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Metaphysical conceit in john donne's poetry
Metaphysical conceit in john donne's poetry
The poetry of john donne hsc essay
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Free 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to find a place in this world, or rather, a role to play in a society from which he often finds himself detached or withdrawn.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 different situations, and using different roles to suit the action. He can take on the role of the womanizer, as in "The Indifferent," or the faithful lover from "Lover's Infiniteness," but the speaker in each of these poems is always John Donne himself. 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.
Autobiographer, essayist, playwright, poet, satirist, Enlightenment writer and philosopher – these are just a few of the hats worn by French born François-Marie Arouet, more famously known by the adopted pen name Voltaire. Beyond his written work Voltaire was an outspoken advocate for the freedom of religion, expression, and the separation of church and state. He used his versatile literary work as a tool to criticize the Catholic Church and overall intolerant French society. Voltaire’s cynical writing reached its highest potential in his rapid-fire satire Candide, or Optimism. In the novella, Voltaire told the story of Candide – a young man on a quest for happiness and spiritual fulfillment who encountered tragic setbacks that eventually led to bitter disillusionment. The purpose of Candide was to mock philosophers of the
Voltaire had a very opposite point of view in that he saw a world of needless pain and suffering all around him. Voltaire, a deist, believed that God created the world, yet he felt that the people were living in a situation that was anything but perfect. Thus, the major theme of Candide is one of the world not being the best of all possibilities, full of actions definitely not determined by reason or order, but by chance and coincidence.
Voltaire’s Candide is the apotheosis of an individual’s inability or refusal to question one’s philosophy or belief. Candide, the main protagonist of the novel, follows Pangloss’ philosophy that the world is “the best of all possible worlds”, despite the rigors he faces along his journey. Candide's inability to question his Mentor's so to speak wisdom, covers Candide with an optimistic perception of the world, but is simply blind to the peril he experiences. To elaborate, Candide’s acceptance of Pangloss’ theory hinders his ability to fully experience the luxuries in El Dorado, hinders his ability to accept other notions of how the world is, and deters
In order to better understand Philip's critique of Donne within the lines of her poetry, a reading
Voltaire’s “Candide or Optimism” was written in the enlightenment era. Voltaire’s story is published in The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Voltaire’s character Pangloss is a philosophy who taught about the all-powerful God, who created the world. Pangloss indicated the world must belong to God, for he was the only divine creator. Pangolss was also a mentor to Candide, who was the main character in the novel. Candide had a good heart, but felt very hopeless in life. Pangloss took Candide under his wings teaching him the “best of all possible worlds.” The enlightenment movement is closely seen in Voltaire’s writing style on page 378. Pangolss had an optimistic viewpoint, and belief that the world was good. Pangloss believed that a powerful God had created the world. Pangloss also believed that if people believed something was evil and wrong, it was mainly because they did not have a close relationship with God. The interpretation of the passage continues below on page 378 transforming from its original form of Enlightenment writing style to a piece literary work that represents Romantic content and style. The changing style of writing transforms, from the beliefs of natural law to humankind of freedom.
In Candide, Voltaire paints a dismal and satirical view of the world. Voltaire paints a pessimistic portrait of a naïve youth who is raised to believe that this is best of all worlds. Time and again, Voltaire clearly portrays his belief that this is not the best of all possible worlds.
Donne’s career was as a poet. He attended Hart Hall elementary and Margaret Garner high school. His writings are very common and you can easily relate to them. Donne published many poems. His first book was called “Saltines”. John Donne is an English poet of the Metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Donne studied at University of Oxford for three years. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne)
Voltaire’s Candide targets things like optimism and religion. He primarily uses irony to get his points across. The optimistic theory in particular that Voltaire makes fun of is the idea that this is “the best of all possible worlds”. Candide and Pangloss explain away everything as “meant to happen” because it couldn’t possibly be bad if this is the best of all possible worlds. The irony there is that what they are describing as the “best world” is clearly not. For example, Pangloss uses circular logic to explain an earthquake in Lisbon. This makes Pangloss’ ideology seem ridiculous. By the end of the novel, even naive Candide has thrown away his acceptance of this optimistic standpoint.
John Donne’s poems are similar in their content. They usually point out at same topics like love, lust, sex and religion; only they are dissimilar in the feelings they express. These subjects reflect the different stages of his life: the lust of his youth, the love of his married middle age, and the piety of the latter part of his life. His poem,’ The Flea’ represents the restless feeling of lust during his youthful days but it comes together with a true respect for women through the metaphysical conceit of the flea as a church in the rhythm of the sexual act.
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.
In the book “Candide” the author, Voltaire is critiquing and satirizing prejudice. Voltaire does this by making everything so absurd and irrational to the point where the audience has the right to laugh and question the scenarios and action of the naive Candide. Some may believe that he is rather capitalizing on and reinforcing them (explain?), but as a satirist, Voltaire must over exaggerate to get his points across. The ironic order of occurrence hences the idea of a satirical novel. Voltaire is critiquing and satirizing prejudice.
In both ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘The Good Morrow’ Donne presents the experience of love, in a typical Metaphysical style, to engage his reader through sharing his own experiences. These poems show distinctive characteristics of Metaphysical poems which involve colloquial diction, drawing inventive imagery from unconventional sources, passionately analysing relationships and examining feelings. Donne presents the experience of love through conceits, Metaphysical wit, language techniques and imagery, in a confident tone using logical argument. The impact of Donne’s use of direct and idiomatic language shows the reader how he feels about a woman and ultimately love.
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John Donne, an outstanding English poet of the Metaphysical school, is usually considered the greatest loved poet in the English language. The metaphysical poets are known for their capacity to frighten the reader and persuade new aspects through paradoxical images, inventive syntax and imagery using a metaphor known as conceit.
John Donne is known as being one of the most famous and influential metaphysical poets. The term “metaphysical," as applied to English and continental European poets of the seventeenth century, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their “unnaturalness.” As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, however, “The unnatural, that too is natural," and the metaphysical poets continue to be studied and revered for their intricacy and originality. Due to Donne’s personal experiences with spirituality and love, he is able to grasp the true meaning of metaphysical poetry (Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets). Using all the aspects of metaphysical poetry, Donne creates a mysterious metaphoric poem titled, “The Flea.” Throughout this poem, the use of metaphors and breaks into the separate stanzas allow for the audiences to understand what The Flea is really about. At first glance, many read The Flea as a poem that compares sexual intimacy with an animal, but when broken down, it can be seen that the meaning is much deeper than intimacy, but it