You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
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 and Divine Poems. The purpose of these authors distinctly correlate as each has attempted to provide fresh insight into the human condition by challenging prevalent ideals. Thus, Edson incorporates Donne’s work to illuminate both explicit and implicit themes, creating an undeniable condition.…
- 940 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The poet also uses imagery such as ‘lakes and ‘swans’, to symbolise the peacefulness, and also to symbolise love. You notice words that show the subject is not alone, with ‘we’ and ‘our’. These words and also the motion of the swans, the lake, and the peacefulness are foreshadowing that the poem will take a turning onto love that is more literate. However I don’t think that the poems theme is so much about love in particular, but about a natural love, a natural pull that brings two people together even after hard times.…
- 589 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Donne’s poems are interesting in the way they often present an ongoing thought process, rather than a story with a distinct beginning and end. Donne being from the literary culture; many of his poems reflect this mid-way change of heart, as he is comfortable dealing in ongoing reflection and experience, rather than static facts. One of Donne’s love poems, ‘The Sunne Rising’ centres around Donne, in bed with his lover, annoyed at the sun for disturbing their slumber. “Busie old foole, unruly Sunne” he writes. Donne, in personifying the sun, and describing such a thing in paradox (“unruly sun”), supports the idea that literary culture places more emphasis on emotion and description than logical fact. The structure of ideas throughout the poem thereafter is fluid. Donne is initially annoyed at the sun for its punctuality, saying that a love like his knows no time, and the sun would be better off chastising late schoolboys. As the poem progresses, Donne goes from annoyance, to mocking the sun's supposed power (“Thy beames, so reverend… I could eclipse then with a winke”), to then feeling content, and almost bad for the sun. Donne writes “Thou sunne are halfe as happy’as wee, in that the world’s contracted thus”, in which he is stating that the poor, old sun must have an easier job shining down on him and his lover, as their entire world is confined to each other. It is this notion of fluidity of ideas that further reflects the literary culture of Donne’s poems. He uses his writings, not to record tangible fact and feeling, but to support the idea that both his thoughts, and the subjects of his writing, can easily be written flexibly, as they are both…
- 2452 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The dominance represented after this shift is supported by “wee wake eternally,”(13). We can infer Donne knows there is an afterlife and that after a short pass of intermission, one wakes up to a better life. The memory of the deceased is to live on not only in memory, but their souls releasing. Donne becomes hostile after the shift, referring to death as a “slave,”(9) dictated by “Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,”(10). Death cannot do things itself. Death is a manipulated idea that is thought to control your life when in reality it is weak, persuading others to do the work for it. Donne concludes the poem “death, thou shalt die,”(14). No longer is death killing creatures, but creatures defeating death by not being scared and accepting that it is all natural processes.…
- 690 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Donne’s poetry attempt to answer the mere impossible questions of life, death and love in eccentric and unexpected chains of reasoning, his complex figure of speech, elaborate imagery and bizarre metaphors creates a sense of vibrancy for the reader as they become enthralled in the emotions and meanings behind his poems.…
- 582 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
To me. Donne is trying to tell death that no matter what is thrown at him, Donne will stand tall and fight whatever he has to. This poem might be a way to tell people that they shouldn’t fear it, they should stand together. If we all stand together on this, we as a community would be able to stand up to anything that comes at…
- 1369 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
When study this text it is evident to the reader to see the symbolism of the bell, which is a constant representation of death during his time, along with the emotional influence it takes on Donne. It can be confusing to…
- 786 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the first poem, “Death, Be Not Proud,” Donne describes death as a lowly figure that deserves no respect at all. That no one is afraid of death, but welcomes it as it brings us a satisfying state of everlasting sleep. It is just one aspect of life and something that everyone must experience. Donne even goes so far as to say that there are things other than death that make us sleep just as well, if not better, as stated in the line “And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well.” In the end we will actually defeat death itself when we pass over into eternal life and there will be no more death, “And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!” He feels sorry for death because it will be what is ultimately dead and not us. The overall theme of this poem is to embrace death and not be afraid of it.…
- 787 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Also in order to get the message across Donne uses a paradox by saying, "For affliction is a treasure." This is a paradox because generally when you think of a treasure you don't think of it hurting you but you think of it making you wealthy or better off but instead he uses treasure as a source of suffering. But suffering is a treasure…
- 585 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The first literary device to catch the reader’s attention is personification. Personification is the most important and powerful poetic device used in the “Holy Sonnet #10”. It is mainly used when describing death, personification captures the entire purpose of the poem at each point and Donne’s feelings are displayed very thoroughly at these points. For example, in the very first 2 lines of the poem he writes, “[d]eath, be not proud, though some have called thee” (1) “[m]ighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;” (2). Donne describes how people think of death as “Mighty and dreadful” (2). “Mighty” shows the possible power of death over all living things, and “dreadful” shows the suffering of people, how much there terrified of death. By using personification to address death directly, as though it were a person, allows the reader to easily communicate his/her feelings towards it. Similarly Donne uses personification to make his poems more dramatic and interesting or to convey a certain mood so that his readers can interpret and understand more.…
- 692 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
While Donne appears to hold a holistic, unified view of love, undivided by the physical and made whole by the spiritual, the body of the woman is ironically the real obstruction of the abstract. Donne discards human bodies for celestial figures: “..free spheres move faster far than can/Birds whom the air resists…” (Lines 87-88). Air is yet another element that taints and obstructs the ‘free sphere’, yet it is vital to note the similar inhumanity of the poet in being described as a bird. Instead, both lovers described as celestial ‘spheres’ denotes transcendence from earthly ties, advancing instead along an “empty and ethereal way” (Line 89). Love, in its emptiest form, also appears at its purest. However, transformation of the poet, framed as the epic hero, prevents Donne from having a firmer grasp on pure…
- 1309 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
The first way Donne uses imagery is by the flea, a tiny black insect that is the primary image of the poem. Throughout he uses metaphors and puns that Donne is famous for, and they are woven in throughout this poem. “Mark but this flea, and mark in this” (1). He begins the poem by directing the audience’s attention to his beloved to the flea. Then, he uses to illustrate the flea as if it was a person, feeding on a feast of blood. “And pampered swells with one blood made of two” (8). Here we get the oh-so-delicious image effect, of the swelling with the blood. The speaker uses metaphors to connect blood with life. “Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare” (10). The flea contains three lives, its own, his, and hers. Lastly, oh, no! She kills the flea, “Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?” (20). The elaborate rhetoric about that…
- 811 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
First, the speaker conveyed his Donne compares death to a slave. He shows his views in his Sonnet, “[t]hou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men[.]” This shows that death has no power over anyone, only humans and destiny have control.…
- 173 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
As with many poets in the Renaissance area Donne was obsessed death. He was intrigued by the mystery of death and, due to his Catholic upbringing and his own Christian values, was convinced of the existence of an afterlife. What Donne struggles with within these Holy Sonnets is how he can settle on a particular view on the subject. One of the Holy Sonnets, “Death Be Not Proud”, presents Donne’s inner conflict. In this particular poem John Donne states that death is something that should not be feared but conquered, due to the faith he has in the presence of an afterlife. Through the personification of death in the first two lines, “Death be not proud, though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful”, death is given a personality, an identity. It is due to this literary technique that Donne can put an emphasis on the idea that Christians have victory over death, and the promise of eternal life. That it is in this afterlife that death, no matter how “Mighty” or “dreadful” will have no hold over them. Donne is able to directly address death, and speak his mind in a way in which is normally restricted to person-to-person communication. During the 17th Century mortality was a big issue in society with the average woman giving birth to between 8-10 children.…
- 1571 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
The themes of “Batter My Heart” closely tie into the mood because Donne can easily make the reader feel what he feels. His longing for repentance is shown in his language and metaphors. He uses strong words and phrases like “Batter my heart,” “break, blowe, burn and make me new.” He feels guilty for his sins and knows that he deserves the wrath of God. The strong love that Donne discusses stirs emotion in the reader so they can understand Donne’s reverence for…
- 758 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays