FREE Donne Essay (original) (raw)

Imagery is the expressions of sense experience impressed upon the mind of a writer through touch, smell, hearing & taste. An epithet, a simile, a metaphor or personification may create an image or an image can be presented in a phrase or passage conveying us something more than its face & value. In the poetry of John Donne , the leader & the first metaphysical poetry of English literature. We find images dissimilar and yoked by violence together.
The images in most of Donne's poems are certainly far-fetched. He has ransacked art &nature for illustrations, comparisons& allusions. in the love the poems of the Elizabethan period the images were mainly drawn from the mythology of the gods& goddesses & from the world of the nature. Moonlight , gardens, brooks &streams & valleys& flowers are the principal images of the love poems. But donne is not much interested in nature images& avoids gods & goddesses except when he is in petrarchan mood in some of his poems.so, there's amarked departure from the conventional love poemsof the Elizabethan in donne's poems in so far his imagery is concerned.
Donne was a learned man & so, a learned poet.he depended on his learning for illustrating his ideas. He makes use of the scientific speculations & inventions of his time to illustrate his themes. He utilizes fruits of the voyages of exploration& discovery of the Elizabethan age to give point to his ideas. He draws his images from medieval, philosophy, theology, alchemy, mathmetics, astrology, astronomy, anatomy, medicine, & the law. As aresult , his poetry, already argumentative acquires a still more intellectual character because of this ind of imagery. The average reader find him too difficult to understand because of his peculiar & comparatively unknown imagery. Besides, there is a queer mixture of the ordinary & serios images of the play.

1. The Love Poetry of John Donne

Donne's love poetry expresses a wide variety of changing views and attitudes towards love. ... Often times when Donne is speaking about physical love he describes it in terms of a religious experience, as in To His Mistress Going to Bed, this description of physical love would seem to imply that it holds great importance to Donne. ... In To His Mistress Going to Bed, we see how highly Donne praises and enjoys the aspects of physical love. ... This is why Donne sees no need for an emotional goodbye. ... We can see the shifting attitudes Donne holds towards love through these poems. ...

2. John Donne - Woman's Constancy

Woman's Constancy James Whitworth As in many Donne poems, "Woman's Constancy" is written as himself speaking to his lover. ... Even so, Donne's wit is still present in lines such as "Wilt thou antedate some new made vow?" ... These irregularities, juxtaposed with Donne's final change of mind all emphasize the capriciousness off humans. However, similar to the effect of satire, Donne's wit allows us to be self-mocking, and able to stand back and look at ourselves. Was Donne to have been a writer of prose, "Woman's Constancy" could have been a parable titled "The...

3. Donne's "Flea"

In the first stanza Donne cleverly uses the humorous image of an insignificant flea that has just sucked the blood of both Donne and his intended lover as he tries to convince his beloved that the mingling of bodily fluids during intercourse would be just as innocent as their blood mingling inside the body of the flea. ... Donne chastises her by saying she has "Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence" (line 20), which brings up images of Christ's crucifixion. ... Donne ends the poem on this note, but it is interesting to notice that through a clever use of wit, Donne coordinates the pace...

4. John Donne

Donne's hope for worldly success was gone. ... It was during this time period that Donne supposedly wrote his "sad letter to his Wife" that contained the following well known line: "John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-done." ... The court decided in Donne's favor. ... Carey describes Donne's reaction as somewhat self centered. ... However, Carey is not too harsh on Donne. ...

5. Donne and Marvel

Compare and contrast the presentation and treatment of love and sex in the poems of Donne and Marvell. ... Fixed leg of compass represents constancy and fidelity of the woman, and the assurance of her firmness gives Donne the power to make his own circle true: both loving her with equal constancy, and throughout his journey moving along a line that must bring him back to his starting point in her. ... Each is completely at variance with the other two, and the dramatic shock of juxtaposition repeats an effect Donne. ... FLEA Donne sets out to demonstrate that resistance is logically ...

6. Donne And Marvel

Compare and contrast the presentation and treatment of love and sex in the poems of Donne and Marvell. ... Fixed leg of compass represents constancy and fidelity of the woman, and the assurance of her firmness gives Donne the power to make his own circle true: both loving her with equal constancy, and throughout his journey moving along a line that must bring him back to his starting point in her. ... Each is completely at variance with the other two, and the dramatic shock of juxtaposition repeats an effect Donne. ... FLEA Donne sets out to demonstrate that resistance is logically ...

7. donne and marvell

Compare and contrast the presentation and treatment of love and sex in the poems of Donne and Marvell. ... Fixed leg of compass represents constancy and fidelity of the woman, and the assurance of her firmness gives Donne the power to make his own circle true: both loving her with equal constancy, and throughout his journey moving along a line that must bring him back to his starting point in her. ... Each is completely at variance with the other two, and the dramatic shock of juxtaposition repeats an effect Donne. ... FLEA Donne sets out to demonstrate that resistance is logically ...

8. Interpretation of John Donne's

METAPHYSICAL CONCEITS IN DONNE"S "THE RELIC" In most, if not all, of his works, John Donne uses the concept of "metaphysical conceits" to extensively compare one thing to another. ... Donne uses this word to describe he and his lover after they are deceased. ... Donne uses this definition of the word to describe himself and his deceased lover. ... When referring to the "Bishop" and the "King", Donne is clearly speaking of God and Christ. ... And it is in this description that yet another of Donne's metaphysical conceits becomes clear. ...

9. John Donne And Metaphors

One good example of Donne's use of absurd metaphors is in the poem entitled "The Flea". ... In lines 1 and 2 Donne begins by telling the female how unimportant her virginity is. ... Donne's use of metaphors continues in the second stanza as the female is about to kill the flea. ... It seems that two lovers could never be used in a metaphor with a compass, but Donne makes it work wonderfully. ... The third example of Donne effectively using metaphors to express his feelings is from "Holy Sonnet 14". ...

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