AP Lit: Renaissance Era POK

_____, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, hélas, I may no more.

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore

Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,

Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.

_______, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I may spend his time in vain.

And graven with diamonds in letters plain

There is written, her fair neck round about:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

Whoso List to Hunt

Who is Whoso List to Hunt by?

Thomas Wyatt

• introduced + established sonnet form in England in early 16^th century (with Henry Howard)

• was in love with Anne Boleyn, his first cousin (unrequited)

• 15-20 years old: married (+ had son) but later separated and accused her of adultery

• witnessed Anne Boleyn’s execution while imprisoned in Tower of London

  • imprisoned together bc of accusation of adultery but was freed w/o trial bc of powerful friends + lack of evidence

• none of his poems were published during his lifetime expect a couple (most came to light after 400 yrs)

• Tudor courtier + diplomat serving Henry VII

Thomas Wyatt

Literal Meaning of Whoso List to Hunt

A hunter knows where to find a female deer but might not longer hunt because of how exhausting the useless work of hunting is. He has come the farthest in hunting this particular deer. He can’t bring himself to stop chasing her even as he’s on the point of fainting. He continues, trying to hold wind with a net. Whoever wants to hunt this deer, you would waste your time like he is. Because around her neck engraved in diamonds are the words: Don’t touch me because I belong to someone powerful and though I seem docile, I am wild.

Theme of Whoso List to Hunt

• Unrequited love serves no benefits to those in love

• The devotion of unrequited love can be dangerous to the one who doesn’t love back

• Even if Wyatt could catch Boleyn, it would end with both of their deaths by King Henry VII

Why is “Noil me tangere” in Latin? (WLTH)

• adds a sense of gravity + power that the Caesar has

• possibility of death because funerals + executions given in Latin

What is the significance of word “graven”? (WLTH)

hints at graves (death, harsh consequences)

What devices are in these lines (WLTH):

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, hélas, I may no more.

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

Long vowels + ending consonants

• slowness→adds feeling of tiredness + heaviness that speaker feels

Caesura

• sense of pausing while walking

Iambic Pentameter

• mimics walking

What is the meter + poem type of Whoso List to Hunt?

Predominantly Iambic Pentameter

Italian/Petrarchan sonnet

What is the device + effect of the comparison of unrequited love to hunting? (WLTH)

Extended Metaphor

• depicts narrator’s deep devotion to the object of his attention + adds sense of unease with implication that he’ll kill her if he catches her

*possibly a conceit with Wyatt and Boleyn

What device is used in “Whoso list to hunt,” “Who list her hunt”? What is the effect? (WLTH)

Apostrophe

• directly addresses audience or any man who wants to join in hunt of the deer—-turns chasing after her from private devotion into a public game, adds sense of unease for the woman

What device is used in “Noil me tangere”? What is the effect? (WLTH)

(Biblical) Allusion

• refers to Jesus’s words to Mary after his resurrection (resurrection switched connection between God and followers from physical to spiritual)

  • makes the deer appear holy, pure, something not to be dirtied with someone lesser

What devices is used in “but as she fleeth afore / Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore”? What is the effect? (WLTH)

Alliteration (f sound)

• mimics the sound of wind whooshing from deer’s fleeing

• adds softness like hunter wouldn’t hurt deer + his hunting is something almost precious

Enjambment

• mimics the speaker’s seeing the deer flee and gathering strength to follow

Historical context of “Noil me tangere, for Caesar’s I am, / And wild for to hold, though I seem tame"

all swans + deers within England’s wild area belongs to the monarch

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,

Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow Rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,

With Coral clasps and Amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Who is “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by?

Christopher Marlowe

• established dramatic blank verse (unrhymed poetry in iambic pentameter)

• Shakespeare’s greatest competitor (then people thought he was better + suspected Shakespeare plagiarized)

• English Elizabethan poet, playwright, translator

• killed in bar fight but some think it was a hit because he may have been a spy

• employed in Queen Elizabeth I’s secret service

  • might have been preparing to take Anglican holy orders before employed

• arrested on May 18, 1593 by Privy Council (Elizabeth I’s chief advisors) & ordered to give daily attendance on their lordships (of Christ)

  • possibly atheist (roommate Thomas Kyd said he found his paper stating “There is no deity in Jesus Christ”)

Christopher Marlowe

Literal Meaning of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

A shepherd attempts to convince his love to live with him by noting the beauty of the landscape, what they could do together (sit + watch shepherds feed flocks and birds sing), and what he would give to her (bed of roses, many posies, flower crown, kirtle with Myrtle leaves, finest wool gown, wool-lined slippers with gold buckles, belt)

Theme of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

• living in the rural area is better than living anywhere else

• living in the moment

• love is relaxed and casual

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, poem type of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”? What is the effect?

Iambic tetrameter

AABB rhyme scheme

Pastoral poem

• meter + rhyme scheme adds sing-song feel (serenade lover) + calmness of rural life

What device is used in lines 1, 20, 24’s “live with me and be my love”? What is its effect? (TPSTHL)

Refrain

• shows speaker’s desperation to be with his love

What device is used in “And we will all the pleasures prove,” and “Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, / By shallow Rivers to whose falls”? What is its effect? (TPSTHL)

Alliteration (p, s, f sound)

• softness + gentleness of initial p, s, f sounds→ adds dreamy feel contributing to idealization of rural life

• melodiousness→adds to appeal of rural life

What device is used in “And if these pleasures may thee move, / Come live with me, and be my love”? What is its effect? (TPSTHL)

Internal Rhyme

• emphasizes “me” (intensified by caesura)→ creates feeling of pleading by speaker

What device is used in “…a kirtle / Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle”? What is its effect? (TPSTHL)

(Classical) Allusion

• Myrtle leaves references the story of Aphrodite using Myrtle leaves to cover her nakedness

• Myrtle is Aphrodite’s sacred plant

Symbolism

• kirtle represents lover’s purity

• Myrtle leaves represent speaker’s desire for the lover

What device is used in “…a belt of straw and Ivy buds”? What is its effect? (TPSTHL)

(Classical) Allusion

• Dionysus (god of sexual pleasure) is traditionally depicted with ivy (grape vines)

Symbolism

• ivy represents speaker’s sexual intent towards + desire for the lover

Double Meaning within “And a thousand fragrant posies” (TPSTHL)

Posies can be a flower of a small poem often inscribed in a circle (author means both)

What was the author’s intent in making the items he'‘ll give to his love made out of natural materials in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”?

• contrasts with complexity of Elizabethan city life

• idealizes rural life (shows how one can still have good things, more pure things in rural)

How is “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” idealistic?

• describes items as made out of finest wool, purest gold, amber which someone living in rural area probably couldn’t afford (gold, amber) + “finest” wool is a bit subjective and probably wouldn’t be from just any shepherd

• speaker only describes leisure time + springtime

If all the world and love were young,

And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue,

These pretty pleasures might me move,

To live with thee, and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,

When Rivers rage and Rocks grow cold,

And Philomel becometh dumb,

The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields,

To wayward winter reckoning yields,

A honey tongue, a heart of gall,

Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses,

Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies

Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten:

In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds,

The Coral clasps and amber studs,

All these in me no means can move

To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last, and love still breed,

Had joys no date, nor age no need,

Then these delights my mind might move

To live with thee, and be thy love.

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

Who is “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by?

Sir Walter Raleigh

• sponsored first English colony in America (Roanoke Colony)

• credited with bringing potatoes + tobacco back to Britain; helped make smoking popular in British court

• his poetry was designed to flatter Elizabeth I + secure her royal favor

• Captain of the Queen’s Guard (under Elizabeth I), member of Parliament, Elizabeth’s advisor on Scottish affairs

• had a secret marriage to Elizabeth I’s maid of honor that caused both him + wife to be imprisoned in Tower of London

• unsuccessfully attempted to find El Dorado (once under Elizabeth I + once under James I)

  • Elizabeth I: after being exiled from court & trying to gain her favor again

  • James I: British Treasury was almost out, he knew El Dorado didn’t exist but agreed to get out of prison, hit Spanish ships for gold when James told him not to but failed hit

Sir Walter Raleigh

Literal Meaning of “The Nymph’s Reply To The Shepherd”

The nymph rejects the shepherd’s proposal for her to live with him by saying all the natural beauties the rural life offers will eventually wither and die, and the material items he offers will eventually break and be forgotten. The only way the nymph would possibly accept the shepherd’s proposal is if time didn’t go on, youth lasted forever, and love could bloom.

Theme of “The Nymph’s Reply To The Shepherd”

• the promise of material goods and simple pleasures is not enough for a love to last

• things/situations will eventually worsen over time as nature does decay

• change is inevitable, not even love can last forever or stay the same

What device is used in “flock from field to fold," “Rivers rage and Rocks,” “The rest complains of care to come”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Alliteration (f, r, c sounds)

• f sound is soft and slow→gives feeling of slow change from spring to fall (slow decay)

• r sound is fast and harsh→gives feeling of faster decay + wilting

• c sound is clashing→gives feeling that all softness + joy of spring is gone & only hollowness + lovelessness of winter is left; also c sound implies coldness

What device is used in lines 4, 20, 24’s “to live with thee and be thy love”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Refrain

• imitates shepherd’s proposal but also shows nymph’s clear refusal and rejection

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, stanza type, poem type of “The Nymph’s Reply To The Shepherd”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Predominantly Iambic Tetrameter

AABB rhyme scheme

Quatrains

Pastoral poem

• meter + rhyme scheme gives sing-song feel that is fitting for a nymph

What device is used in “time drives flocks,” “rivers rage,” “wayward winter reckoning yields”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Personification

• time + winter refers to the changing of times that will occur→emphasizes how these features will change things & their love can’t always be happy (when depended on things that change often + quickly)

What device is used in “Philomela becometh dumb”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

(Classical) Allusion

• Philomela is a Greek myth character (nymph) that is known as a nightingale whose song is most beautiful and tragic

  • was chased by a hunter in love + raped, tongue cut out so she couldn’t tell on him, created a weave to tell her truth, Zeus made her into a nightingale so she could speak in song

What device is used in “Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten: / In folly ripe, in reason rotten”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Feminine Rhyme

• soft ending of last words emphasizes that nothing lasts forever

What device is used “A honey tongue, a heart of gall”? What is its effect? (TNRTTS)

Antithesis

• highlights how the shepherd said pretty things but truly had bad intentions in his heart (by not acknowledging the hardships of rural life, trying to trick her into saying yes)

What is the meaning of nymph?

forest bride

What does dumb mean in “And Philomel becometh dumb”? (TNRTTS)

mute

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18

• worked as a dramatist in “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” starting in 1594 (renamed the “King’s Men” after King James I took power)

• didn’t go to university (odd for poet/dramatist then)

• married Anne Hathaway in a shotgun wedding (accidental pregnancy)

  • left 2nd best bed to her in will (bed seen as luxurious then)

• lived in London while wife + children lived in Stratford (only occasionally visited)

• observed humans behavior + had ability to reflect many different perspectives in his writing

• some say he was overtly focused on financial gains for his works or relief too much on violence + cruelty over tight storytelling

• helped in rebuilding the Globe Theater in 1599

• wrote 37 plays (1590-1637)

• usually wrote in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)

William Shakespeare

What were the “Fair Youth” sonnets by William Shakespeare?

Sonnets 1-126, which are directed at an unnamed man

What are the “Dark Lady” sonnets by William Shakespeare?

Sonnets 127-154, which are addressed to a married woman

Literal Meaning of “Sonnet 18”

The speaker compares the listener to a summer’s day, saying that a summer’s day is unreliable in its beauty and can be too harsh or fade while the listener’s beauty is always soft + perfect + never fades. The speaker also states that they will live forever through his poem as long as people can read it.

Structure of “Sonnet 18”

first 2 lines: the thesis (listener is incomparable to summer’s day)

next 10 lines: proving it

last 2 lines: switch to preserving beauty in poetry

Themes of “Sonnet 18”

• People live on after death if they are remembered or immortalized (through poetry)

• Nature’s beauty is inconsistent and will fade + decay

• There are limitations to nature (no matter how beauty or grand it can be at certain times)

What devices are used “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, / And often is his gold complexion dimm’d”? What is its effect? (S18)

Metonymy

• “eye of heaven” replaces sun

• eye of something usually means it's the most precious thing or focus of something

  • heaven is holy and grand; the most precious part of this holy place can be too harsh or dim in beauty unlike the listener’s beauty→speaker uplifts her to be more coveted than heaven itself

Personification

• the sun is personified

• further compares nature to the lover (human being)

What device is used in “thy eternal summer shall not fade”? What is its effect? (S18)

Metaphor

• speaker compares listener to an everlasting summer→highlights the listener’s beauty as everlasting, something that won’t fade with time

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, poem type of Sonnet 18? What is its effect?

Iambic Pentamenter

ABAB rhyme scheme

Shakespearean/English Sonnet (3 quatrains, 1 rhymed couplet)

• meter + rhyme scheme: adds sing-song feel + evenness that reflects listener’s temperate nature

  • heartbeat-like rhythm→steady + constant

What device is used in “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see”? What is its effect? (S18)

Internal Rhyme

• emphasizes the conditions that must be true for listener to live forever→feels like the speaker is making an absolute promise (+ evenness from iambic pentameter)

What device is used in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”? What is its effect? (S18)

Metaphor

• establishes the overarching comparison to be proven

What device is used in “Nor shall death brag though wander’st in his shade”? What is its effect? (S18)

Personification

• death is defeated

• something dark does not get to have the lover→pushes the lover towards the light

What device is used in “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date”? What is its effect? (S18)

Monosyllabic words (expect summer’s)

• quick pace that makes the line fly by→emphasizes the fleeting state of nature

What device is used in the last couplet “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee”? What is its effect? (S18)

Volta

• makes poetic boast, ironic twist→people read it and visualize their own image of beauty

Assonance + Consonance (s, l sounds)

• slows down pace→represents longevity

Why does the speaker make no mention of physical traits + gender in Sonnet 18?

Beauty standards change from generation to generation + people have their own individual image of beauty→makes the lover’s beauty eternal

• also allows people to idealize it

What device is used in Sonnet 18 by the speaker stating that summer isn’t as great as his lover?

Petrarchan conceit

• highly elaborate, often exaggerated metaphors comparing things (lover’s beauty/feelings) to nature

Context of “By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d” (S18)

Sailors had to “trim sails” (change sail position, shape) if nature (weather) changes so they can stay on course

What is the literal meaning of “And every fair from fair sometime decline”? (S18)

Fair: just, beautiful→every beauty eventually loses their beauty

What is the meaning of “ow’st” in Nor lose possession of that fair though ow’st”? What is the significance of that compared to “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date”? (S18)

own

• lover’s beauty is owned (their own to keep forever) vs summer’s leased beauty (have to return it at some point)

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

   As any she belied with false compare.

Sonnet 130

Who is “Sonnet 130” by?

William Shakespeare

Literal Meaning of “Sonnet 130”

The speaker compares his mistress to nature and states that nature is more lovely than his mistress. He also states how his mistress isn’t a goddess or sounds as pleasing as music. However, he still believes his love is precious ad rare, and his mistress is as beautiful as anyone who’s been falsely compared/exaggerated to equal something holy and natural.

Themes of “Sonnet 130”

• people who hyperbolize a woman’s beauty often obstruct a realistic representation of women (love based on beauty won’t last)

• appearance doesn’t determine love in relationships

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, poem type of “Sonnet 130”? What is its effect?

Iambic Pentameter

ABAB rhyme scheme

Shakespearean/English sonnet (3 quatrains + rhymed couplet)

• meter + rhyme scheme adds evenness that makes speaker sound like he’s stating the truth instead of insulting his mistress

• meter breaks: “coral” (trochee)→satirizes cliche love poet has; “black wires” (spondee)→jarring effect that emphasizes differences

What device is used in “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red”? What is its effect? (S130)

Consonance (r sound)

• breathlessness feeling (+ fast pace from monosyllabic words)→the mistress has so many bad traits that the speaker is breathless + tired from listing them all

Why does Shakespeare use non-comparisons to beautiful things? (S130)

Readers are still left with the image of beauty, not ugliness (for direct comparison)→she’s not beautiful, but she’s not ugly

What is the meaning of “belied” in “As any she belied with false compare”? (S130)

be lied to

What is the meaning “dun” in “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun”? (S130)

greyish brown (which is the natural skin color compared to white)

What is the meaning of “reek” in “Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”? (S130)

emanate (smell given off)

• most popular definition is negative (smells bad) but a deeper look shows that the definition meant is neutral

What is the meaning of “tread” in “My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground”? (S130)

to make contact with the ground

most popular definition is negative (heavy walk) but a deeper look shows that the definition meant is neutral

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

       For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

       That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet 29

Who is “Sonnet 29” by?

William Shakespeare

Literal Meaning of “Sonnet 29”

The speaker is down on his luck and is an outcast. He curses his fate and wishes to be like others with better fates, wanting what they have. However, when he’s in this state he thinks of the addressed and he becomes happy since remembering their love brings much riches to him. He wouldn’t switch his situation in life with kings (so he can keep his love).

Theme of “Sonnet 29”

• love can bring joy to even the worst of times, even if it’s just remembering it

• love enriches one’s life more than material objects + being rich in reputation and finance

What devices are used in “(Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate”? What are their effect? (S29)

Simile

• shows how the speaker rose up from dirt/realness of his actual situation & had a moment of pure peace + ascension (heaven)

Consonance (k sound)

• gives harsh stop to “like,” “lark,” “break” that mimics the sound of something breaking”→emphasizes breaking through the fog of despair + jealousy

Alliteration (s sound)

• s sound + stretched out pronunciation adds feeling of singing (melodic)→angels singing

What device is used “Featured like him, like him with friends possessed”? What is its effect? (S29)

Repetition

• shows the speaker’s desperation + jealousy of someone else’s situation in life; spiraling

What device is used in “And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries”? What is its effect? (S130)

Personification

• heaven cannot hear his prayers for something better or a change in fate→emphasizes how lonely he feels that he can’t even find comfort in his faith + feels abandon by someone meant to look after him

What is the meaning of the “bootless” in “And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries”? What is its effect? (S130)

useless + ineffective

• also gives imagery that the speaker is so poor that he can’t even afford shoes

What device is used in “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, / I all alone beweep my outcast state, / And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries”? What is its effect? (S29)

Consonance (s sound)

• s sounds mimics rain sound (crying)

  • “all alone” means that he’s crying in silence

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, poem type of “Sonnet 29”?

Predominantly Iambic Pentameter

ABAB rhyme scheme

Shakespearean/English sonnet in structure, but Petrarchan/Italian sonnet in content (change in mind after 8 lines)

What is the meanings of “heaven’s gate”? Why is its breaking normal meter important? (S130)

• sky (kenning), literal gate of heaven

• anapest→gives the feeling of rising up

What is the significance between line 1 “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” and line 13 “For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings”? (S29)

Fortune: other’s good life + speaker’s lack

Wealth: speaker’s love

• change in state of mind towards own life

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom:

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Sonnet 116

Literal Meaning of “Sonnet 116”

True love lasts through hardships and through time/age, Beauty will leave you but true love will not fade with time. If this is wrong, then the speaker never wrote and no one has ever loved before.

As virtuous men pass mildly away,

   And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say

 The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,

   No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;

'Twere profanation of our joys

   To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

   Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres,

  Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love

   (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

Absence, because it doth remove

   Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,

   That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind,

   Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

   Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

   Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so

   As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

   To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

 Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

   And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

   Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

   And makes me end where I begun.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

• founder of metaphysical poetry

• often used conceits to create powerful ambiguity that made his work famous (fate, salvation, divine love)

• didn’t write for publication—fewer than 8 published in his lifetime & only 2 authorized by him

• born in England to Roman Catholic parents when the practice of it was illegal

• no degree bc his then Catholic religion wasn’t sanctioned

• converted to Angelicanism in young manhood (+ became an Angelican priest (+ Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral)

  • was famous as a preacher

• wrote Holy Sonnet 10 on his deathbed with thyroid fever (recovered which is considered a miracle bc no cure/vaccine then)

John Donne

Literal Meaning of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

Vitreous men pass away and have their souls leave. Some friends believe he has died while others reject the idea. They don’t cry or make any sound because it would break their joy to share it with non-cleric people. Earthquakes brings fear and emotional harm but vibrations of the planets and stars are innocent since they do not harm people. Decaying lovers’ love can’t admit absence because it removes the (physical) love that caused it. But the speaker’s love is better and doesn’t care about the physical body. The speaker and his lover are separated in distance and not in their relationship.

Themes of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

• the speaker and his lover’s love (genuine love) doesn’t care for physical aspects and loves regardless of whether it’s absent or not

• separation is a test of one’s devotion, similar to that of god’s (can’t physically know god but stay devoted anyway)

What is the device used in the lines below? What is its effect? (AVFM)

“If they be two, they are two so

   As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

   To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

   Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

   And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

   Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

   And makes me end where I begun.”

Metaphysical Conceit

• the speaker and his lover are compared to a compass (used for drawing circles)

• two legs are the lovers: moving one is the speaker, still one is the lover

  • when one loves, the other leans towards it→shows how they stay close even when seperated

What device is used in the lines below? What is its effect? (AVFM)

“Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

   Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres,

   Though greater far, is innocent.”

Metaphysical Conceit

• physical love compared to earthquakes, spiritual love compared to movement of the planets + stars

• love depends on spiritual connection rather than physical connection

What is the meter, rhyme scheme, poem type of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”? What is its effect?

Iambic Pentamenter

ABAB rhyme scheme

Metaphysical poem

• meter + rhyme scheme creates steadiness→confidence of love despite seperation

What is the meaning of “profanation” in “Twere profanation of our joys”? (AVFM)

profanity (sully or dirty something)

What is the meaning of “sublunary” in “Dull sublunary lovers' love”? (AVFM)

earthy on one side (physical), heavenly on another side (spiritual)

What device is used in “Like gold to airy thinness beat”? What is its effect? (AVFM)

Similie

• gold is one of the most precious metals on Earth + doesn’t oxide like others→symbolizes the speaker’s love with his partner

• gold being beaten into “airy thinness” expands the surface area of it but doesn’t change the material→their love doesn’t change but becomes greater (expands)

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Holy Sonnet 10

Who is “Holy Sonnet 10” by?

John Donne

Literal Meaning of “Holy Sonnet 10”

Death, don’t be proud because you are not mighty and dreadful like people think you are. People you think you can kill cannot die and neither can I. Death is like sleeping or resting, which are pleasurable. Poppies and charms (magic spells) can also make someone sleep. The best people will go with Death first because it’s a reward, their bones resting and souls being delivered to a place in the afterlife. Death is a slave to certain situations and fate, so why is he made to seem so frightening? You sleep shortly then walked up forever without death there anymore.