ipl-logo

John Donne Metaphysical Poetry Analysis

1404 Words6 Pages

John Donne is the most original poets in English literature history, he is best known for his metaphysical poetry that brings his experience into his verse. William Shakespeare is also one of the greatest playwrights of Elizabethan dramatist because of his unique and intricate style of writing. Both Donne and Shakespeare wrote sonnets, which are fourteen-line lyric poems. In this assignment I will analyze (Batter my heart) Donne's sonnet and (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day) Shakespeare's sonnet. Part1: John Donne is the classic representative of metaphysical poetry his personality compelled to bring all his experience into his verse. He involves the natural in his writing; he uses natural expression by his learned and genius mind. We can say that John is a genius poet who is a power of imagination which gives us something new to remember and think about it. …show more content…

He wants to be with God because he loves him, but is completely given over to God's enemy. The speaker orders God to break the bonds to be free and come back to God. He uses alliteration in the fourth line, “Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.” Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day In this poem the poet is talking to someone he loves. This poem is a sonnet. It consists of 14 lines. The form of this poem is called a Shakespearean sonnet which forms 14 lines of a rhyme a b a b c d c d e f e f g g . He used the Iambic Pentameter in the whole poem. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day: The speaker starts the poem with a rhetorical question and he compares the person he loves to a nice day of the summer. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May: He compares the wind to a man who is shaking the person he loves. In line 5, 'the eye of heaven' refers to the sun. There is an alliteration of the (f) sound in line 7 "Every fair from fair sometimes decline" There is a personification in line 11. The death described as a braggart or empty

Show More
Related

  • Closed Essays: Daystar By Rita Dove

    703 Words  | 3 Pages

    Closed Essay “Daystar” In “Daystar,” Rita Dove uses imagery, language, and a Hyperbole to describe, a short moment in a life of a mother, who is struggling to have time to her self. Dove depicts a moment of rest, making the readers understand how short of time a mother really has to think about herself. The Language Rita Dove uses in the first stanza, sets the tone for struggling, however the tone does change.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Shakespeare And Billy Collins

    568 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Sonnet” by Billy Collins and “My Mistress’ Eyes” by William Shakespeare differ greatly in construction and diction but both share satirical tones. Collins’ poem feels more modern through his use of common words and ironic phrases but Shakespeare’s poem, although quite humorous, reads like one would expect a Shakespeare sonnet to. Both poems share a similar theme of irony, though their subject matter is drastically different. Shakespeare’s sonnet is ironic when compared to “Sonnet” as it mocks the lover of its speaker, something that “Sonnet” chastises famous poets on.

    Read More

  • Margaret Edson And John Donne Analysis

    758 Words  | 4 Pages

    John Donne and W;t To dwell upon ones’ notion of death, and morality, is to comprehend ones’ values and thoughts through the context of society… Though different eras both John Donne and Margaret Edson explore similar thematic concepts: The Holy Sonnets and W;t. The presence of death, morality and conspicuous human nature, explores the ethical and moral structure of present society, and broadens our understanding of the ever changing beliefs, values, and contexts of the current audience. Edson had written her play during the mid 1990’s in a time where the secularised society viewed death as less prominent, and the consequential effect on society’s attitude towards death in Donne’s era. Edson’s play essentially transfigures the poems into a

    Read More

  • I Have A Rendezvous With Death Analysis

    1000 Words  | 4 Pages

    For the word "Death" also known as in negative term means losses that no one wants to meet with him. He also uses ironic diction. There are three stanzas; six, eight, and ten lines. Including to rhyme scheme throughout each stanza.

    Read More

  • George Gascoigne Literary Devices

    470 Words  | 2 Pages

    This Elizabethan sonnet by George Gascoigne is a tortured self-confession of one “He” who “looked not upon her.” Gascoigne effectively illustrates the speaker’s paradoxical feelings for a woman through a series of literary devices such as extended metaphors, imagery, and alliteration, developing an easily identifiable conflict between the speaker’s desire for his lover and fear of being hurt again. The first stanza introduces us to the central paradox of the poem: why does the speaker “take no delight” in ranging his eyes “about the gleams” on his lover’s beautiful face? To answer this question, the speaker employs two extended metaphors that vividly illustrate this conundrum.

    Read More

  • Comparing Love In Sonnet And Harryette Mullen's Dim Lady

    956 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the ages, sonnets represent thematic messages of love and immortality while also following a strict, rigid structure of fourteen lines with a varying rhyme scheme depending on the type of sonnet. One of these sonnets, Shakespearean, was created by none other than William Shakespeare. For example, his sonnet “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” focuses heavily on loving a woman despite her ugly features; however, many modern poets break this strict structure, such as Harryette Mullen’s take on Shakespeare’s sonnet where she places a modern twist on the speaker’s view of a woman. Although both sonnets focus on the traditional theme of love, Mullen’s “Dim Lady” breaks away from the typical conventions and structure of a sonnet

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Questions And Answers

    376 Words  | 2 Pages

    Second, the poem parallels the description of the Valley of Ashes as a “desolate area of land” (35), just as the hollow men live in “the dead land” (line 39). Third, in lines 22-23, “There, the eyes are sunlight on a broken column.” Just as a broken column symbolizes decay, Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes look down on the Valley of Ashes, which symbolizes God looking down on the moral decline of the 1920s. Fourth, in lines 27-28, the poem illustrates a dream “more distant and

    Read More

  • Sonnets Comparison Essay

    1515 Words  | 7 Pages

    'Shall I compare thee ' deals with the idea of a perfect lover and the fading beauty of both women and the seasons. 'Let me not ' is about ideal love in its most perfect and purest form. In 'Shall I compare thee ' Shakespeare describes a lover 'more temperate ' than a summer 's day. Shakespeare asserts the opinion that the beauty of summer is nothing compared to this perfect human being.

    Read More

  • The Poet's Obligation Poem Analysis

    1442 Words  | 6 Pages

    Also in line 19, the word “autumn” appears, and it gives the image of the fall of life, and a time that is near death. Even more, “shroud” which is used to describe people’s heart, originally means a piece

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Sonnet 18 And My Last Duchess

    1282 Words  | 6 Pages

    In these short poems, the authors utilize particular rhetorical techniques and methods to reflect the speakers’ personality and motivation. Therefore, presenting the speaker becomes the main focus of the authors. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” both poems reflect the speakers’ traits through monologue, figurative language, and symbolism. However, these two speakers’ personalities are different due to their attitude toward their beloved. The speaker in Sonnet 18 is gentle and delighted but frustrated because the ideal metaphor comparison of summer is not perfect for describing his beloved; the poem thus suggests that the way you love others reflects how you feel about yourself.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: Nothing But Death By Pablo Neruda

    1000 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poet compared the graves like a shipwreck that is the death will take the human go down and drowning to the underground like the dead bodies in the graves. The last line “as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul.” is like the rotting of the dead bodies. The second stanza there is one Simile in this

    Read More

  • Sonnet 71 Figurative Language

    1351 Words  | 6 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s sonnets are closely related in the idea that the theme as well as the subject of the poem remain consistent. A distinctive factor among Shakespeare’s sonnets however, is that they each contain somewhat varying tones. Two specific sonnets that prove this are “Sonnet 71” and “Sonnet 73” respectively. Both sonnets refer to the same subject, what is seemingly the speaker of the poem’s lover or mistress. The theme of death and dying are ones which remain present throughout each text.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Love In Sonnet 116 And Forbidding Mourning

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Donne 's poem showcased a more refined explanation of love, while Shakespeare simply defined what it should be. What stood out most from Donne’s poem was the ability to make it personal. Every line makes the reader feel something; it draws the reader into the text and allows them to make connections. Shakespeare just doesn’t do that; he sticks to the definition love and gives no opportunity to add personal meaning to his writing. When talking about love, a poem must make a connection.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Sonnet 130

    862 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” the reader is constantly tricked into thinking he will compare his mistress to something beautiful and romantic, but instead the speaker lists beautiful things and declares that she is not like them. His language is unpredictable and humor is used for a majority of the poem. This captivating sonnet uses elements such as tone, parody, images, senses, form, and rhyme scheme to illustrate the contradicting comparisons of his mistress and the overarching theme of true love. Shakespeare uses parody language to mock the idea of a romantic poem by joking about romance, but ultimately writes a poem about it.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Love In Shakespeare's Sonnet

    2302 Words  | 10 Pages

    This theme is basic spirit of all sonnets of him. His treatment of love has something divine quality. “His love is ideal love and surpasses the love of Dante for his Beatrice and the love of Petrarch for his Laura. Nor could Mrs. Browning, in her sonnets, written much later and addressed to her husband, equal Shakespeare’s ardor and fervor.” 5 It is classical

    Read More

More about John Donne Metaphysical Poetry Analysis

Open Document