is seen the verse "Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead" (Donne). Unfortunately for the seducer, the flea has succeded where he failed. The social conventions of marriage and consumation are symbolized by it in the verse where Donne speaks of marriage bed and marriage temple." The killing of the flea would be like killing his lover and symbolizes the shortness of life and the immediacy and importance of finding love above all else (ibid.).
On the surface of it all, the Marvell poem appears to expound the concept of seizing the moment, however in that the works are different in that Donne is using an animal metaphor while Marvell is using that of a coy mistress instead (Donne and Marvell). Also, the Marvell work is a warning to the lady against the inflated flattery men use to seduce and bed…...

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References

Donne, John. "The Flea." Luminarium.org. Luminarium, 03 Sept 2003. Web. 20

Jun 2011. .

"John Donne's "The Flea" and Andrew Marvell's "to His Coy Mistress": Seduction

Poetry at Its Finest ." VCCS Litonline . VCCS, 2011. Web. 20 Jun 2011.

Metaphysical Poetry of John Donne
Donne's life and work are filled with occurrences that are reflected as paradoxical images in his work. The secret marriage with his wife, Ann for example resulted in Donne's imprisonment as a result of the disapproval of her father. Donne also loses his powerful political position as a result of this and years of financial hardship follow. The couple is however extremely happy together and the death of Donne's wife in 1617 left him with seven surviving children from a total of twelve (Winny 35). This event left Donne with a spiritual crises that is exacerbated by his declining health in later years. A theme through much of his religious poetry is therefore the conflict that exists between his physical and his spiritual self. Donne lives with a continual feeling of spiritual inadequacy. This is especially shown in his later religious poetry, where the poet…...

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Bibliography

Brooks, C. "The Language of Paradox." In The Language of Poetry. Edited by Allen Tate. New York: Russell & Russell, 1960.

Eliot, T.S. "The Metaphysical Poets." In Selected Essays. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1934.

Gardner, H. "The Religious Poetry of John Donne." In John Donne, A Collection of Critical Essays. Edited by Helen Gardner. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentic-Hall, Inc., 1962.

Gardner, H. Religion and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING by John Donne
Understanding and analyzing Donne's poetry involves an appreciation of his particular literary style. His poetry is usually known as "metaphysical" due to the use of conceits. Conceits are extended metaphors which are a complex form of the metaphor. A metaphor is a forced comparison between two things that are usually different or unlike. Donne's poetry is also characterized by the use of argument and logic. This is particularly the case with the poem under discussion: A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.

The central argument that runs throughout the poem is that while the poet or protagonist is going to be separated from his mistress or lover, their love will endure his departure. The entire poem is an elaborate proof that physical separation is not final and that true love cannot be changed, altered or destroyed by physical distance. In order to prove this point the poet links…...

Although "peace" appears in the speech as often as "United Nations," I am arguing that "United Nations" is the more primary of the two terms here, having precedence over "peace" since I believe that Bush is asking his listeners to focus on the formal authority of the United Nations as the font from which peace can be coaxed. Focusing on peace as the primary term would (I believe) make the speech sound more abstract and less strategic. Bush is not asking his listeners to agree that peace is a good thing.

He is asking them to acknowledge that in this particular place and time, only a unified front from the United Nations is sufficient to guarantee peace. The next reference to peace is again twinned with the idea of international alliance: Invasion has only occurred after "the 28 countries with forces in the Gulf area have exhausted all reasonable efforts to…...

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Works Cited

Bergen, Peter L. Holy War Inc.. Simon & Schuster. 2001. A Rhetoric of Motives.

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. UC Press, 1963.

Foss, Sonja K. "Cluster Criticism." Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. New York:

Waveland Pr Inc. 2005.

Close Textual Analysis: “The Flea” by John Donne
The British poet John Donne is one of the best-known and most often-quoted of the metaphysical poets. Donne was a devout Christian but often used strange, arresting metaphors to convey theological truths. This can be seen quite clearly in “The Flea,” in which the small, biting insect that is apparently a mere annoyance becomes a metaphor for the joining of the poet and his beloved. “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, / And in this flea our two bloods mingled be,” writes Donne (3-4). Even though the poet and his beloved are not physically touching, the ugly, even repugnant parasite still has an elevating, even beautiful role in uniting the two souls, although the poet’s beloved cannot perceived this.

Donne’s poem reflects his belief as a Christian that all creatures, however humble, have a dignity as they are created by God. But…...

Donne Island
No man is an island unto himself," a line written during the Renaissance by poet John Donne, reflects the brotherhood of all men. hile this line was written at the height of the Renaissance, it has remained meaningful in both public and private spheres in the decades since. Today, contemporary attitudes in society often reflect this theme of the brotherhood of man, including the humanitarian reasons that George Bush gave for the invasion of Iraq. In my personal experience, the idea of brotherhood put forth by Donne, plays an important role in personal hopes for the future of my generation. Ultimately, both Donne's poem itself and the ideas about brotherhood that it espoused have had a lasting influence in western history and culture that remains valid today.

Donne's Mediation XVII

Meditation XVII is a poem that delves into the theme of the brotherhood of man. In Meditation XVII, Donne writes:

No man…...

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Works Cited

Donne, John. Meditations XII. Literature Network>. 01 April 2004.  http://www.online-literature.com/donne/409/ 

Wikipedia. Donne, John. 01 April 2004.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne

This speaker is after something slightly more adult than cookies, of course, but this just makes the humor of the rhyme stand out more. His desire to "travel, sojourn, snatch, plot, have, forget" in line six details his desires of infidelity, and the basic lack of any sort of unity in these words -- there does not appear to be more than the accidental alliteration -- also reflects the speaker's disconnect from the many conquests he hopes to make by striking this bargain with Love. The last two lines of the poem reveal that the speaker is not really this cynical, however; he desires to "think that yet / We'd never met." He admits to having met Love; it is too late for him, which is why the bargaining seems so comically desperate.
The tone is very different in the Holy Sonnets, which seem fearful of death and sin, though…...

In comparison, he feels weak and inferior. These emotions are driven by fear of God and while fear is never good, it can be constructive in regard to building character.
Donne's language is significant because it emphasizes the mood and tone of the poem. He describes himself as "riddenly distempered, cold and hot" (7) - words that illustrate the conflict he is feeling. It is important to realize how these conflicts allow the poet see himself as he actually is. The cold and hot images are polar opposites and they reveal the poet's awareness of his human condition. The conflict within him is also illustrated with the image of a prayer and muteness. God's infinite power forces the poet to realize that he is none but he calls to God. His "devout fits" (12) are come and go just as his fear does and while he realizes that he will…...

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Works Cited

Lawrence Beaston, "Talking to a Silent God: Donne's Holy Sonnets and the Via Negativa." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature. 1999. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed May 29, 2008.  http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com .

Donne, John. "Sonnet XIX." Sonnet Central Online. Site Accessed May 31, 2008  http://www.sonnets.org/donne.htm#119 

Stringer, Gary. The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2005.

. . "
"I don't recall having sold the house," Ned said, "and the girls are at home."

(Cheever)

In the narration Ned continues on his journey home. Once he is home it is revealed that his house is indeed empty and his wife and daughters are gone. This is just one example of the conflict that exist in this narration between was is reality and what is illusion.

In addition to this aspect of conflict in The Swimmer, there is also a great deal of conflict associated with Ned's ability to swim across the county. This conflict exist because Ned also drank strong alcoholic beverages throughout his journey. It would have been next to impossible for him to swim after he had consumed just a few of these drinks. This is an obvious conflict that would have hindered his journey but the author presents it as fact and not fiction.

The presence of…...

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Works Cited

Cheever, J. 1954. The Five-Forty-Eight

Cheever, J. 1964. The Swimmer

Cheever, J. 1957. The Wapshot Chronicles. New York: Harper,

Cheever, J. The Angel of the Bridge