Love and Metaphysical Poetry

1639 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The divine comedy dante alighieri

Ingenious concepts, sticking conceits, heated arguments, sublime paradoxes and far‐fetched imagery are just a few features of Metaphysical poetry. Poetry that enables its audience to take a journey with the poet throughout life’s battles, luxuries and treasures, is simply a phenomenon. Today, we are very lucky to have the luxury of many metaphysical poems; however, today we will be exploring just two. These being A Valediction Forbidding Mourning and To His Coy Mistress. Both poems possess different themes and features that will be compared and contrasted throughout, however, are connected through the discourse of love. The four letter word with so much meaning, but what really is love? Can a definite meaning be placed upon or it, or is it perhaps a matter of opinion?

John Donne’s poem, A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a plea written to Donne’s wife asking her not to mourn his absence. The Latin title provides an insight into the poem’s meaning, ‘when we part, we must not mourn’ or in simpler terms, ‘to bid farewell’ (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, 2009). Donne explains that a maudlin display of emotion would only denigrate their love. This allows the connection to be made that the love shared between Donne and his wife is something more special than that of a normal or mundane relationship. They are sole mates and although they may be physically apart, they will remain together spiritually. Therefore the key discourse found in this poem is one of love.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning was written with the purpose of comforting Donne’s wife while he was away on business. In 1611, Donne was sent on a diplomatic mission to France; while his wife remained home in England, hence the creation of A Valediction...

... middle of paper ...

...ne rhymes with the one before it. Both A Valediction and To His Coy Mistress follow iambic tetrameter.

Overall, both Donne and Marvell were very successful at portraying their views on love. Both poems present a different argument of what love is and perhaps even compare lust to love. In A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, Donne is trying to convince his lover that they do not need a physical relationship to keep their love strong, whilst in To His Coy Mistress; Marvell is trying to induce his lover into believing that they need a physical relationship.

Metaphysical poems allow readers to momentarily leave the life they live and join the poet’s transcendent world. Ingenious concepts, sticking conceits, heated arguments, sublime paradoxes and far‐fetched imagery are just a few features that together provide the brilliant phenomenon of metaphysical poetry.

Show More
Related

  • Examination of Women's Friendships through an Analysis of Katherine Philips' Friendship's Mystery

    4227 Words  | 9 Pages

    When readers reflect on the poetry of the seventeenth century, poets such as John Donne and the

    Read More

  • Interpretation of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although that it may seem that the meaning of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning could be applied to any couple awaiting separation, according to Izaak Walton, a seventeenth-century biographer, John Donne wrote his poem for his wife, Anne Donne, right before his departure for France in 1611 (Damrosch 238). However, even though the poem is not written to an audience, many of us can learn from what Donne is trying to convey to his wife. In the poem, Donne pleads with his lady to accept his departure. He defines and celebrates a love that transcends the physical realm and expresses that their love can therefore survive and even grow through their separation.

    Read More

  • Opposing Gender Views in Emerson’s Give All to Love and Browning’s Sonnet 43

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    The concept of love has long been the preferred topic of conversation among prominent male poets. Towards the closing of the sixteenth century, however, the emerging of the female poet took place. With the introduction of Queen Elizabeth, an initial path was now cleared for future women poets to share their views on the acclaimed topic of love. Due to this clashing of ideas, the conflicting views of two exceedingly different sexes could manifest itself. Who better to discuss the topic of love then Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who expresses her ideas with intelligence comparable to the best male poets, and Emerson, world renowned for his poignant opinions? In accordance with the long history of conflict between males and females, both Emerson’s "Give All to Love" and Browning’s "Sonnet 43" convey the pleasure love brings, but while Emerson’s poem urges the retention of individualism in a relationship, Browning pleads for a complete surrender to love.

    Read More

  • Love As a Theme In a Poem

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love is one of the main sources that move the world, and poetry is not an exception, this shows completely the feelings of someone. In “Litany” written by Billy Collins, “Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims, “Song” by John Donne, “Love” by Matthew Dickman and “Last Night” by Sharon Olds navigate around the same theme. Nevertheless, they differ in formats and figurative language that would be compared. For this reason, the rhetoric figures used in the poems will conduct us to understand the insights thought of the authors and the arguments they want to support.

    Read More

  • Marianne Moore's Most Popular Poem, Poetry

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marianne Moore’s most popular poem, which is also her most ambiguously titled poem, is called “Poetry.” In this poem Moore decisively strayed away from her conventional writing style of contrariety and the bizarre, but it does seem to share other characteristics of her earlier poetry. Moore’s apparent purpose in writing “Poetry” was to criticize the present social outlook on the entire idea of poetry, to come up with a universal definition of poetry and of genuine poetry, and ultimately to convince those who dislike poetry of its benefits. She attempted to present this criticism and definition by means of blatant irony, and even though she desperately wants to describe the seemingly trivial activity of poetry, she fails to provide a definition that is not caught up in the negative.

    Read More

  • Love In Shakespeare's 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning'

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 'Twickernham Garden ' Donne cleverly uses a spider as the conceit of the poem to comment on the nature of love, to emphasise that just like a spider love traps you insidiously and leaves you helpless. As well as that there is religious connotations to transubstantiation and manna and serpents. By doing this Donne finds another way to create an effective poem in emphasising his meaning and thoughts. The Major conceit in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning ' is that of a compass. Samuel Johnson a fellow poet, who coined the term metaphysical poetry criticised Donne by stating that 'the poem 's compass analogy highlights the violence used by metaphysical poets to force the most heterogeneous ideas together. Disagreeing with this statement, Donne 's use of the compass to reinforce the idea that their souls are like the legs of the compass, even though they will physically separate he will always come back as they create something perfect 'Thy firmness makes my circle just and make me end where I begun '. The conceit reassures his lover that it is inevitable that he will return because they are joined spiritually, mentally and physically, and their love is strong because he will always come back to

    Read More

  • The Flea and The Sun Rising

    1643 Words  | 4 Pages

    The metaphysical era in poetry started in the 17th century when a number of poets extended the content of their poems to a more elaborate one which investigated the principles of nature and thought. John Donne was part of this literary movement and he explored the themes of love, death, and religion to such an extent, that he instilled his own beliefs and theories into his poems. His earlier works, such as The Flea and The Sunne Rising, exhibit his sexist views of women as he wrote more about the physical pleasures of being in a relationship with women. However, John Donne displays maturity and adulthood in his later works, The Canonization and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, in which his attitude transcends to a more grown up one. The content of his earlier works focused on pursuing women for his sexual desires, which contrasts heavily with his latter work. John Donne’s desire for physical pleasure subsides and he seeks to gain an emotional bond with women, as expressed in his later poetry.

    Read More

  • Comparison of how The Flea and To His Coy Mistress Present and Develop the Poets' Arguments

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Passionate Shepherd To His Love And Sonnet 18 By Edmund Spenser

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    He compares his relationship with his love as “stiff twin compasses” and other similar comparisons to describe their unity (Dunne 26). Like a compass, they always seem to be working cohesively as one unit. It could have the same theme as “The Passionate Shephard to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe, the theme of love conquering all. They both seem to have an idealistic view to the relationship as well, as the shephard in Marlowe’s poem insists that his love “will all the pleasures prove” if she were to go with him (Marlowe 2). Both poems aim for a perfect life with their love, and Donne’s poem manages to come up with a more realistic option out of the

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Donne's 'To His Mistress Going To Bed'?

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Donne’s poems, particularly his early love poems Donne explains how love involving the body aids the soul in gaining redemption from God. This perspective may be observed in Donne’s poem, To His Mistress Going to Bed, which is centered on the events leading up to a couple’s sexual union. More specifically, the speaker says, “unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime tells me from you, that now ‘tis your bed time” (10). In other words, the speaker aims to persuade his lover to join him in bed. Donne further conveys, through the speaker, that sexual union is the union of the souls, “as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be, to taste whole joys” (33). Though Donne too uses erotic, sexual language to describe love’s effect on an individual’s

    Read More

  • Compare the ways in which Donne presents the experience of love in ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘The Good Morrow’

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ne exclusively on himself and his lover. By doing so he says the sun will be shining on the entire world. It is apparent in both poems the tone and language is dramatic, as this is typical of Donne’s writing style. His use of imagery and symbolism effectively present his experience of love. However it is the structure that builds up the emotion throughout the poems as Donne starts in each poem to refer to a seductive love, then in conclusion realises the importance of true love. ‘The Good Morrow’ clearly shows evidence of this when at the beginning Donne states he ‘suck’d on country pleasures childishly’ and in the end understands that a ‘Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die’.

    Read More

  • Sonnet XVII, by Pablo Neruda

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.

    Read More

  • John Donne Vs. The Elizabethan Lyric

    1572 Words  | 4 Pages

    John Donne lived in an era when the lyric was at its pinnacle. Poets were writing well-rounded, almost musical poetry on subjects that ranged from all kinds of love to enchantment with nature. Donne could not help but revolt against this excess of fluency and melody. John Donne's style stands in such sharp contrast to the accepted Elizabethan lyrical style that it becomes difficult to accept the fact that his works date from the same era. To highlight this statement, one has to compare a typical Elizabethan lyric to one of Donne's works.

    Read More

  • Dramatic Monologue

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    Preminger, Alex and T.V. Brogan eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: PUP, 1993.

    Read More

  • Effective Use of Conceit and Imagery in Donne's Poem The Broken Heart

    686 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout John Donne’s extensive range of poems, his use of metaphors and imagery remains unparalleled. He consistently uses conceit and makes fascinating connections while creating unique set of imagery. Specifically in his poem The Broken Heart, Donne takes the idea that love breaks the heart and personifies and imagines this image. While some scholars believe that John Donne makes mediocre claims in his writing, he does however effectively use conceit and imagery to successfully argue his idea that love destroys the heart.

    Read More

More about Love and Metaphysical Poetry

Open Document