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Page 1: English Poetry Level III 17 th -Century Poetry 18 th -Century Poetry Romantic Poetry

English PoetryLevel III

17th-Century Poetry18th-Century Poetry

Romantic Poetry

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The Poets

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England in the 17th Century• Elizabeth I died in 1603.• King James VI of Scotland became James I of England. • He began a new dynasty-the Stuarts.The Stuarts:• James I (1603-1625).• Charles I (1625-1649).• Commonwealth (1649-1660) [England became a Republic].• Charles II (1660-1685) [England restored to Monarchy] RESTORATION. • James II (1685-1688).• William III & Mary II (1689-1694).• William III (1694-1702).• Anne (1702-1714).

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James I (1603-1625)• Because he was already the king of Scotland, he united Scotland with

England & Wales.• He ordered the translation of the Bible (the Authorized Version).Two major problems which started immediately after his accession: RELIGION & MONEYReligion:• He tried to force Catholics to go to Protestant churches.• Gunpowder Plot (5th November 1605). Guy Fawkes burnt alive.Money:• James wanted to ignore Parliament and raise money by claiming divine

right.Divine Right: Kings were Viceroys of God.

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James I’s Picture

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Charles I (1625-1649)• Charles continued his father’s policies.• He thought it beneath his dignity to consult the parliament.• The Parliament was determined to maintain the Constitution according to

which it alone had the power to grant money.• The Eleven Years’ Tyranny (1629-1640) [Charles dispensed with

Parliament].The English Civil War (1642-1651)

• Many people in Parliament were puritans, who wanted a simpler style of worship without bishops & formal ceremonies.

• Charles decided that bishops should rule the Scottish Church, but its followers refused and created an army to attack England.

• There were more disagreements and fighting began.

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Charles I’s Picture

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The English Civil War (continued)• The Civil War was between the Royalists (known as Cavaliers) who

supported the King, and Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads) who supported the Parliament.

• The Roundheads were Puritans. Their leader was Oliver Cromwell• The Cavaliers were defeated and Charles was executed. But his son

escaped from Cromwell’s soldiers by hiding in an oak tree.The Commonwealth (1649-1653)• After the execution of the King, a republic was declared, known as the

Commonwealth of England.The Protectorate (1653-1658)• A new constitution made Cromwell Lord Protector for life. He had power

to call and dissolve parliaments.

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Oliver Cromwell’s Picture

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Cromwell’s Death & The Restoration

• Cromwell maintained peace and order at home and raised the prestige of England abroad.

• After his death (1658), he was followed by his son Richard.• Richard was forced to resign in 1659.• A year later in 1660 Parliament restored Charles II as King.

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The Puritans• The puritans made themselves odious by their bigotry, narrowness,

austere living, and stern morality.• They closed the theatres and frowned upon dance, music, the arts, and

other innocent pleasures.• Ironically, the freedom fighters became tyrants.• Ultimately, they were hated by the people in general who were happy to

get rid of them.

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The Puritans

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Cavalier Poetry

Poets: Ben Jonson, Richard Lovelace, John Suckling, Thomas Carew & Edmund Waller.

The Cavaliers were fervent admirers of Ben Jonson

The Tribe of Ben

They are Cavaliers in the sense, not only of being Royalists, but in the sense that they distrust the over-earnest, the too intense.

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Poets

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Characteristics of Cavalier Poetry

1. Regularity in form & simplicity & clarity in sense.

2. Paganistic in spirit and expresses the hedonistic philosophy of “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.”

3. Celebrates wine, women, and song.

4. Lyric is the dominant form.

5. Poets avoid the subject of religion.

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Characteristics of Cavalier Poetry

6. Mirrors the moods and temper of the age. Indeed, it reflects the triviality & frivolity of the life of the times.

7. Poets of this school find the various beauties of nature united in the beauty of their respective beloveds.

8. Poets are great lovers of nature. They observe nature minutely and describe it with feeling.

9. Poets enjoy the casual, the amateur & the affectionate poem written by the way.

10. Uses direct colloquial language expressive of a highly individual personality.

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Ben Jonson: Song to Celia Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss within the cup, And I'll not ask for wine The thirst that from the soul doth rise, Doth crave a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine

I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope that there It could not withered be; But thou thereon didst only breathe And sent'st back to me, Since when it grows and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee

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Song to Celia: Meanings

Pledge: promise.Doth: does.Divine: heavenly.Jove's nectar: a drink if someone takes he/she

will gain immortality.Rosy wreath: bouquet of roses.

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Song to Celia: Summary

The first stanza (lines 1-8) is a metaphor comparing love to an ethereal elixir. The poet uses the words drink, cup, wine, thirst, and nectar to enhance his trope. Jonson bends the connotation of sup in Line 7. Ordinarily, the word means to eat the evening meal—that is, to have solid food for supper.

The second stanza (lines 9-16 ) focuses on the hope that the love of Celia and the poet will thrive, like the wreath, which continues to grow and send forth fragrance.

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Song to Celia: Theme

Love

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Song to Celia: Form & Structure

This poem is made of two stanzas of eight lines each.It is made of three sentences:

1. Sentence 1: lines 1 to 4.2. Sentence 2: lines 5 to 8.3. Sentence 3: lines 9 to 16.Stanza 1 focuses on the elixir of love.Stanza 2 focuses on a wreath sent to Celia by the poet. Rhyme scheme: abcbabcb defedefe

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Techniques

Metaphor: The first stanza is a metaphor comparing love to an ethereal elixir.

Personification: The thirst . . . doth ask

Alliteration: kiss, cup; drink divine; rosy wreath; thou thereon; smell, swear

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Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,This coyness, lady, were no crime.We would sit down and think which wayTo walk, and pass our long love's day;Thou by the Indian Ganges' sideShouldst rubies find; I by the tideOf Humber would complain. I wouldLove you ten years before the Flood;And you should, if you please, refuseTill the conversion of the Jews.My vegetable love should growVaster than empires, and more slow.An hundred years should go to praiseThine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;Two hundred to adore each breast,But thirty thousand to the rest;An age at least to every part,And the last age should show your heart.For, lady, you deserve this state,Nor would I love at lower rate.

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Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress

But at my back I always hearTime's winged chariot hurrying near;And yonder all before us lieDeserts of vast eternity.Thy beauty shall no more be found,Nor, in thy marble vault, shall soundMy echoing song; then worms shall tryThat long preserv'd virginity,And your quaint honour turn to dust,And into ashes all my lust.The grave's a fine and private place,But none I think do there embrace.

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Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress

Now therefore, while the youthful hueSits on thy skin like morning dew,And while thy willing soul transpiresAt every pore with instant fires,Now let us sport us while we may;And now, like am'rous birds of prey,Rather at once our time devour,Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.Let us roll all our strength, and allOur sweetness, up into one ball;And tear our pleasures with rough strifeThorough the iron gates of life.Thus, though we cannot make our sunStand still, yet we will make him run.

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MeaningsMistress: lady, manager, caretaker, courtesan, sweetheart, lover. coyness: reluctance; playing hard to get. Ganges: River in Asia rubies: Gems Humber: River in northeastern England vegetable love: love cultivated and nurtured like a vegetable so that it

flourishes prolifically this state: This lofty position; this dignity. Time's wingèd chariot: In Greek mythology, the sun was personified as the

god Apollo, who rode his golden chariot from east to west each day. Thus, Marvell here associates the sun god with the passage of time. marble vault: The young lady's tomb.

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Meaningsquaint: Preserved carefully or skillfully. dew: The 1681 manuscript of the poem uses glew (not dew), apparently as a

coined past tense for glow.transpires: Erupts, breaks out, emits, gives off. slow-chapt: Chewing or eating slowly. Thorough: Through.

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Summary In response to a young man’s declarations of love

for a young lady, the lady is playfully hesitant. But dallying will not do, he says, for youth passes swiftly. He and the lady must take advantage of the moment, he says, and “sport us while we may.” Oh, yes, if they had “world enough, and time” they would spend their days in idle pursuits, leisurely passing time while the young man heaps praises on the young lady. But they do not have the luxury of time, he says, for “time's wingéd chariot” is ever racing along. Before they know it, their youth will be gone; there will be only the grave. And so, the poet pleads his case: Seize the day.

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Theme

Carpe diem (meaning seize the day)

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Characters

• Young Man: He pleads with a young lady to stop playing hard to get and accept his love.

• Young Lady: A coquettish woman.

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Setting

Probably someplace in England (the native land of the author), perhaps in northeastern England near the River Humber.

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Form

This poem is written in the form of dramatic monologue in rhyming couplets.

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TechniquesHyperbole1. I would/Love you ten years before the Flood.

2. And you should, if you please, refuseTill the conversion of the Jews.

3. An hundred years should go to praiseThine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;

4. Two hundred to adore each breast,

5. thirty thousand to the rest;

6. An age at least to every part,And the last age should show your heart.

7. And yonder all before us lieDeserts of vast eternity.

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Techniques

Simile1. while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew.

2. Now let us sport us while we may;And now, like am'rous birds of prey.

Conceit

Vegetable love

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Robert Herrick: To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,Old Time is still a-flying:And this same flower that smiles todayTomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,The higher he’s a-getting,The sooner will his race be run,And nearer he’s to setting.

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Robert Herrick: To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

That age is best which is the first,When youth and blood are warmer;But being spent, the worst, and worstTime still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,And while ye may, go marry:For having lost but once your prime,You may for ever tarry.

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Meanings

Rosebud: the beginning stage of a rose flowerYe: youA-flying: passing quicklyThe sooner will his race be run: shortly the sun’s journey will

finishSetting: sunsetPrime: youthTarry: to stay somewhere for longer than expected

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Form

Lyric poem Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef ghgh

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Theme

Carpe diem: Living life to the fullest

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Techniques

Metaphor:Rosebuds: opportunities specially opportunities to win

a husband.Time: a flying creatureFlower: maidenSun: lamp

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Techniques

PersonificationFlower: (only humans can smile)Sun: he & his

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Techniques

AlliterationAnd this same flower that smiles today

The higher he’s a-getting

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Richard Lovelace: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,That from the nunneryOf thy chaste breast and quiet mind,To war and arms fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase.The first foe in the field;And with a stronger faith embraceA sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is suchAs you too shall adore;I could not love thee, dear, so much,Loved I not honour more.

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Richard Lovelace: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

Nunnery: conventChaste: pure, celibateFoe: enemyEmbrace: accept, believe inInconstancy: infidelity, betrayal

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Form

This poem is called a song. It is lyrical in nature. It is made of three stanzas. It is very much like a letter in which the poet tells his mistress, Lucasta, that he is leaving her to follow a new mistress, the war.

Rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF

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Themes

Love Duty

Honour

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Techniques

Metaphor foe in the field: mistress

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Metaphysical PoetryThe term "metaphysical poetry" is used to designate the work of 17th-century poets who were part of a school of poets using similar methods and who revolted against the romantic conventionalism of Elizabethan love poetry, in particular the Petrarchan conceit.

John Donne was the acknowledged leader of these poets.

John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvel, Henry Vaughn

The Tribe of Donne

http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl331/donne.html
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Poets

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Metaphysical Conceit

A "metaphysical conceit" is a far-fetched and ingenious extended comparison (or "conceit") used by metaphysical poets to explore all areas of knowledge. It finds telling and unusual analogies for the poet's ideas in the startlingly esoteric or the shockingly commonplace -- not the usual stuff of poetic metaphor.

Examples:

• Crashaw's comparison of Mary Magdalene's tear-filled eyes as "Two walking baths; two weeping motions / Portable and compendious oceans."

• Donne's comparison of his union with his lover to the draftsman's compass in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."

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Metaphysical Conceit

Typical metaphysical conceits come from a wide variety of areas of knowledge:

• Coins (mintage). • Alchemy; medieval philosophy and angelology.• Meteorology (sighs are blasts, tears are floods).• Mythology (the Phoenix's riddle, the river Styx).• Government ("she is the state, he is the Prince" from

Donne's "The Sun Rising").• Travelling (Donne's "Go and Catch a Falling Star").• Astronomy& metallurgy ("gold to airy thinness beat").• Geometry (the twin compasses).

• Law & geography.

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Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry • a tendency to psychological analysis of the emotion of

love and religion. • a penchant for imagery that is novel, "unpoetical" and

sometimes shocking, drawn from the commonplace (actual life) or the remote (erudite sources), including the extended metaphor of the metaphysical conceit.

• simple diction (compared to Elizabethan poetry) which echoes the cadences of everyday speech.

• form: frequently an argument (with the poet's lover; with God; with oneself).

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Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry

meter: often rugged, not "sweet" or smooth like Elizabethan verse. This ruggedness goes naturally with the Metaphysical poets' attitude and purpose: a belief in the perplexity of life, a spirit of revolt, and the putting of an argument in speech rather than song.

The best metaphysical poetry is honest, unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical, psychological, and bold; frequently it is absorbed in thoughts of death, physical love, and religious devotion.

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John Donne: The Flea

Donne: Biography

•Born in Bread Street in 1572 to a prosperous Roman Catholic family.•1593 his brother, Henry died of a fever in prison after arrested for giving sanctuary to a proscribed catholic priest. Donne began to have doubts in his faith.•1601 secretly married Lady Egerton’s niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More, daughter of Sir George More.•1611 Donne was invited and joined Sir Robert Drury to the continental trip. It was then Donne composed several of his most prominent poems. “A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning”.•1617 Donne’s wife died. Within 16 years, she gave him 12 children.•1631 Donne died of serious illness.

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Donne’s Style Donne’s work was famous for the themes of his faith in

God and women. Though not writing with conventional glamorous style of verse, Donne successfully and beautifully connect the time and space in his poems with extraordinary images. Donne’s usage of diction and language in composing his work is considered revolutionary of his time. His style is regarded as “metaphysical” in the modern study of poem.

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The Flea (1633)

Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deny'st me is; Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be; Confess it, this cannot be said A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead, Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pampered swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas is more than we would do.

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The Flea (1633)

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,Where we almost, nay more than married are.This flea is you and I, and thisOur marriage bed, and marriage temple is;Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,And cloistered in these living walls of jet. Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to this, self murder added be, And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

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The Flea (1633)

Cruel and sudden, hast thou sincePurpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?In what could this flea guilty be,Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thouFind'st not thyself, nor me the weaker now; 'Tis true, then learn how false, fears be; Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee

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The Flea: Lines Modernized

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,See this flea and see this:How little that which thou deny'st me is;How little the thing that you denied me is Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,The flea sucked me first and now sucks youAnd in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;And in this flea our two bloods are mingled Confess it, this cannot be saidAdmit it that this cannot be called A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,A sin or shame or loss of virginity      Yet this enjoys before it woo,Yet this flea enjoys before it courts   And pampered swells with one blood made of two,And having thus indulged itself     And this, alas is more than we would do.And this after all is more than we would do.

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The Flea: Lines Modernized

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,Oh stop, spare three lives in one fleaWhere we almost, nay more than married are.Where we are almost, no, more, than married.This flea is you and I, and thisThis flea is you and I and alsoOur marriage bed, and marriage temple is;Our marriage bed and marriage temple;Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,Despite (your? our?) parents' and your disapprovalAnd cloistered in these living walls of jet.And sheltered in the living body of this flea.       Though use make you apt to kill me,Though habit makes you want to kill me      Let not to this, self murder added be,Don't add self murder to this      And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.And sacrilege as well in killing three beings.

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The Flea: Lines Modernized

Cruel and sudden, hast thou sinceCruel and sudden, have you sincePurpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?Purpled your nail, in innocent blood?In what could this flea guilty be,What is this flea guilty ofExcept in that drop which it sucked from thee?Except in having sucked that drop of blood from you?Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thouYet you won and said that you Find'st not thyself, nor me the weaker now;Did not find neither yourself nor me any weaker      'Tis true, then learn how false, fears be;     Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,Such a little honor, when you surrender to me,      Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.Will be lost, the same way that none of your life is lost when the flea dies.

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Vocabulary

• Mark: observe, notice. • thou: you• deny'st: deny• our two bloods mingled be: coition was commonly assumed to entail a

mingling of bloods.

• loss of maidenhead: loss of virginity. • Yet this enjoys before it woo: the flea enjoys this liberty without the effort

of wooing the lady. • And pampered swells with one blood made of two: Renaissance medical

theory held that blood was mingled during sexual intercourse, leading to conception; thus the image of swelling suggests pregnancy.

• stay: stop; don't kill the flea.

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Vocabulary

• jet: black marble; the "living walls of jet" here refer to the body of the flea. • use: custom.• sacrilege: since the flea is a "marriage temple," killing it would be

sacrilege. • Hast: Have.• triumph'st: triumph.• say'st: say.• find'st: find. • Thyself: yourself.• now: now that she has killed the flea. • yield'st: yield.

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ParaphraseStanza I: Look at this flea and look at how little the thing that you denied me

is. It sucked me first and now sucks you and in this flea our two bloods are mingled. Admit it that this cannot be called a sin, a shame, or loss of virginity. Yet the flea enjoys before it courts and having been indulged, swells with one blood made of two, and this, sadly, is more than we would do.

Stanza II: Oh, stop, spare three lives in one flea where we are almost, nay more than married.

Stanza III: Cruel and sudden, you have purpled your nail in innocent blood. What is this flea guilty of, except in that drop (of blood) that it sucked from you?

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Donne’s the Flea: Analysis

FormTHE FLEA is a love poem in rhyming couplets AABBCCDDD (there is one triplet at the end of the stanza)

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The Flea: SettingLiterally, the poem is set anywhere you might find fleas, which in 17th-century

England included...everywhere. 1. Imaginatively, the poem begins by zooming in on the woman's smooth,

pale arm. 2. Next we actually go inside the flea, where a marriage is consecrated

with the mingling of two bloods. 3. Then the poem moves outside the flea. The woman's hand comes down

– smack – on the bloodsucking flea, coloring one of her nails "purple" with its blood and hers. The speaker looks aghast, as if the world has just ended, but he gets over it a moment later.

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Themes

SeductionPhysical Love

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Symbols

The Flea: marriage bed, marriage temple, union between man and woman

Blood: life & the soul.

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Techniques

• Apostrophe (address to an imaginary or absent person): Line 1: “Mark but this flea, and mark”• Personification: Line 8: “And pamper’d swells with one blood made of

two”. The flea is seen like a pampered person, gorging on a feast of blood.• Metaphor: “O stay, three lives in one flea spare,” (blood is equated with

life)• Metaphysical Conceit: the flea, marriage bed, marriage temple,

microcosm of love and life.

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John Donne: Death Be Not Proud (1618)

Death be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,And soonest our best men with thee doe go,Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,And better then thy stroke; why swell'st thou then;One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

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Summary• The voice of the poem is a hero, belittling Death and bringing hope and

peace to the readers. He unmasks Death and shows that Death's pride is ill-founded; based on empty accomplishments. The voice is assertive, facing Death staunchly. Immediately, the convention of personification is used. Death obtains the human vice of pride. Death is shown to be a fool.

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VocabularyThee: youMighty: powerfulDreadful: fearfulThou art: you areOverthrow: destroyDwell: livePoppy: drugCharm: spellEternally: forever

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Themes

DeathFaith

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Form• By form this poem is a sonnet (a lyric poem of 14 lines; the first 8 lines are

called the octave and the last 6 lines are called the sestet).• It is one of many sonnets that are part of a collection called The Holy

Sonnets. This collection is comprised of nineteen sonnets with themes that pertain to Christian philosophy.

• The rhyme scheme for this poem is “abbaabbacddcee”.

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Techniques • Apostrophe: “Death be not proud…”• Personification: Death• Paradox (a statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or

incompatible elements but upon close inspection might be true). The poem ends with the paradox: “death, thou shalt die”

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John Milton: On His Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith5 my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide; "Doth God exact day labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies,. "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,. And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.

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Background

John Milton's eyesight began to fail in 1644. By 1652, he was totally blind.

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On His Blindness: Meanings

light is spent: how my sight is used up. Ere half my days: Before half my life is over. Milton was completely blind by

1652, the year he turned 44.

talent: writing poetry

useless: Unused.

therewith: By that means, by that talent; with it

account: Record of accomplishment; worth

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On His Blindness: Meanings

exact: Demand, require

fondly: Foolishly, unwisely

God . . . gifts: God is sufficient unto Himself. He requires nothing outside of Himself to exist and be happy.

yoke: Burden, workload.

post: Travel.

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Themes

PatienceBlindness

Page 81: English Poetry Level III 17 th -Century Poetry 18 th -Century Poetry Romantic Poetry

Form

This poem is a sonnet.Rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE

Page 82: English Poetry Level III 17 th -Century Poetry 18 th -Century Poetry Romantic Poetry

Techniques Alliteration: my days in this dark world and wide (line 2)

Metaphor: though my soul more bent / To serve therewith my Maker (lines 3-4). The author compares his soul to his mind.

Personification/Metaphor: But Patience, to prevent / That murmur, soon replies . . . (lines 8-9).

Paradox: They also serve who only stand and wait.


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