poetry
metaphysical tenets
psychological analysis of emotions (love, religion)
interest in science/intellectual subjects
intense symbolism and imagery
in the form of an argument with wit displays and conceits
concerned with the whole experience of man
a valediction: forbidden mourning - john donne
title
valediction - a goodbye
: - shift, “but”
forbidding mourning - sadness & death concept
tone
sanguin - too optimistic
theme
parting is not a break, but an expansion of their love, any refined love can take it
poem
1 As virtuous men pass mildly away,
as - simile
a heroic death
2 And whisper to their souls to go,
3 Whilst some of their sad friends do say
some accept the death, while some say no
they argue if he had really stopped breathing
4 The breath goes now, and some say, No:
death concept, but he will not make his last breath (die)
No - only word capitalized
5 So let us melt, and make no noise,
profanation & make no noise - contrast, expresses that she does not need to miss him much
they should take these deaths as a model and part silently
6 No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
tear floods - hyperbole
sigh tempests - storms, temptation
emotional imagery, dramatized
do not give in to cry
7 'Twere profanation of our joys
profanity, doesn’t want the expression
8 To tell the laity our love.
laity - nonreligious regular person
would degrade their love out to other people
9 Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
earthly whereabouts create fear
10 Men reckon what it did, and meant;
we think we know what they are, but we do not
11But trepidation of the spheres,
spheres - earth, scientific revolution
trepidation - fear of something that may happen
12 Though greater far, is innocent.
larger events are unknown
13 Dull sublunary lovers' love
love is less, they are physical, boring people cant handle separation
14 (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
s consonance
soul - religious
15Absence, because it doth remove
enjambment
sense vs absense
their love while absent physically from each other, still stems (elementary)
16 Those things which elemented it.
boring ppls love is taken away when not near
elements - chemistry, elements of love
17 But we by a love so much refined,
they have a more special love, strong relationship
18 That our selves know not what it is,
complex love mentally, cannot even understand it themselves
linked mentally
19 Inter-assured of the mind,
psychology
inter - between, safe secure - assured
20 Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
synecdoche
matters less when bodies are apart
21 Our two souls therefore, which are one,
paradox, unified by love
22 Though I must go, endure not yet
enjambment
23 A breach, but an expansion,
their souls will not be broken apart
breach - gap
expansion - stretched
he will go on a journey, but not forever
they will expand their love to cover the distance
24 Like gold to airy thinness beat.
simile
as gold is stretched and breaks if its not real, love will not break even when stretched
gold - love
chiasmus
25 If they be two, they are two so
enjambment
two - epistrophe
26 As stiff twin compasses are two;
compasses - SR
27 Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
fixed foot - consonance and synecdoche
soul - religious
28 To move, but doth, if the other do.
both compass legs have to move together and respond to one another
29 And though it in the center sit,
stationary compass leg stands in middle of paper, like earth in middle of system
30 Yet when the other far doth roam,
when the other compass foot moves further away
31 It leans and hearkens after it
the stationary foot changes its angle to lean in that direction, as if longing to be nearer to its partner - heart and emotions are felt deeply
32 And grows erect, as that comes home.
As the moving foot returns, closing the compass, the stationary foot stands straight again, seeming alert and excited - when he comes home
shift - erect to wilt
33 Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
she will be stationary
34 Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
shift
obliquely - not direct, he must run in a circle route
35Thy firmness makes my circle just,
her fixed position provides him with the stability to create a perfect circle
compass, full circle back SR
36 And makes me end where I begun.
ends exactly where it began—bringing the speaker back to his lover once again
the flea - jack donne
title
flea - blood sucking mosquito, pest/insect
the metaphysical conceit, compares sexual acts to a flea
symbol of connection, combining 2 genetics together
1 Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
compares flea
mark - anaphora
2 How little that which thou deniest me is;
flea is so small compared to how “little” sex is
she does believe
shift
3 It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
it bit him then bit her
chiasmus
4 And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
bloods mixing inside flee
shift
5 Thou know’st that this cannot be said
she already knows that..
secret
6A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,
it is nothing shame/sinful or virginity lost
7 Yet this enjoys before it woo,
but the flea gets to have you
8 And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
without marrying first
paradox
9 And this, alas, is more than we would do.
this is more than what they would be allowed to do
desperate, guilt tripping
10 Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
don’t kill the flea with our blood in it
2 to 3 - holy trinity
paradox of 3 lives
11 Where we almost, nay more than married are.
in the flea’s body, we are almost, no, more than, married
12This flea is you and I, and this
metaphor
13Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
their religious setting
shift
14Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
parents don’t approve
15And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
they are safe in these walls, refuge from their parents
16 Though use make you apt to kill me,
though you prob want to kill me
17 Let not to that, self-murder added be,
dont add that to your list of sins
18 And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
3 sins will come from killing the flea
hyperbole
tone shift - rejected, anger
19 Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
cruel and unpredictable woman
20 Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?
have you stained your nails purple with the flea’s innocent blood?
rhymes
21 Wherein could this flea guilty be,
the flea cannot be guilty
personification, emotional/psychological
22 Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
except for sucking your blood
how can it be guilty, just a flea
23 Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou
happy in her victory of killing the flea
enjambment
24 Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;
neither of us are weaker for killing it
25 ’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:
it is true, but learn how your fears are false
26 Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
you will lose as much honor when you give your virginity to me
27 Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
as this flea’s death took from you
holy sonnets: batter my heart, three person’d God
title
batter - hurt, beat my heart
3 personed - holy trinity
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
slam my heart, god of holy trinity
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
you’ve only knocked, and (those verbs)
3 That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
i must be knocked over to rise again
4 Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
use power to break, and hurt, and purify me
5 I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
im like a town that has been conquered
6 Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
trying to let you back in, but i cant
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
viceroy - landlord
logical thinking, which is supposed to rule my mind when you are away
also supposed to defend me against attacks on my religious faith
8 But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
my logical thinking is held captive by the enemy, turn sout to be unfaithful to you
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
but i love you and want to be loved by you
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
but i am married to your enemy
11 Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
you have to break this marriage
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
kidnap and imprison me
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
unless you make me love you so much that it enslaves me, i'll never be free
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
i’ll never be pure until you help me
victorian period
tenets
large process of change, like factory and poor laws
rise of the middle class and ushered reforms for suffrage
focus on realism and portraying realistic events
emphasis on ethical behavior and moral purpose
works about issues related to women’s rights and societal expectations