John Donne: As a love poet or modern poet

                      John Donne as A love poet or Modern Poet

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John Donne: The Good-Morrow poem

The Good-Morrow By John Donne 

 

 

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 the 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.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces 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.

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John Donne : use of Conceit

Conceit in Donne's Poetry:

Donne uses literally devise conceit in his poetry. A conceit is basically a comparison between two dissimilar things. According to Dr. Johnson, the most heterogeneous( quite different) ideas are yoked by violence together. 

Through the use of conceit , Donne does not confine comparison to any single point.He gets the attention of reader by drawing fresh points of likeness. His poem "Aire and Angels" is based upon the single conceit that since angels in order to appear were forced to take on bodies of air, so Donne's passion is forced to fix itself in the love of the beloved.Element of likenes in the conceit is transformation.In this very poem, we find a fantastic comparison which the poet makes between woman and ship. He says if a ship is overloaded it will sink,similarly if a woman overdecorates herself,she may lose her honour.

Donne draws conceit from a wide range of subjects,such as exploration,philosophy,mathematics ,astronomy etc.Such type of conceits has given intellectual tone to his poetry. In the poem," A valediction: of weeping", he takes conceit from mintage where coins are made.He make comparison between tears of a lover and coins.

" Let me pour forth

My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,

For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear."

Element of likeness in this conceit is that both tears and coins are precious,both stay at special place and through both ,something can be won i.e Through coins something from market and through tears the heart of beloved.

In another poem,"Goe and catche a falling starre", he has drawn images from the fields of astronomy by saying that as it is difficult to catch a falling star, so it is difficult to find a true and faithful woman.Then he compares woman with an object of forestry when he says that as it is difficult to get delivered a child by mandrake tree,so it is impossible to find a faithful woman. He also compares the faithfulness of woman with a mythological figure.he says that it is impossible to hear the song mermaids,so it is impossible to find a faithful woman in the world. In the poem'"Good Morrow", he draws conciet from sea discoveries and geography and compares himself and his beloved with two hemispheres of the world.

"Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres,

Without sharp north, without declining west? 

Donne's use of conceit is always relevant. In his poems,very seldom an image is used without  relevance.By finding this relevancy, one feels admiration,an intellectual pleasure and sense of surprise at the originality and ingenuity of the poet. For example in the poem "THe Anniversary" he compares his beloved and himself with the king and his subjects.

"Here upon earth,we are king,and none but we

can be such kings, or of such subjects be."

Donne made the use iof conceit to illustrate and persuade his points.For example in the poem " Valediction:  Forbidding mourning", by comparing lovers with compass, he wants to persuade his mistress not to mourn. Similarly in the poem," The sun rising" , by comparing the world of love ,which according to the poet is immune from any change,with the world of sun, where every time changes take place, the poet wants to illustrate that love is supreme.

" love all alike,no season knowes, nor clyme,

Not hours,days,monthes, which are the rags of time."

To sum up we can say that Donne's use of conceit is superb. His imagery brings together the opposites of life,all in one breath.We admire the novelty ,realism, justness and range of his conceits.

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John Donne : Wit in Donne's poetry

Wit in Donne's Poetry:

Donne has been called the monarch of wit. He is remarkable as much for his wit as for his metaphysical element.The wit is in fact ability to say or write things which are both clever and amusing.
According to Dr. Johnson, Donne's wit lay in discovery of the hidden resemblance of dissimilar things. he uses far-fetched images to create wit.In "Valediction: forbidding Mourning", he compares a lover in travel and beloved at home with pair of compasses.Similarly in the poem," THe Flea", he compares flea with marriage bed and marriage temple.
Donne's wit has element of complexity , because he creates wit through images which are drawn from various sources and subjects.For example, he creates wit by comparing lover's tears with precious coins in the poem," Valediction:of weeping". The source of wit is taken from mintage . In the poem," Extasie" he creates by the image taken from the war and military when he says that lover's souls are like equal armies confronting and negotiating with each other. 
Donne creates wits by showing variety of his moods in his poetry. Sometimes he looks extremely happy but then sad. Similarly sometimes he is not serious and irreverent. He condemns woman but he also appreciates woman.As he shows sympathy for woman in the poem" song; Sweetest I doe Not Goe", but he condemns her in the poem,"Song; Goe and catche the falling star" when he says that as it is difficult to catch a falling star,so it is impossible to find true and sincere woman. 
"yet she 
will be 
False, ere I come, to two , or three."
The secret of Donne's wit lies in the use of irony. In the poem," Twicknam Garden", he ironizes love and lovers when he exlaims that he is to bring a poisoning love which changes every sweet thing into bitter and this place is thoroughly a true paradise where he brought a serpent in his company.
" True paradise, I have the serpent brought."
Donne also creates wit by use of technique of syllogism. As he says,
All that is loveable is wonderful
The mistress is wonderful,therefore,
Mistress is loveable."
He again says,
" All love is wonder, if we justly do,
Account her wonderful, why not lovely too? "
 Exaggeration is another element of Donne's wit. As in the poem ," Goe and catche the falling star", he uses the technique of exaggeration when he says that as it is difficult to catch a falling star and get a child with mandrake tree, similarly it is difficult to find a sincere and faithful lady in the whole world.
" Goe and catche a falling Star
Get with child a mandrake tree"
 Donne also creates wit through the use of paradox. For example in the poem," The sun rising" while praising his beloved he says that
" She's all states, and all princess, I 
Nothing else is ."
Donne calls his beloved all states and himself all princes and in the same verse he uses paradoxical words:
 states,princess and nothing.
Conclusion: To sum up we can say that through the use if different techniques Donne creates wit and his wit symbolizes his intellectualism and rebellion of mind.

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John Donne :metaphysical poet

  John Donne as a metaphysical poetry.

John Donne is famous as metaphysical poet, because all qualities of metaphysical poetry are present in his works. Dryden was first who used them term for Donne, by saying,
"He affects the metaphysics."
The first quality of Donne's metaphysical poetry is concentration. When we read his poetry, we are clung to idea or line of argument. For example in the poem, "The Extasie", we are attracted toward his viewpoint about love . He deals the subject of love on physical and spiritual levels. He compares both  the lovers with army. According to him their souls are like negotiators. They are not committed to either side. Only those who are gifted can understand the dialogues of the two souls and realize the true nature of  love. The communication of the souls of lovers reveals the true essence of love.
In another poem," The Blossom"  he remains concentrated on the idea of love throughout the poem. Firstly he desires to have a beloved with whom he can enjoy physical love.Then he says that he will go to foreign country but his heart will remain at home and will continue love making with his beloved.
The second quality of Donne's metaphysical poetry is the use of expanded epigrammatic technique, nothing is described in detail. Words used are not very vast. For example in the poem ," The Message ", he discusses the theme of insincerity of his beloved within twenty lines .The following stanza of this poem contains four lines and each lines contains only thre words.
"such forced fashions,
and false passions ,
that they be
made by thee"
In another poem " the Anniversarie" that contains only thirty lines assures his beloved of his companionship.As he says,
" All other things, to their distruction decay
Only our love hath no decay"
Use of conceit : Use of conceit is an important feature of Donne,s poetry.Use of fantastic comparison is conceit  and it isoften employed by Donne. The most famous and striking one is the comparison of a man who travels and his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in the poem, "A Valediction of forbidding mourning". 
"If they be two ,they are two so 
As stiff twin compasses are two,
Thy soul the fixt foot,makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other doe."
In the poem," The Good Morrow", Donne makes another striking comparison of two lovers with hemisphere ,who form the whole world when they meet.
In the song " Goe and catche the Falling Star" he compares the woman with falling star and mandrake root. He says that as it is difficult to catch a falling star,so it is difficult to find a true and sincere women.In this very poem , he makes another comparison when he says that as it is impossible to fund a sincere lady in the world.
"Yet she
will be
False, Ere I come , to two,or three."
Combination of Thought and Passion: Combination of thought and passions is another characteristic of Donne's Metaphysical poetry. This combination of thought and passions has been declared by T.S Eliot, Unification of Sensibility. In simple words we can say that in his poems there is an intellectual analysis of emotions. For example in the poem," Good morrow", when he says that lovers are the best possible who makes the world, We can find the combination of thoughts and feelings because love is the element of  feelings while the world is that thought. In another poem" Aire and Angels",this fusion of thoughts and feeling is quite visible when he compares beuty with ship and asserts that one should praise beauty but never overload.Appreciation of beauty is Donne's feelings while his advise not to overload is his thought.
Use of wit: Use of wit is also characteristics of Donne's metaphysical poetry. He creates wit through the use of conceit ,irony and exaggeration . For example, he creates wit by  comparing lovers tears with  precious coins in the poem,"Valediction: of weeping". In the poem,"Twicknam Garden", Donne's create wit when he ironically remarks that he is to bring a poisioning love which changes every sweet thing into bitter and this place is thoroughly paradise where he has brought serpent in his company.
"True paradise, I have the serpent brought."
He also creates wit when he uses the technique of exaggeration
  and paradox and says that
"Goe and catche a falling star
Get with child a mandrake tree."
 Conclusion: to conclude we can say that Donne's poetry has all the characteristics of metaphysical poetry. According to a critic, Donne is metaphysical not only by virtue of his scholasticism but by his deep reflective interest in the expression, the new psychological curosity with which he writes of love and religion.
The End.

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