JOHN DONNE(1572-1631)

JOHN DONNE

• Born : 22 January 1572, London, England.

• Died : 31 March 1631 (aged 59).• Occupation : Poet, priest and lawyer.• Nationality: English.• Alma Mater : Oxford University.• Genre : Satire, love poetry, elegy,

sermons.• Subject : Love, sexuality, religion,

death.• Literary Movement : Metaphysical poetry

John Donne

• He was the most independent of the Elizabethan poets

• He revolted against the easy, fluent style, stock imagery, and pastoral conventions of the followers of Spenser.

• He aimed at reality of thought and vividness of expression.

• His poetry is forceful, vigorous, and, in spite of faults of rhythm, often strangely harmonious.

John Donne

• Considered the master of metaphysical conceits, an extended metaphor, that combines two vastly different ideas into a single idea, often using imagery.

• His works are also witty, employing paradoxes, puns and subtle yet remarkable analogies.

• Donne’s pieces are often ironic and cynical, especially regarding love and human motives.

• His poetry represented a shift from classical form to more personal poetry

John Donne

• Common subjects of Donne’s poems are love (especially his early life), death (especially after his wife’s death) and religion.

• Donne noted for his poetic metre, which was structured with changing and jagged rhythms that closely resemble casual speech.

A portrait of Donne as a young man (1595)

Themes of Donne’s Poetry

Paradoxes Belittling cosmic forces Religion Death and the Hereafter Love as both physical and spiritual Interconnectedness of humanity Fidelity

The Flea

• A flea has bitten both lovers, and now the flea marks their union because it has both of their blood.

• The poet asks his lover not to kill it, but the lover does, and finds herself not diminished.

• When she yields to her lover, he says, her honor likewise will not be diminished, so there is nothing to fear by going for.

Lovers' Infiniteness

• The poet complains that he does not yet have “all” of his beloved's love, despite using all of his resources to woo her

• She should not leave some love for others, nor should she leave herself open to wooing by others later.

• Yet, he also wants her to keep some of her love for him in reserve so that they can enjoy a constantly growing relationship.

The Canonization

• The poet demands that some complainer leave him alone to love.

• The complainer should turn his attention elsewhere, and nobody is hurt by the love.

• The poet and his lover take their own chances together; they are unified in their love.

• Their love is a beautiful example for the world that will be immortalized, canonized, a pattern for all other love in the world.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

• The beloved should not openly mourn being separated from the poet.

• Their love is spiritual, like the legs of a compass that are joined together at the top even if one moves around while the other stays in the center.

• She should remain firm and not stray so that he can return home to find her again.

Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness

• The speaker faces the possibility of his own death by focusing on his preparation for Heaven.

• He must tune himself in order to become God’s musical instrument.

• He is like a map, where the westernmost and easternmost points are the same and his death will be transfigured into resurrection.

Holy Sonnet 14 (“Batter my heart)

• The speaker asks God to intensify the effort to restore the speaker’s soul.

• God should overthrow him like a besieged town.

• He asks God to break the knots holding him back, imprisoning him in order to free him, and taking him by force in order to purify him.

John Donne by Nigel Boonham, 2012,St. Paul’s Cathedral Garden