The Flea

Summary
The speaker tells his beloved to look at the flea before them and to note how little is that thing that she denies him. For the flea, he says,
has sucked first his blood, then her blood, so that now, inside the flea, they are mingled; and that mingling cannot be called sin, or shame,
or loss of maidenhead. The flea has joined them together in a way that, alas, is more than we would do.
s his beloved moves to kill the flea, the speaker stays her hand, asking her to spare the three lives in the flea! his life, her life, and the
flea"s own life. #n the flea, he says, where their blood is mingled, they are almost married$no, more than married$and the flea is their
marriage bed and marriage temple mi%ed into one. Though their parents grudge their romance and though she will not make love to him,
they are nevertheless united and cloistered in the living walls of the flea. &he is apt to kill him, he says, but he asks that she not kill herself
by killing the flea that contains her blood; he says that to kill the flea would be sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
'ruel and sudden, the speaker calls his lover, who has now killed the flea, purpling her fingernail with the blood of innocence. The
speaker asks his lover what the flea"s sin was, other than having sucked from each of them a drop of blood. (e says that his lover replies
that neither of them is less noble for having killed the flea. #t is true, he says, and it is this very fact that proves that her fears are false! #f
she were to sleep with him )yield to me*, she would lose no more honor than she lost when she killed the flea.
Form
This poem alternates metrically between lines in iambic tetrameter and lines in iambic pentameter, a +,- stress pattern ending with two
pentameter lines at the end of each stan.a. Thus, the stress pattern in each of the nine,line stan.as is +-+-+-+--. The rhyme scheme in
each stan.a is similarly regular, in couplets, with the final line rhyming with the final couplet! //''000.
Commentary
This funny little poem again e%hibits 0onne"s metaphysical love,poem mode, his aptitude for turning even the least likely images into
elaborate symbols of love and romance. This poem uses the image of a flea that has just bitten the speaker and his beloved to sketch an
amusing conflict over whether the two will engage in premarital se%. The speaker wants to, the beloved does not, and so the speaker,
highly clever but grasping at straws, uses the flea, in whose body his blood mingles with his beloved"s, to show how innocuous such
mingling can be$he reasons that if mingling in the flea is so innocuous, se%ual mingling would be e1ually innocuous, for they are really the
same thing. /y the second stan.a, the speaker is trying to save the flea"s life, holding it up as our marriage bed and marriage temple.
/ut when the beloved kills the flea despite the speaker"s protestations )and probably as a deliberate move to s1uash his argument, as
well*, he turns his argument on its head and claims that despite the high,minded and sacred ideals he has just been invoking, killing the
flea did not really impugn his beloved"s honor$and despite the high,minded and sacred ideals she has invoked in refusing to sleep with
him, doing so would not impugn her honor either.
This poem is the cleverest of a long line of si%teenth,century love poems using the flea as an erotic image, a genre derived from an older
poem of 2vid. 0onne"s poise of hinting at the erotic without ever e%plicitly referring to se%, while at the same time leaving no doubt as to
e%actly what he means, is as much a source of the poem"s humor as the silly image of the flea is; the idea that being bitten by a flea would
represent sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead gets the point across with a neat conciseness and clarity that 0onne"s later religious lyrics
never attained.
The Sun Rising
Summary
3ying in bed with his lover, the speaker chides the rising sun, calling it a busy old fool, and asking why it must bother them through
windows and curtains. 3ove is not subject to season or to time, he says, and he admonishes the sun$the &aucy pedantic wretch$to go
and bother late schoolboys and sour apprentices, to tell the court,huntsmen that the 4ing will ride, and to call the country ants to their
harvesting.
5hy should the sun think that his beams are strong6 The speaker says that he could eclipse them simply by closing his eyes, e%cept that
he does not want to lose sight of his beloved for even an instant. (e asks the sun$if the sun"s eyes have not been blinded by his lover"s
eyes$to tell him by late tomorrow whether the treasures of #ndia are in the same place they occupied yesterday or if they are now in bed
with the speaker. (e says that if the sun asks about the kings he shined on yesterday, he will learn that they all lie in bed with the speaker.
The speaker e%plains this claim by saying that his beloved is like every country in the world, and he is like every king; nothing else is real.
7rinces simply play at having countries; compared to what he has, all honor is mimicry and all wealth is alchemy. The sun, the speaker
says, is half as happy as he and his lover are, for the fact that the world is contracted into their bed makes the sun"s job much easier$in its
old age, it desires ease, and now all it has to do is shine on their bed and it shines on the whole world. This bed thy centre is, the speaker
tells the sun, these walls, thy sphere.
Form
The three regular stan.as of The &un 8ising are each ten lines long and follow a line,stress pattern of +9--++----$lines one, five,
and si% are metered in iambic tetrameter, line two is in dimeter, and lines three, four, and seven through ten are in pentameter. The rhyme
scheme in each stan.a is //'0'0::.
Commentary
2ne of 0onne"s most charming and successful metaphysical love poems, The &un 8ising is built around a few hyperbolic assertions$
first, that the sun is conscious and has the watchful personality of an old busybody; second, that love, as the speaker puts it, no season
knows, nor clime, ; <or hours, days, months, which are the rags of time; third, that the speaker"s love affair is so important to the universe
that kings and princes simply copy it, that the world is literally contained within their bedroom. 2f course, each of these assertions simply
describes figuratively a state of feeling$to the wakeful lover, the rising sun does seem like an intruder, irrelevant to the operations of love;
to the man in love, the bedroom can seem to enclose all the matters in the world. The inspiration of this poem is to pretend that each of
these subjective states of feeling is an objective truth.
ccordingly, 0onne endows his speaker with language implying that what goes on in his head is primary over the world outside it; for
instance, in the second stan.a, the speaker tells the sun that it is not so powerful, since the speaker can cause an eclipse simply by closing
his eyes. This kind of heedless, joyful arrogance is perfectly tuned to the consciousness of a new lover, and the speaker appropriately
claims to have all the world"s riches in his bed )#ndia, he says, is not where the sun left it; it is in bed with him*. The speaker captures the
essence of his feeling in the final stan.a, when, after taking pity on the sun and deciding to ease the burdens of his old age, he declares
&hine here to us, and thou art everywhere.
A Valediction: forbidding Mourning
Summary
The speaker e%plains that he is forced to spend time apart from his lover, but before he leaves, he tells her that their farewell should not be
the occasion for mourning and sorrow. #n the same way that virtuous men die mildly and without complaint, he says, so they should leave
without tear,floods and sigh,tempests, for to publicly announce their feelings in such a way would profane their love. The speaker says
that when the earth moves, it brings harms and fears, but when the spheres e%perience trepidation, though the impact is greater, it is
also innocent. The love of dull sublunary lovers cannot survive separation, but it removes that which constitutes the love itself; but the love
he shares with his beloved is so refined and #nter,assured of the mind that they need not worry about missing eyes, lips, and hands.
Though he must go, their souls are still one, and, therefore, they are not enduring a breach, they are e%periencing an e%pansion; in the
same way that gold can be stretched by beating it to aery thinness, the soul they share will simply stretch to take in all the space between
them. #f their souls are separate, he says, they are like the feet of a compass! (is lover"s soul is the fi%ed foot in the center, and his is the
foot that moves around it. The firmness of the center foot makes the circle that the outer foot draws perfect! Thy firmness makes my circle
just, ; nd makes me end, where # begun.
Form
The nine stan.as of this =alediction are 1uite simple compared to many of 0onne"s poems, which utili.e strange metrical patterns overlaid
jarringly on regular rhyme schemes. (ere, each four,line stan.a is 1uite unadorned, with an // rhyme scheme and an iambic tetrameter
meter.
Commentary
=alediction! forbidding >ourning is one of 0onne"s most famous and simplest poems and also probably his most direct statement of his
ideal of spiritual love. For all his erotic carnality in poems, such as The Flea, 0onne professed a devotion to a kind of spiritual love that
transcended the merely physical. (ere, anticipating a physical separation from his beloved, he invokes the nature of that spiritual love to
ward off the tear,floods and sigh,tempests that might otherwise attend on their farewell. The poem is essentially a se1uence of
metaphors and comparisons, each describing a way of looking at their separation that will help them to avoid the mourning forbidden by the
poem"s title.
First, the speaker says that their farewell should be as mild as the uncomplaining deaths of virtuous men, for to weep would be profanation
of our joys. <e%t, the speaker compares harmful >oving of th" earth to innocent trepidation of the spheres, e1uating the first with dull
sublunary lovers" love and the second with their love, #nter,assured of the mind. 3ike the rumbling earth, the dull sublunary )sublunary
meaning literally beneath the moon and also subject to the moon* lovers are all physical, unable to e%perience separation without losing the
sensation that comprises and sustains their love. /ut the spiritual lovers 'are less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss, because, like the
trepidation )vibration* of the spheres )the concentric globes that surrounded the earth in ancient astronomy*, their love is not wholly
physical. lso, like the trepidation of the spheres, their movement will not have the harmful conse1uences of an earth1uake.
The speaker then declares that, since the lovers" two souls are one, his departure will simply e%pand the area of their unified soul, rather
than cause a rift between them. #f, however, their souls are two instead of one, they are as the feet of a drafter"s compass, connected,
with the center foot fi%ing the orbit of the outer foot and helping it to describe a perfect circle. The compass )the instrument used for drawing
circles* is one of 0onne"s most famous metaphors, and it is the perfect image to encapsulate the values of 0onne"s spiritual love, which is
balanced, symmetrical, intellectual, serious, and beautiful in its polished simplicity.
3ike many of 0onne"s love poems )including The &un 8ising and The 'anoni.ation*, =alediction! forbidding >ourning creates a
dichotomy between the common love of the everyday world and the uncommon love of the speaker. (ere, the speaker claims that to tell
the laity, or the common people, of his love would be to profane its sacred nature, and he is clearly contemptuous of the dull sublunary
love of other lovers. The effect of this dichotomy is to create a kind of emotional aristocracy that is similar in form to the political aristocracy
with which 0onne has had painfully bad luck throughout his life and which he commented upon in poems, such as The 'anoni.ation! This
emotional aristocracy is similar in form to the political one but utterly opposed to it in spirit. Few in number are the emotional aristocrats who
have access to the spiritual love of the spheres and the compass; throughout all of 0onne"s writing, the membership of this elite never
includes more than the speaker and his lover$or at the most, the speaker, his lover, and the reader of the poem, who is called upon to
sympathi.e with 0onne"s romantic plight.
The Broen !eart
Summary
The speaker declares that any man who claims he has been in love for an hour is insane; not because love decays in so short a time, but
because, in an hour, love can devour ten men$in other words, not because love itself is destroyed in an hour, but because it will destroy
the lover in much less time than that. To e%plain himself, the speaker uses an analogy! (e says that anyone who heard him claim to have
had the plague for an entire year would disbelieve him because the plague would have killed him in much less time than that. (e also says
that anyone who heard him claim to have seen a flask of gunpowder burn for an entire day would laugh at him because the flask would
have e%ploded immediately. 3ike the plague and the powder,flask, love works violently and swiftly.
5hat a trifle is a heart, the speaker says, #f once into 3ove"s hands it come? @nlike love, other feelings and other griefs do not demand
the entire heart, only a part of it. 2ther griefs come to us but 3ove draws us to it, swallowing us whole. >asses of people are felled by
3ove as ranks of soldiers are felled by chain,shot. 3ove is like a ravenous pike, and our hearts are like the small fish it feasts on.
ddressing his beloved, the speaker asks her a 1uestion! #f what he says about love is false, then what happened to his heart the first time
he saw her6 (e says that he entered the room with a heart, and left the room without one. #f his heart had been captured whole by his
beloved, he says, it would have taught her to treat him more kindly; instead, the impact of love shattered his heart as glass.
&till, he says, a thing cannot be so utterly destroyed that it becomes nothing; the pieces of his shattered heart are still in his breast. #n the
same way that a broken mirror reflects a hundred lesser faces, the speaker says that his rags of heart can like, wish, and adore; but
after e%periencing the shock of one such love, they can never love again.
Form
The four regular stan.as of The /roken (eart utili.e 0onne"s characteristically angular iambic meters; each stan.a is eight lines long, with
lines one, two, three, five, and si% in iambic tetrameter, and lines four, seven, and eight in iambic pentameter. )The line,stress pattern,
therefore, is+++-++-- in each stan.a.* :ach stan.a follows a rhyme scheme of //''00.
Commentary
The /roken (eart is an e%cellent e%ample of 0onne"s style in his metaphysical mode, transforming a relatively simple idea )that love
destroys the hearts that feel it* into an obli1ue, elaborate meditation full of startling images )the burning powder,flask, love as a carnivorous
fish* and implications. &tructurally, the poem looks at its theme from a different angle in each of its stan.as. The first stan.a is metaphorical
and e%planatory, establishing the basic idea of the poem by showing that to be in love for an entire hour would be like having the plague for
a year or seeing a flask of gunpowder burn for an entire day; love is instant, like the e%plosion of the flask. The second stan.a personifies
love as a kind of monster that destroys human beings, trifling with hearts, swallowing men whole )he never chaws*, killing whole ranks,
and devouring men as a pike devours smaller fish )(e is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry*.
#n the third stan.a, the speaker departs from the general and enters the specific, addressing his beloved and recalling the moment when
love destroyed hisheart, enabling him to understand that which he now writes in his poem; the instant he saw his beloved, love shattered
his heart like glass. The final stan.a offers a kind of moral for the poem, opening in a homiletic tone )nothing can to nothing fall, ; <or any
place be empty 1uite* and detailing what happens to a heart after it has been shattered by the force of love. The heart remains, the
speaker claims, in the breast, like shards of a broken mirror, able to reflect lesser emotions, such as hope and affection, but never again to
love.
Throughout, The /roken (eart typifies the 1uality of 0onne"s metaphysical poems. #t is often difficult to understand the speaker"s
language or to see 1uite where he is coming from )the opening of the poem is particularly difficult*, but once the basic idea is grasped, most
of the conceptual elements of the poem fall easily into place. #t is remarkable for its unusual conception of love$not many poets would
compare love to death by a violent disease$and for the surprising angles from which the speaker approaches that conception.
Themes" Motifs and Symbols
Themes
Lovers as Microcosms
0onne incorporates the 8enaissance notion of the human body as a microcosm into his love poetry. 0uring the 8enaissance, many people
believed that the microcosmic human body mirrored the macrocosmic physical world. ccording to this belief, the intellect governs the
body, much like a king or 1ueen governs the land. >any of 0onne"s poems$most notably The &un 8ising )ABCC*, The Dood,>orrow
)ABCC*, and =alediction! 2f 5eeping )ABCC*$envision a lover or pair of lovers as being entire worlds unto themselves. /ut rather than
use the analogy to imply that the whole world can be compressed into a small space, 0onne uses it to show how lovers become so
enraptured with each other that they believe they are the only beings in e%istence. The lovers are so in love that nothing else matters. For
e%ample, in The &un 8ising, the speaker concludes the poem by telling the sun to shine e%clusively on himself and his beloved. /y doing
so, he says, the sun will be shining on the entire world.
The Neoplatonic Conception of Love
0onne draws on the <eoplatonic conception of physical love and religious love as being two manifestations of the same impulse. #n
theSymposium )ca. third or fourth century /.'.:.*, 7lato describes physical love as the lowest rung of a ladder. ccording to the 7latonic
formulation, we are attracted first to a single beautiful person, then to beautiful people generally, then to beautiful minds, then to beautiful
ideas, and, ultimately, to beauty itself, the highest rung of the ladder. 'enturies later, 'hristian <eoplatonists adapted this idea such that the
progression of love culminates in a love of Dod, or spiritual beauty. <aturally, 0onne used his religious poetry to ideali.e the 'hristian love
for Dod, but the <eoplatonic conception of love also appears in his love poetry, albeit slightly tweaked. For instance, in the bawdy
:legy AE. To (is >istress Doing to /ed )ABBE*, the speaker claims that his love for a naked woman surpasses pictorial representations
of biblical scenes. >any love poems assert the superiority of the speakers" love to 1uotidian, ordinary love by presenting the speakers" love
as a manifestation of purer, <eoplatonic feeling, which resembles the sentiment felt for the divine.
Religious Enlightenment as Sexual Ecstasy
Throughout his poetry, 0onne imagines religious enlightenment as a form of se%ual ecstasy. (e parallels the sense of fulfillment to be
derived from religious worship to the pleasure derived from se%ual activity$a shocking, revolutionary comparison, for his time. #n (oly
&onnet A+ )ABCC*, for e%ample, the speaker asks Dod to rape him, thereby freeing the speaker from worldly concerns. Through the act of
rape, parado%ically, the speaker will be rendered chaste. #n (oly &onnet AF )AFEE*, the speaker draws an analogy between entering the
one true church and entering a woman during intercourse. (ere, the speaker e%plains that 'hrist will be pleased if the speaker sleeps with
'hrist"s wife, who is embraced and open to most men )A+*. lthough these poems seem profane, their religious fervor saves them from
sacrilege or scandal. Filled with religious passion, people have the potential to be as pleasurably sated as they are after se%ual activity.
The Search for the One True Religion
0onne"s speakers fre1uently wonder which religion to choose when confronted with so many churches that claim to be the one true
religion. #nA-AG, an ugustinian monk in Dermany named >artin 3uther set off a number of debates that eventually led to the founding of
7rotestantism, which, at the time, was considered to be a reformed version of 'atholicism. :ngland developed nglicanism in A-C+,
another reformed version of 'atholicism. This period was thus dubbed the 8eformation. /ecause so many sects and churches developed
from these religions, theologians and laypeople began to wonder which religion was true or right. 5ritten while 0onne was abandoning
'atholicism for nglicanism, &atire C reflects these concerns. (ere, the speaker wonders how one might discover the right church when
so many churches make the same claim. The speaker of (oly &onnet AF asks 'hrist to e%plain which bride, or church, belongs to 'hrist.
<either poem forthrightly proposes one church as representing the true religion, but nor does either poem reject outright the notion of one
true church or religion.
Motifs
Spheres
0onne"s fascination with spheres rests partly on the perfection of these shapes and partly on the near,infinite associations that can be
drawn from them. 3ike other metaphysical poets, 0onne used conceits to e%tend analogies and to make thematic connections between
otherwise dissimilar objects. For instance, in The Dood,>orrow, the speaker, through brilliant metaphorical leaps, uses the motif of
spheres to move from a description of the world to a description of globes to a description of his beloved"s eyes to a description of their
perfect love. 8ather than simply praise his beloved, the speaker compares her to a faultless shape, the sphere, which contains neither
corners nor edges. The comparison to a sphere also emphasi.es the way in which his beloved"s face has become the world, as far as the
speaker is concerned. #n =alediction! 2f 5eeping, the speaker uses the spherical shape of tears to draw out associations with
pregnancy, globes, the world, and the moon. s the speaker cries, each tear contains a miniature reflection of the beloved, yet another
instance in which the sphere demonstrates the ideali.ed personality and physicality of the person being addressed.
Discovery and Conuest
7articularly in 0onne"s love poetry, voyages of discovery and con1uest illustrate the mystery and magnificence of the speakers" love affairs.
:uropean e%plorers began arriving in the mericas in the fifteenth century, returning to :ngland and the 'ontinent with previously
unimagined treasures and stories. /y 0onne"s lifetime, colonies had been established in <orth and &outh merica, and the riches that
flowed back to :ngland dramatically transformed :nglish society. #n The Dood,>orrow and The &un 8ising, the speakers e%press
indifference toward recent voyages of discovery and con1uest, preferring to seek adventure in bed with their beloveds. This comparison
demonstrates the way in which the beloved"s body and personality prove endlessly fascinating to a person falling in love. The speaker of
:legy AE. To (is >istress Doing to /ed calls his beloved"s body my merica? my new,found land )9G*, thereby linking the con1uest of
e%ploration to the con1uest of seduction. To convince his beloved to make love, he compares the se%ual act to a voyage of discovery. The
comparison also serves as the speaker"s attempt to convince his beloved of both the naturalness and the inevitability of se%. 3ike the
mericas, the speaker e%plains, she too will eventually be discovered and con1uered.
Reflections
Throughout his love poetry, 0onne makes reference to the reflections that appear in eyes and tears. 5ith this motif, 0onne emphasi.es the
way in which beloveds and their perfect love might contain one another, forming complete, whole worlds. =alediction! 2f 5eeping
portrays the process of leave,taking occurring between the two lovers. s the speaker cries, he knows that the image of his beloved is
reflected in his tears. nd as the tear falls away, so too will the speaker move farther away from his beloved until they are separated at last.
The reflections in their eyes indicate the strong bond between the lovers in The Dood,>orrow and The :cstasy )ABCC*. The lovers in
these poems look into one another"s eyes and see themselves contained there, whole and perfect and present. The act of staring into each
other"s eyes leads to a profound mingling of souls in The :cstasy, as if reflections alone provided the gateway into a person"s innermost
being.
Symbols
!ngels
ngels symboli.e the almost,divine status attained by beloveds in 0onne"s love poetry. s divine messengers, angels mediate between
Dod and humans, helping humans become closer to the divine. The speaker compares his beloved to an angel in :legy AE. To (is
>istress Doing to /ed. (ere, the beloved, as well as his love for her, brings the speaker closer to Dod because with her, he attains
paradise on earth. ccording to 7tolemaic astronomy, angels governed the spheres, which rotated around the earth, or the center of the
universe. #n ir and ngels )ABCC*, the speaker draws on 7tolemaic concepts to compare his beloved to the aerial form assumed by
angels when they appear to humans. (er love governs him, much as angels govern spheres. t the end of the poem, the speaker notes
that a slight difference e%ists between the love a woman feels and the love a man feels, a difference comparable to that between ordinary
air and the airy aerial form assumed by angels.
The Compass
7erhaps the most famous conceit in all of metaphysical poetry, the compass symboli.es the relationship between lovers! two separate but
joined bodies. The symbol of the compass is another instance of 0onne"s using the language of voyage and con1uest to describe
relationships between and feelings of those in love. 'ompasses help sailors navigate the sea, and, metaphorically, they help lovers stay
linked across physical distances or absences. #n =alediction! Forbidding >ourning, the speaker compares his soul and the soul of his
beloved to a so,called twin compass. lso known as a draftsman"s compass, a twin compass has two legs, one that stays fi%ed and one
that moves. #n the poem, the speaker becomes the movable leg, while his beloved becomes the fi%ed leg. ccording to the poem, the
jointure between them, and the steadiness of the beloved, allows the speaker to trace a perfect circle while he is apart from her. lthough
the speaker can only trace this circle when the two legs of the compass are separated, the compass can eventually be closed up, and the
two legs pressed together again, after the circle has been traced.
"lood
Denerally blood symboli.es life, and 0onne uses blood to symboli.e different e%periences in life, from erotic passion to religious devotion.
#n The Flea )ABCC*, a flea crawls over a pair of would,be lovers, biting and drawing blood from both. s the speaker imagines it, the blood
of the pair has become intermingled, and thus the two should become se%ually involved, since they are already married in the body of the
flea. Throughout the Holy Sonnets, blood symboli.es passionate dedication to Dod and 'hrist. ccording to 'hristian belief, 'hrist lost
blood on the cross and died so that humankind might be pardoned and saved. /egging for guidance, the speaker in (oly &onnet G )ABCC*
asks 'hrist to teach him to be penitent, such that he will be made worthy of 'hrist"s blood. 0onne"s religious poetry also underscores the
'hristian relationship between violence, or bloodshed, and purity. For instance, the speaker of (oly &onnet E )ABCC* pleads that 'hrist"s
blood might wash away the memory of his sin and render him pure again.
#eneral Analysis
Hohn 0onne, whose poetic reputation languished before he was rediscovered in the early part of the twentieth century, is remembered
today as the leading e%ponent of a style of verse known as metaphysical poetry, which flourished in the late si%teenth and early
seventeenth centuries. )2ther great metaphysical poets include ndrew >arvell, 8obert (errick, and Deorge (erbert.* >etaphysical poetry
typically employs unusual verse forms, comple% figures of speech applied to elaborate and surprising metaphorical conceits, and learned
themes discussed according to eccentric and une%pected chains of reasoning. 0onne"s poetry e%hibits each of these characteristics. (is
jarring, unusual meters; his proclivity for abstract puns and double entendres; his often bi.arre metaphors )in one poem he compares love
to a carnivorous fish; in another he pleads with Dod to make him pure by raping him*; and his process of obli1ue reasoning are all
characteristic traits of the metaphysicals, unified in 0onne as in no other poet.
0onne is valuable not simply as a representative writer but also as a highly uni1ue one. (e was a man of contradictions! s a minister in
the nglican 'hurch, 0onne possessed a deep spirituality that informed his writing throughout his life; but as a man, 0onne possessed a
carnal lust for life, sensation, and e%perience. (e is both a great religious poet and a great erotic poet, and perhaps no other writer )with the
possible e%ception of (erbert* strove as hard to unify and e%press such incongruous, mutually discordant passions. #n his best poems,
0onne mi%es the discourses of the physical and the spiritual; over the course of his career, 0onne gave sublime e%pression to both realms.
(is conflicting proclivities often cause 0onne to contradict himself. )For e%ample, in one poem he writes, 0eath be not proud, though some
have called thee ; >ighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. Iet in another, he writes, 0eath # recant, and say, unsaid by me ; 5hate"er hath
slipped, that might diminish thee.* (owever, his contradictions are representative of the powerful contrary forces at work in his poetry and
in his soul, rather than of sloppy thinking or inconsistency. 0onne, who lived a generation after &hakespeare, took advantage of his divided
nature to become the greatest metaphysical poet of the seventeenth century; among the poets of inner conflict, he is one of the greatest of
all time.
Essay on John Donne - A Journey Through Vulnerability
John Donne uses poetry to explore his own identity, express his feelings, and most of all, he uses it to deal with the personal
experiences occurring in his life. Donne's poetry is a confrontation or struggle to find a place in this world, or rather, a role to
play in a society from which he often finds himself detached or withdrawn. This essay will discuss Donne's states of mind, his
views on love, women, religion, his relationship with God; and finally how the use of poetic form plays a part in his exploration
for an identity and salvation.
The speaker in Donne's poetry is a theatrical character, constantly in diferent situations, and using diferent roles to suit the
action. He can take on the role of the womanizer, as in "The Indiferent," or the faithful lover from "Lover's Infiniteness," but the
speaker in each of these poems is always John Donnehimself. Each poem contains a strong sense of Donne's own self-
interest. According to Professor J. Crofts, Donne:
Throughout his life... was a man self-haunted, unable to escape from his own drama, unable to find any window that would
not give him back the image of himself. Even the mistress of his most passionate love-verses, who must (one supposes) have
been a real person, remains for him a mere abstraction of sex: a thing given. He does not see her --does not apparently want
to see her; for it is not of her that he writes, but of his relation to her; not of love, but of himself loving.
In "Elegy XIX [To His Mistress Going to Bed]," we are confronted with one of Donne's personalities. The poem begins
abruptly: Come, Madam, come! All rest my powers defy;/ Until I labour, I in l abour lie. The reader is immediately thrust into
the middle of a private scene in which Donne attempts to convince his lover to undress and come to bed. There is only one
speaker in this poem, Donne, we do not hear the voice or a description of the feelings of another person, but she is always
present. If Samuel Johnson was correct when he made the statement that "the metaphysical poets were men of learning, and
to show their learning was their whole endeavour...," then the woman Donne is trying to convince is simply there so he can
create this poem. Donne uses wit as his poetic device, wit being defined as an elaborate parallel between two dissimilar
images or situations, namely the conceit. Donne does not give the woman a voice, and he most likely does not see her as
human but as a means to create a role for himself. He describes her body and her undressing in metaphors:
Of with that girdle, like Heaven's zone glittering,
But far fairer would encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear,
That th' eyes of busy fools may be stopped there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that it is now bedtime.
Of with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown going of, such beauteous state reveals
As when from fow'ry meads th' hill's shadows steals.
Of with that wiry coronet, and show
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow. [lines 3-16]

With these lines Donne is the poet first, using diferent poetic strategies to convince his lover, then he is a triumphant
explorer:
O my America, my new found land!
My kingdom, safeliest when one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How blest I am in this discovering thee! [lines 27-30]
Finally Donne is naked and vulnerable, involved in a battle of the sexes, struggling to get the woman undressed. Donne
cannot control how quickly she undresses, or whether she will undress at all. He deals with this problem through his use of
wit. "Elegy XIX" is an exercise for Donne, he explores various types of metaphors, and plays with the Petrarchan conceit, a
popular poetic genre of his day. The main role Donne explores in "Elegy XIX" is that of the poet, and he enjoys this process
because no matter what the outcome, Donne is still happy with the situation because he can write a poem describing various
ways in which he can convince his lover to do what he wants.
Donne's personality changed with every new experience. His poetry refects these changing roles by taking on a diferent
form each time. Perhaps "Elegy XIX" can be seen as a time in Donne's life when he wanted to establish himself as a poet in
his own mind, but there certainly was a significant event in Donne's life that changed his attitude toward women and himself.
"Elegy XIX" shows us a person who thinks only of his own gratification, the woman is there so he can invent. In "The Good
Morrow" Donne shows another side of himself, a man in love and finding his own identity inside another person, along with a
new and fully developed style. There is still that egocentric attitude and the use of extended metaphors, but also an element
of rebirth.
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did till we loved? were we not weaned till then,
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in seven sleepers' den?
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere. [lines 1-11]

These lines suggest that his past attitudes, past mistresses were somehow outside himself, or merely dreams of the woman
he is now in love with. The lovers are separate worlds, they maintain their own identities, but at the same time they are mixed
together forming a unit.
Let us posses one world; each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in fact rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die. [lines 14-21]

The lovers are cut of from the outside, they live in their own world. Donne sees himself in the refection of his lovers eyes,
obtaining an identity through her. He ceased to exist before he woke up in love with this woman.
Time disapproves of their love and Donne later finds his unit disturbed by the outside world. In "The Sun Rising," the sun
intrudes and reminds him that it is not just he and his lover that exist:
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus
Through windows and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest ofices;
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are rags of time. [lines 1-10]

This poem can be seen as a sort of dramatic monologue, a complaint to the sun. The sun reminds Donne of the outside
world, one that he is aware of, but wants no part in. He would rather exist outside of time, alone with his love inside the unit
they form. The couple's hands are firmly cemented, their eye beams twisted together to become one, as in "The Ecstasy." In
"The Sun Rising" Donne contrasts his relationship to the sun, the sun is aged and has worldly things to do, while Donne and
his lover appear timeless, immortal, able to disregard the sun with a wink of an eye. Eventually the couple contain the sun and
the world. The poet no longer contrasts his unit with the sun, because the lovers become the world:
She is all states, and all princes I;
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus;
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere. [lines 21-30]

Perhaps the most dramatic of Donne's poems is "The Canonization." This poem expresses Donne's anger at the criticism of
others and their opinions about how he chooses to live his life. The poem begins as a plea to be left alone, a demand for the
people bothering him to mind their own business:
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love;
Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five grey hairs, or ruined fortune fout;
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his Honour, or his Grace,
Or the king's real, or his stamped face
Contemplate; what you will, approve,
So you will let me love. [lines 1-9]

Donne is defending his choices, he chooses to remain set of from the outside world, alone in a relationship that hurts no one
save for their lack of understanding: The phoenix riddle hath more wit/ By us; we two being one, are it. This poem was written
most likely after his elopement with Ann More and the stress and disapprovement that went with his marriage. The beginning
of the poem brings the reader into a debate between Donne and his friend, and then he turns inward and examines his love,
the opponent is lost, and we get Donne's feelings on the matter of love:
We can die by it, if not live by love,
And if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
And by these hymns all shall approve
Us canonized for love... [lines 28-36]

Their love will become a legend inscribed on their tomb stones, immortalized in verse, building shelter through the poet's
words. He turns his love into the written Word, a law to live by, while others take to their courtly duties.
John Donne's Holy Sonnets reveal his relationship with God, his thoughts on religion, and his hope for salvation. Leaving the
Catholic Church left Donne alone, worried about his after-life, almost helpless. For a while Donne survived with his various
lovers and later his wife, but perhaps these sonnets bring us to the time after Ann More's death, when Donne did not have the
identity he found in the eyes of his lovers. Donne found himself alone with God and his religious beliefs. Writing poetry has
always been a private experience for Donne. His dramatic self-presentation remains in his writings. Professor Crofts asserts:
And so, later in life, though the stuf of his meditations changes, this inability to lose himself remains. It is not of God that he
thinks so often or so deeply as of his relation to God; of the torturing drama of his sin and its expiation, the sowing and the
reaping, the wheat and the tares. The great commonplace of his sermons, it has been said, is death: but in truth it is not death
that inspires his frightful eloquence so much as the image of himself dying; and the pre-occupation culminates in that ghastly
charade of his last hours, described by Walton, when he lay contemplating the portrait of himself in his winding-sheet like a
grim and mortified Narcissus.

Again, the reader is thrust into the action of the poem in "Sonnet 14." Donne calls on God in a frenzied demanding tone:
Batter my heart, three-personed God; for You/ As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend..., in a sense Donne wants
God to beat sin out of him because he feels tempted by it. Donne does not feel part of a unit at this moment and calls on God
to imprison him because he feels so distant and helpless.
The poet fears his own mortality and believes he is running towards death, that death is meeting him half-way. Many of the
Divine Poems describe Donne's sickness and loneliness. He asks God to act, to repair his illness and prevent aging. In "Holy
Sonnet 1" Donne appears to be helpless:
Thou hast made me, and shall Thy work decay?
Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste;
I run to death, and death meets me as fast... [lines 1-3]

He begs God to be a magnet for his hardened heart, to tear him away from sin. In "Sonnet 2" Donne wants God to fight for
him. Poetry now becomes the model for his own salvation. Donne, in a sense, is an active participant by calling on God to
save him. In "Sonnet 5," the poet sees himself as a little world, his body similar to the entire world, his eyes swelled with tears
like the sea. These images parallel his first Meditation:
Is this the honour which man hath by being a little world that he hath these earth quakes in himself, sudden shakings; these
lightnings, sudden fashes; these thunders, sudden noises; these eclipses, sudden ofuscations and darkening of his senses;
these blazing stars, sudden fiery exhalations; these rivers of blood, sudden red waters?
Donne refers to biblical stories of the Old Testament food and the New Testament Apocalypse as he calls for God to drown
and burn his sin contained within himself as a microcosm. In his sickness, he believes the biblical experience is being fulfilled
in him, as was the Old Testament in the New. The Meditations and the Holy Sonnets have some diferences. In the
Meditations, Donne seems alone in his sickness, scorning the weakness of man; but in the Divine poems he seems to
embrace sickness and death believing that this is how God is saving him from sin.
The "Hymn to God, My God, In My Sickness" was intended to be Donne's death-bed poem, the final acceptance of his
sickness that he believes was in preparation for his salvation:
Since I am coming to that holy room
Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore
I shall be made Thy Music, as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
And what I must do then, think here before. [lines 1-5]
The Hymn is a kind of personal release. The feeling of helplessness in his former poems are abandoned, and Donne seems
confident that his bodily illnesses tuned his soul so it can enter heaven. This tuning of instruments refers to the writing of the
Hymn itself, and the instrument, an image for Donne's soul, will become the music in Heaven.
John Donne takes a journey through his life and uses poetry in order to find his own identity. The poems take the reader
through dramatic situations, confrontations, and debates between the poet and a person whose voice is not heard. In the
poems Donne is acting out diferent personas-- characters like the womanizer, the monogamist lover, a man sick and dying
calling on God to save his soul, and finally a man accepting his death to the point of obsession. This is a journey through the
poet's vulnerability, his pleas for sex, isolation, and finally salvation. Donne's writing reveals his attitudes about sex and
religion, experiences he believes should be private and cut of from the outside and reality. By using elaborate conceits,
Donne is not only trying to be witty and show his great learning as Samuel Johnson might suspect. The paradoxes and
strange comparisons are written as an attempt to understand what is happening to him. The poetry portrays a man obsessed
with himself, and obsessed with finding a place or a person so he can exist.
Explication of John Donne's The Flea

John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his
significant other. However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests
seem insignificant. John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and
rhyme scheme. In the beginning, Donne uses the fea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other. For
instance, in the first stanza a fea bites thespeaker and woman. He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this fea our
bloods mingled be."

He is suggesting that they are united in this fea and ,thus, would equally be united in intimacy. In addition, he states, "This
fea is you and I, and this our marriage bed, and marriage temple is." The speaker is suggesting that through the fea the two
are married. Again, the fea represents marriage, union, and consummation through intimacy. However, the woman crushes
the fea, thus, refusing his request, and states that neither she nor he is weakened by its death.

Based on her reaction, the speaker states, "Tis true...Just so much honor, when they yield'st to me, Will waste, as this fea's
death took life from thee." In other words, he twists his argument to make the point that the woman will lose as much giving
herself to him as she lost killing the fea - NOTHING! Secondly, Donne's use of rhythm aids in shaping the poem's meaning.
The poem has alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and pentameter. However, Donne varies this rhythm to create emphasis
on particular words or phrases. For instance, in the first stanza he states, "Mark but this fea, and mark in this." Instead of
beginning with an unstressed word or syllable as in iambic, Donne stresses the word "Mark." This is important in
accentuating his argument. In this same phrase, he uses a pyrrhic foot over "but" and "this" so stress can be placed over the
word "fea." Again, the fea is an important part of the speaker's argument and emphasis is placed accordingly.

Finally, Donne's rhyme scheme plays an important part in the meaning. All twenty-seven lines of the poem follow the
aabbccddd rhyme scheme. This consistency in pattern refects the speaker's persistence as he proceeds with his request for
intimacy throughout the poem.
The Flea
The narrator in The Flea is a youthful man trying to convince a young woman to give her virginity to him. He tries to do this by
comparing their relationship to a fea that is in the room. The fea bites them both and Donne explains to her that this is
symbolic of both of their worlds combining into one. He says that the fea is now the realm of love, lust, and marriage. At first
this poem seems to be just about love, commitment from a male to a female, who says no his lustful desires. However, a
deeper look than just the superficial reveals that the male in this poem is actually revealing a valid point to his lady: that the
loss of innocence, such as her virginity, does not constitute a loss of her honor.
At first, this poem seems to be simply about a young, sexually hungry man who is trying to convince a girl to give into his
sexual wishes. She denies the ?wanna be? lover because she believes that the act of intercourse before marriage is a
dishonorable sin in the eyes of the church. The lady ends up killing the fea and symbolically killing the false world the man
had constructed in the fea. She then says that neither of them are any worse by killing the fea, which the male agrees with.
The man concludes his point by granting that the death of the fea does not really have any consequences, just like her fears
to loose her respectability and honor. His main point in all his talk about the fea is to show her that her honor will not be
ruined if she yields to him.
John Donne?s poem connects fesh and spirit, worldly and religious ideas in a fascinating way between seemingly unrelated
topics. He compares sexual intercourse to a bite of a fea and says that now their blood has mixed inside the fea. He also
compares the inside of the tiny fea to the entire world, including the couple. It is a world where their love can become a reality
and no shame will come to them.
Donne makes the point that the woman will lose as much honor giving herself to him as she will loose killing the fea, which is
nothing. However he realizes that the church does not see this adulteress act in the same way that they do. He always
respects her throughout the poem. The Flea is a mixture of love, lust, and marriage, hitched by Donne.
John Donne and an Analysis of "The Flea"
John Donne was born on Bread Street, London, in 1572. His family was very rich but they were Roman Catholic, not the
best group to be a part of at his time, in England. He studied three years at the University of Oxford and three years at
Cambridge. He never got a degree because he refused to take the oath of supremacy at graduation time. He then studied law
and was on his way to be a diplomat. He wrote a book of poems, Satires, after his brother died of fever in prison after ofering
sanctuary to a proscribed catholic priest. He then wrote a series of love poems in Songs and Sonnets. In 1596, he joined a
naval campaign against Spain and when he came back, 2 years later, he became secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton.
Just as he started doing well, he secretly married Egerton's niece, Anne More, and when discovered, he was thrown in jail
along with the two friends who had helped in his secret relationship. Anne's family helped them and a few years later, Donne
reconciliated with Sir Thomas and was finally given the dowry he was owed. He lived the next few years as a lawyer and lived
a poor existence. He then wrote two anti-Catholic poems that got him the king's favor and started working Sir Robert Drury of
Hawstead, who gave him an appartment in his castle for writing a beautiful eulogy for his 15 year old daughter. Donne and his
wife had 12 children, 7 of which survived and in 1617, Anne died at age 33, while giving birth to a stillborn child. He wrote
the Holy Sonnets. He was made vicar in 1625 but sufered from severe infections of the mouth which caused his death in
1931. He would've become a bishop in 1930. Before his death, he preached his own funeral sermon, Death's Duel. His last
piece was The Hymn to God, my God, in my sicknesse.
Donne is a very witty poet. In The Flea, like in many other poems, he tries to convince ayoung woman to sleep with him. He
compares giving up her virginity her virginity to the size of a fea go show how "unimportant" it is. "It suck'd me first and now
sucks thee" is used in the first stanza to argue that because their bloods are mixed inside the fea, they are married and
therefore, making love would not be a sin.
In the second stanza, the young woman wants to kill the fea but he stops her because in destroying the fea, she is really
destroying three lives: his, hers and the fea's, "three sins in killing three". . He also says that their union is alive inside the fea
and that killing the fea would destroy it. The woman doesn't listen and kills the fea anyway.
Finally, in the third stanza, he argues that the fea didn't deserve to die and that she should feel ashamed and weak. He
makes what she did see, like an evil deed and says thay sleeping with him is a similar sin, an unimportant one.
Valediction
John Donnes A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning is a poem written about a man who is explaining to his wife the state of
their love and how it will be as he is preparing for a journey. The title illustrates a farewell to the speakers wife forbidding her
to be unhappy and mournful at his depart. Donne compares the leaving to death of a man, but not as unfavorable because
his absence is only temporary: As virtuous men pass mildly away / and whisper to their souls to go... / Twere profanation of
our joys / To tell the laity of our love (1-8). The saying Absence makes the heart grow fonder parallels Donnes words
closely. The title of the poem uses the word mourning, suggesting that his leaving could cause similar actions that accompany
death and grief. Perhaps the speaker does not want to see his wife mourning his leave of absence, because it will make his
departure harder for both of them: No tear-foods or sigh-tempest move (6). The mere sight of his wifes tears and the
heartbreaking sound of her sigh could hinder his departure. Donne speaks of how earthquakes are very destructive, but their
time apart will be a constructive activity that will inevitably strengthen their relationship. In addition to earthquakes, Donne
also compares their feelings to the movement of the planets, in that they will know it is taking place: But trepidation of
spheres / Though greater for, is innocent (11-12). Donne depicts the strengthening of the couples love by comparing it to
someone hammering out gold. Their love may be stretched thin but it remains connected: Not a breach, but an expansion /
Like gold to airy thinness beat (22-24). Near the end of the poem, Donne indicates that the couples love resembles a
mathematicalcompass: As stif twin compasses are two / Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show / To move, but doth, of th
other do (26-28). The compass always makes a perfect circle. The circle, a universal sign for perfection denotes that as the
mans travels come to an end, he will always return to his wife: Thy firmness makes my circle just / And makes me end,
where I begun (35-36).
John Donne's Unusual Conceits: Bizarre Imagery or Thoughtful Comparisons?

What exactly do a fea and the intense emotion of love have in common? Does the sun ever intrude upon you and your
lover while in bed? To most people these questions would draw nothing but quizzical or blank stares followed by perhaps a
referral to one psychologist or another. However, if one asked a certain young minister from seventeenth century Londonthe
same questions, he would have suddenly become inspired. This exceptional personality was the metaphysical poet John
Donne.

Many people debate whether Donne's metaphysical style of verse is genuinely contemplative comparison or merely
eccentric imagery. However, if one looks deep enough into the witty his witty works such as, "The Sun Rising," or "The Flea,"
they will find evidence to support both views. It has been said of Donne's love poetry that it was "losing itself at times in the
fantastic and absurd" (Grierson 25). By using his unusual conceits, or far-fetched metaphors, John Donne utilizes his
remarkable ability to draw a wistful sigh of love from any reader while shocking and twisting brain cells at the same time. It is
this innovative method of combining such passion and great intellect that entices poets like T. S. Eliot to imitate him and
others like Samuel Johnson to criticize him.

One example of John Donne's words coming of as a thoughtful and indeed intriguing comparison is presented in "The Sun
Rising. " In this composition, Donne proclaims in a conceit, " She is all states, and all princes, I, Nothing else is" (Line 21-
22). By this he is so boldly declaring that he and his own love are the center of the universe and all that is important (Carey
109). He goes on to tell the "unruly sun," "This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere" (Line 30). By these lines we can
see that Donne is portraying love as an all-empowering emotion. He is telling us that being in love signifies a completeness,
an obsession that makes all else negligible.

When the speaker asserts to the sun, "If her eyes have not blinded thine; Look, and tomorrow late, tell me, Whether both the
Indias of spice and mine Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me," (Line 15-18), he is masterfully showing both his
loves' superiority and the sun's inferiority. Interestingly, Donne actually uses a popular misconception of the time, namely that
the sun revolved atound the Earth. Although his science may have been wrong, the technique of incorporating it into his
poetry was novel.

If we wanted to argue that John Donne's prose were actually indeed shocking imagery, then we would use his poem, "The
Flea" as the main piece of evidence. During the seventeenth century one popular belief was that during sexual intercourse,
the blood of two people actually mixed. This inspires Donne in the poem. He compares love to this fea, and argues to his
loved one, "It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this fea, our two bloods mingled be" (Lines 3-4). He goes on to
say, "This fea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is" (Lines 12-13). Here he is pleading that since
this ugly little fea has stolen a drop of blood from both their bodies and joined them involuntarily, now they have become
married in a sense.

However, his plans for seduction are suddenly thwarted when his listener "purpled" her nail by squashing the insect. Then
comes Donne's absolute final appeal. He cunningly declares to his love, "Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me, Will
waste, as this fea's death took life from thee" (Lines 26-27). In this last desperate attempt to sweep her of her feet, Donne in
essence ofers as his last point of persuasion the statement of, "Hey, I'm not all that bad. Remember how you only lost a drop
of blood when this fea died? Well, you'll lose only that much honor when you finally decide to give me a chance!"

It is also in this work that Donne presents a scene "that has the liveliness of the animal that plays there such a prominent
part" (Legouis 47), thus giving his readers a third character in "The Flea" which falls out of line from his common portrayals of
only two characters. As the work draws to a close, the bug is dead, each person is at their wits' end, and the matter of Donne
and this seemingly reluctant woman is left to our imagination as he ends the work, leaving even the audience in a perplexed
and slightly frustrated state of mind.

In retrospect, we now realize that the works of John Donne were both thoughtful and shocking at the same instance. His
ideas were probably too advanced for society at the time, but to most readers, Donne's meaningful lyric always unfolds
logically. It is with his unusual imagery tactics, basic everyday rhymes, and lively and witty pioneering spirit that John Donne
became the front-runner in the metaphysical movement, building the path for other great poets to walk along for many years
to come.

Works Cited
Carey, John. John Donne: Life, Mind and Art. NY: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Donne, John. John Donne Selected Poems. Shane Weller, ed. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993.
Grierson, J.C. "Donnes's Love Poetry." John Donne: A Collection of Critical Essays. Editor Helen Gardner. Englewood Clifs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 1962.
Religious Renewal and Sexual Masochism in "Batter my heart, three person'd God"

In Donne's Holy Sonnet, "Batter my heart, three person'd God," themes of religious renewal and sexual masochism are
abundant. While religious renewal is clearly the front-most, and most clearly defined meaning of the poem, the poet's choice
of words and subtle analogies leave the poem wide open for speculation in sexual meaning.
That John Donne was a preacher, the fire and brimstone, evangelical ringings of religious renewal in this poem are well
founded. A man's soul, invaded by Satan's sin, must be purged by whatever means necessary by God's force. Donne
associates his corrupted soul with that of an "usurp'd towne," invaded by an enemy (Satan), but "to'another due," (the Trinity).
He asks God to break the impurity by force and to beat his soul clean and into repentance. While this all makes sense on the
first level, there are many dualities, and sexual undertones present in the poem.

Several words in the poem contain multiple meanings, further promoting the mingling of the sacred and profane throughout
the poem. Particularly towards the end of the poem, these words help to justify what the reader might have guessed at earlier
in the poem. 'Enthrall,' for example, used in the sense of something God does to the poet, can mean 'to hold or capture,
enslave', (having a negative connotation) or 'to hold spellbound by pleasing qualities' (having a positive connotation). This
makes unclear, or at least arguable, Donne's attitudes toward the emotions involved in being taken by God, as well as the
possibility of pleasure found in a sexual act being described. Another, 'betroth'd,' usually means 'to engage (frequently a
woman) in the contract of marriage.' A second meaning, however, is the 'creation of the relationship between God and his
church or people.' The irony lies in the word's use in the poem: "and would be lov'd faine, / But am betroth'd unto your
enemy," indicating that the poet's soul is married to Satan, while simultaneously twisting the second meaning of the word.

Several instances in the poem seem to indicate that the poet, or speaker, is a woman. Perhaps Donne means to relate that
how God might treat a man who has betrayed him, is similar to how a man might treat his wife if she was unfaithful. Another
possible analogy is that God's physical power (or analogous spiritual power) over man is similar to man's power over women.
The phrase, "Labour to admit you," brings about sexual connotations, but (barring sodomy) would only be possible if the
poet/speaker were a woman. That the poet is "betroth'd unto" Satan, hints at the common meaning of the word, as a woman
is betrothed unto her husband. Again, the word "ravish" is defined as 'to commit rape upon a woman.' If the poem is read for
sexual connotations, it is notable that many of the 'sexual' acts (mostly by God to the poet) are acts that would usually
(especially in the 17th century) be done by the man to the woman. The man would usually divorce the wife, the man would
betroth the woman, ravish her, be admitted by her, and defend her.

The sexual undertones in this poem are blatant and masochistic. Most of the words used as actions of God to the poet
(batter, o'erthrow, bend, force, breake, blowe, burn, etc.) describe violent acts, as well as acts of love and renewal. This
mixing of violence and love, religion and sex, creates an intensity and tension in the poem. "Batter my heart, three person'd
God," indicates a ganging up on and beating of the poet by God. "O'erthrow mee,'and bend / Your force to breake, blowe,
burn and make me new," while again implying that the poet is a woman (God having to bend his force-phallic reference-to
break the woman, an expression used in the taking of a woman's virginity), indicates an act of sexual violence. "Untie, or
breake that knot againe" paints a picture of bondage, as does "imprison mee" and "enthrall mee." The last line, "Nor ever
chast, except you ravish mee" implies the rape of the virgin, having chastity no more after being ravished, or raped.

Either way you look at this poem, in the religious or sexual sense, it is powerful and controlling. Donne intertwines sexual
connotations with religious renewal and the ridding of sins from the body. He has made sure not to support either reading too
fully, leaving both open to speculation.
A Comparison of Two Love Poems
In this essay I am going to compare To His Coy Mistress, written
around 1640 by Andrew Marvell, with The Sun Rising, written by John
Donne around 1600. Although they are both love poems of a kind, they
are diferent many ways, especially their attitudes to women, love and
time.
The speaker in To His Coy Mistress is a guy, trying to persuade a
woman to have sex with him. She is being coy, which suggests she is
being shy on a playful, teasing or provocative way. To try and
persuade her, he uses a three-stage argument If, But, Therefore.
The If section of the poem says that if they had forever, he would
woo her slowly, and respect her honour by not hurrying her:
Had we but world enough, and time
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
He feels she deserves to be wooed slowly, and be fattered and
praised:
For, Lady, you deserve this state
Nor would I love at lower rate
This section of the poem is praising and fattering, but joking and a
bit nudge nudge. For example:
My vegetable love would grow,
Vaster than empires and more slow
This means he would have lots of love for her, and it would be natural
and organic. But it also implies that his vegetable would grow very
big, and hes boasting to her about it. Hes trying to subconsciously
get the lady to think in a sexual way. The same goes with:
Two thousand to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest
Hes gradually praising her body; her forehead and eyes, then her
breasts, and then the rest. Working his way downward, this would
imply her groin area again, trying to get her to think sexually.
These phrases with more then one meaning are called double ententres
or double meanings. Marvell uses them all though the poem.
The But section of the poem says that they dont have forever
because everyones going to die eventually:
But at my back I always hear
Times wingd chariot hurrying near
The rhythm of this couplet is especially clever, as it mimics a
galloping pace times wingd chariot. Another good example of
rhythm is:
The graves a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace
This one is bouncy and more joking, a bit sarcastic maybe. It says
that the graves nice enough, and quiet, but that no one meets a lover
there.
This section of the poem also contains a nasty idea, possibly to scare
the girl:
Then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity
This means that if she dies a virgin, then no one will have sex with
her after shes dead, and the only things in that area will be worms.
The therefore section of the poem says that they should have fun while
they can:
Now let us sport us while we may
He thinks that they should have sex now, because who knows how long
theyll be around? He says it would be better to do what you wanted,
and live for a short time, than to live for a long time not doing what
you want:
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapped power
Another good example of rhythm in this section is:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun,
Stand still, yet we will make him run
The words stand still make you slow down in your reading, giving a
more still efect.
The poem is written with each line having eight syllables, with four
beats. The poem is arranged in rhyming couplets.
The tone of the poem is fattering to start with, but becomes scaring
and ironic in the middle, and energetic towards the end.
The Sun Rising is also narrated by a man, who is annoyed with the
sun for waking him up when hes in bed with his lover, who means
everything to him. In the first stanza, the guy is annoyed, and
telling the sun to go away, because lovers dont need to get up when
theyre told to:
Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Though windows and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?
Love is more important than time, and above all that:
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
In the second stanza, the guy says the suns not that brilliant:
Thy beams, so reverend and strong,
Why shouldst thy think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long
He says he would prove that he could shut the sun out by closing his
eyes, but that then he wouldnt be able to see his girl, who is so
wonderful, as he says in the third stanza:
Shes all States, and all Princes, I:
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us, compared to this.
All honours mimic; all wealth alchemy.
He means nothing else is important because between him and his girl,
they are everything. He goes on to say that the sun should be happy
that the entire world is in one place. The sun is old, and has to warm
the world. If the worlds all in one place, then the sun only has to
warm place in one room.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, thats done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere.
This poem is set out in three stanzas of ten lines, each with a very
definite, set rhyming pattern a, b, b, a, c, d, c, d, e, e where a
rhymes with a, b rhymes with b etc.
The tone of voice the guy uses in this poem starts of angry and
irritable, but becomes joking and ironic towards the second half of
the poem.
John Donne - Analysis
John Donne, whose poetic reputation languished before he was rediscovered in the early part of the
twentieth century, is remembered today as the leading exponent of a style of verse known as
"metaphysical poetry," which flourished in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. (Other
great metaphysical poets include ndrew !arvell, "obert #errick, and $eorge #erbert.% !etaphysical
poetry typically employs unusual verse forms, complex figures of speech applied to elaborate and
surprising metaphorical conceits, and learned themes discussed according to eccentric and unexpected
chains of reasoning. Donne&s poetry exhibits each of these characteristics. #is 'arring, unusual meters(
his proclivity for abstract puns and double entendres( his often bi)arre metaphors (in one poem he
compares love to a carnivorous fish( in another he pleads with $od to make him pure by raping him%(
and his process of obli*ue reasoning are all characteristic traits of the metaphysicals, unified in Donne
as in no other poet.
Donne is valuable not simply as a representative writer but also as a highly uni*ue one. #e was a man
of contradictions+ s a minister in the nglican ,hurch, Donne possessed a deep spirituality that
informed his writing throughout his life( but as a man, Donne possessed a carnal lust for life,
sensation, and experience. #e is both a great religious poet and a great erotic poet, and perhaps no
other writer (with the possible exception of #erbert% strove as hard to unify and express such
incongruous, mutually discordant passions. -n his best poems, Donne mixes the discourses of the
physical and the spiritual( over the course of his career, Donne gave sublime expression to both
realms.
#is conflicting proclivities often cause Donne to contradict himself. (.or example, in one poem he
writes, "Death be not proud, though some have called thee / !ighty and dreadful, for thou art not so."
0et in another, he writes, "Death - recant, and say, unsaid by me / 1hate&er hath slipped, that might
diminish thee."% #owever, his contradictions are representative of the powerful contrary forces at work
in his poetry and in his soul, rather than of sloppy thinking or inconsistency. Donne, who lived a
generation after 2hakespeare, took advantage of his divided nature to become the greatest
metaphysical poet of the seventeenth century( among the poets of inner conflict, he is one of the
greatest of all time.
John Donne - "The Canonization"
Summary
3he speaker asks his addressee to be *uiet, and let him love. -f the addressee cannot hold his tongue,
the speaker tells him to critici)e him for other shortcomings (other than his tendency to love%+ his
palsy, his gout, his "five grey hairs," or his ruined fortune. #e admonishes the addressee to look to his
own mind and his own wealth and to think of his position and copy the other nobles ("Observe his
#onour, or his $race, / Or the 4ing&s real, or his stamped face / ,ontemplate."% 3he speaker does not
care what the addressee says or does, as long as he lets him love.
3he speaker asks rhetorically, "1ho&s in'ured by my love5" #e says that his sighs have not drowned
ships, his tears have not flooded land, his colds have not chilled spring, and the heat of his veins has
not added to the list of those killed by the plague. 2oldiers still find wars and lawyers still find litigious
men, regardless of the emotions of the speaker and his lover.
3he speaker tells his addressee to ",all us what you will," for it is love that makes them so. #e says
that the addressee can ",all her one, me another fly," and that they are also like candles ("tapers"%,
which burn by feeding upon their own selves ("and at our own cost die"%. -n each other, the lovers find
the eagle and the dove, and together ("we two being one"% they illuminate the riddle of the phoenix,
for they "die and rise the same," 'ust as the phoenix does66though unlike the phoenix, it is love that
slays and resurrects them.
#e says that they can die by love if they are not able to live by it, and if their legend is not fit "for
tombs and hearse," it will be fit for poetry, and "1e&ll build in sonnets pretty rooms." well6wrought
urn does as much 'ustice to a dead man&s ashes as does a gigantic tomb( and by the same token, the
poems about the speaker and his lover will cause them to be "canoni)ed," admitted to the sainthood of
love. ll those who hear their story will invoke the lovers, saying that countries, towns, and courts "beg
from above / pattern of your love7"
Form
3he five stan)as of "3he ,anoni)ation" are metered in iambic lines ranging from trimeter to
pentameter( in each of the nine6line stan)as, the first, third, fourth, and seventh lines are in
pentameter, the second, fifth, sixth, and eighth in tetrameter, and the ninth in trimeter. (3he stress
pattern in each stan)a is 89889989:.% 3he rhyme scheme in each stan)a is ;;,,,DD.
Commentary
3his complicated poem, spoken ostensibly to someone who disapproves of the speaker&s love affair, is
written in the voice of a world6wise, sardonic courtier who is nevertheless utterly caught up in his love.
3he poem simultaneously parodies old notions of love and coins elaborate new ones, eventually
concluding that even if the love affair is impossible in the real world, it can become legendary through
poetry, and the speaker and his lover will be like saints to later generations of lovers. (#ence the title+
"3he ,anoni)ation" refers to the process by which people are inducted into the canon of saints%.
-n the first stan)a, the speaker obli*uely details his relationship to the world of politics, wealth, and
nobility( by assuming that these are the concerns of his addressee, he indicates his own background
amid such concerns, and he also indicates the extent to which he has moved beyond that background.
#e hopes that the listener will leave him alone and pursue a career in the court, toadying to aristocrats,
preoccupied with favor (the 4ing&s real face% and money (the 4ing&s stamped face, as on a coin%. -n the
second stan)a, he parodies contemporary <etrarchan notions of love and continues to mock his
addressee, making the point that his sighs have not drowned ships and his tears have not caused
floods. (<etrarchan love6poems were full of claims like "!y tears are rain, and my sighs storms."% #e
also mocks the operations of the everyday world, saying that his love will not keep soldiers from
fighting wars or lawyers from finding court cases66as though war and legal wrangling were the sole
concerns of world outside the confines of his love affair.
-n the third stan)a, the speaker begins spinning off metaphors that will help explain the intensity and
uni*ueness of his love. .irst, he says that he and his lover are like moths drawn to a candle ("her one,
me another fly"%, then that they are like the candle itself. 3hey embody the elements of the eagle
(strong and masculine% and the dove (peaceful and feminine% bound up in the image of the phoenix,
dying and rising by love. -n the fourth stan)a, the speaker explores the possibility of canoni)ation in
verse, and in the final stan)a, he explores his and his lover&s roles as the saints of love, to whom
generations of future lovers will appeal for help. 3hroughout, the tone of the poem is balanced between
a kind of arch, sophisticated sensibility ("half6acre tombs"% and passionate amorous abandon ("1e die
and rise the same, and prove / !ysterious by this love"%.
"3he ,anoni)ation" is one of Donne&s most famous and most written6about poems. -ts criticism at the
hands of ,leanth ;rooks and others has made it a central topic in the argument between formalist
critics and historicist critics( the former argue that the poem is what it seems to be, an anti6political
love poem, while the latter argue, based on events in Donne&s life at the time of the poem&s
composition, that it is actually a kind of coded, ironic rumination on the "ruined fortune" and dashed
political hopes of the first stan)a. 3he choice of which argument to follow is largely a matter of personal
temperament. ;ut unless one seeks a purely biographical understanding of Donne, it is probably best
to understand the poem as the sort of droll, passionate speech6act it is, a highly sophisticated defense
of love against the corrupting values of politics and privilege.