The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2001 book by Louis Menand, an American writer and notable academic, and won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for History. Considered by some to be a staple in the education of intellectual history, Louis Menand’ work is a carefully crafted artistic book that considers the intellectual history of notable men and the ideas they brought about. However, one must step-back and truly consider whether Menand’s is simply just a fun historical
Abstract This paper describes the poetry of a well-known poet JOHN DONNE, in respect to his combination of love and religious poetry in the context of his metaphysical poems. The main themes of his poetry always aroused from the thought of ecstasy. In his poetry we can find a definite link between human love and divine love. He truly describes how the two souls in love depart from their bodies during their physical union and spiritually join together before returning to their actual bodies. This
The 17th and18th Centuries Essay Outline Throughout the historic times of the 17th and 18th century many poets begun to write metaphysical poetry. They begin to turn away from the standard neoclassicism writing. Many poets begun to write metaphysical and or philosophical issues which consist of two poetic devices such as conceits and paradoxes. Poets begun to write metaphysical poetry because they lost faith in the power of human reasons during the eclipse of the enlightenment era in the 1700s. The
The Flea by John Donne, published in 1633, is an erotic metaphysical poem in which the concept of a flea serves as an extended metaphor for the relationship between the speaker and his beloved. In comparison George Herbert’s The Altar, also published in 1633, demonstrates through the conceit of an altar how one should offer himself as a sacrifice to the Lord. This essay will compare and contrast; the poetic techniques, the shape of the poems and the use of meter. This essay will also highlight how
Paradise Lost is the creative epic poem and the passionate expression of Milton’s religious and political vision, the culmination of his young literary ambition as a 17th century English poet. Milton inherited from his English predecessors a sense of moral function of poetry and an obligation to move human beings to virtue and reason. Values expressed by Sir Philip Sidney, Spencer and Jonson. Milton believes that a true poet ought to produce a best and powerful poem in order to convince his readers
Alvin Carl Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga born on November 15, 1932. He is an American analytic philosopher who major in logic, justification, philosophy of religion, and epistemology. Moreover, from 1983 to 1986, Plantinga also known as a prominent Christian philosopher and served president of the Society of Christian Philosophers. “America’s leading orthodox Protestant philosopher of God” is the title that being given to him and it was described by Time magazine. Alvin Plantinga has avowedly
All the poems are written for a purpose, and each one of them has a very deep meaning. To his Coy Mistress(THCM) by Andrew Marvell and The Flea by John Donne share very similar purpose. In both the poems, an anonymous male addresses his desire to sleep with the women, however, both males uses different techniques to try to get women to sleep with them. In the poem by Marvell, the male lover uses the concept of carpe diem to get the woman, whereas in the poem by Donne, speaker exploits flea in an
discusses how physical love may be just lust and may not last long and that spiritual love is beyond that. C. Their love is greater than ordinary lover’s love. It goes beyond just the physical and Donne shows this through metaphysical conceits. II. Body Paragraph 1 A. Donne uses metaphysical conceit to show that him and his wife will always be together. 1. When you have a spiritual love, distance doesn’t matter. a. “If they be two, they are two so as stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fixed foot
Renaissance period by two prominent poets, Andrew Marvel and John Donne, who were famous for their works; particularly in poetry. In addition, they came to uphold the stylistic writing known as metaphysical poetry, which was quite popular for the time it was written in. Therefore, their work reflects the metaphysical concerns, theoretical ideas, and the highly abstract. Concerning the two poems, something of note to the reader is the similar context as well as the themes presented. In the poem “To His
“Malcom X” is a great movie where Denzel Washington plays the role of Malcom X. Washington did a phenomenal job playing this role. After doing my research on Malcom X in the past, Malcom X once said “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against”. In the speech that I will focus on Malcom X shockingly said he stands for nothing but what he was when he was born; a black man. Malcom X’s address to the people of Harlem grabbed many people’s attention. I believe
“I have a rendezvous with Death”. This poem is written by Alan Seeger. It talks about situation of speaker in war on theme of death. He starts his title “I have a rendezvous with Death” with paradoxical words. The word "rendezvous" is a positive term where people arrange to meet each other with willing. 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
On June 11th of 1963 President John F. Kennedy gave his Civil Rights Address to the citizens of the United States of America. In President Kennedy’s speech, he shows and expresses his thoughts, feelings, and truth with supporting facts regarding his claim to expand equal rights to African Americans. The entire speech is structured in a way that he can really explain how he feels He goes from point to point to express his logic and emotions towards the unfair treatment of African Americans . In Kennedy’s
Donne begins the poem by asking the young woman to “Mark this flea” (line 1) which has bitten and sucked blood from both himself and her. He points out that she has “denied” him something which the flea has not refrained from enjoying: the intimate union of their bodily fluids (in this case, blood). Donne made a spiritual Point by using sexual themes language and imagery, he made it seem as though the erotic life had an almost mystical power to unite people. The flea is more of a love poem but the
Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, or Matsuo Basho most commonly known, was a 17th century poet and to this day is known as the “greatest master of the haiku”of the Tokugawa, or the Edo Era (1603-1867). During this era, Japan closed their borders to decrease the influence of the Western world. This action allowed Japanese culture to flourish. Born in 1644 in the Ueno province of Japan (today known as Honshu), Matsuo Basho grew up with his father, mother, and six siblings. His father, Matsuo Yozaemon was a
The classic love and war story, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, tells the story of Lieutenant Henry and his love, Catherine Barkley. Taking place in World War One and being published just a few years after, the book is loosely based on Hemingway's own personal experiences in the war. It explores the themes of love, war, hope, and grief. This book made waves when first released in the 1920s and had continued to remain a classic to this very day. Critics have both positive and negative things
Human beings: wonderful creatures who must rely on others from time to time, and occasionally become overconfident in their abilities. In Walden; Or, Life in the Woods, Thoreau encourages self-reliance by articulating the benefits. Thoreau’s experiences influenced Chris McCandless, whose untimely death in Alaska inspired the book and movie Into the Wild. The book and movie about McCandless in turn drove others to become overconfident in their abilities to try to live in the wild, which led to dangerous
John Donne was an English poet, cleric in the Church of England and a lawyer, who was known as the representative of metaphysical poets. He has a great range of literary works that he wrote but his most recognized are sonnets. One of the most important themes in his poems is the concept of the true religion about which he wrote many worldly poems in which he showed his substantial attention in religious beliefs. The best example for this are his 19 Holy Sonnets, which were published 2 years after
Conclusion The conclusion captures the sentiment of the rest of the speech as explorers who dedicated their lives to a cause that were not in vain and should not be lamented. Because of the independent nature of Reagan’s speaking, the conclusion mostly appears at the end of his main points with two new references that relate to the lives of those aboard the challenger. These references being of Sir Francis Drake and his coincidental death date and a WWII poem about “touching the face of G-d”. Both
Metaphysical poetry is a type of poetry written during 17th century England. Usually, these poems are written for intellectual and personal benefits. The themes of the poems that are featured in this essay usually are sexual or romantic, talking about love or a lover. However, although the themes are similar, the attitudes to love or sex are different. “The Flea” is a poem that constantly tries to outsmart and persuade the narrator’s mistress to make love with him. The narrator tries to make use
American Romanticism American Romanticism is a concept that developed in the 17th century. Romanticism is all about emotions, the meaning of life, religion, society, the human form, death, and nature. Romanticism is very diverse and complex because each writer interprets the themes differently and each person who reads the poem can see something different and unique. Two famous and influential romantic poets were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Although Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were both