...Issa Haddad Jason Sebacher ENGL102 27 November 2012 Compare/Contrast Essay In Dylan Thomas', “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, he entreats his father to not succumb quietly to death. He uses the metaphor, "the dying of the light" (3) to illustrate that he feels death to be a destructive power seeking to put out the "light" which is the human life force. That he feels this destruction should not be passively accepted is first shown when he states, "old age should burn and rave at the close of day" (2). He employs the metaphor, "close of day" (2) to show he feels death is an end to human consciousness as he knows it. He also uses "old age" (2) to personify the person/people who should fight death, and "burn and rave" (2) to indicate the fight. He uses examples of different types of men resisting death to add to his argument that life should not be given up lightly. "Wise men" (4) do not "go gentle" because "their words had forked no lightning" (5). Another metaphor, meaning that the words they speak receive no notice, therefor there is still more recognition to achieve before death's finality. "Good men" (7), realizing (with the metaphor/personification) that their "frail deeds might have danced in a green bay" (8), also fight against dying. The use of "green bay" (8) as a metaphor for the inevitable "sea" of mortality shows that they realize their actions in life may not yet be enough to secure them an illustrious place in human history and remembrance. "Wild men"...
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...John Donne, a seventeenth-century English poet, was born in London in 1572 and known for his ingenuous style of writing (Bloom 10). According to Christopher Moore, an English writer, Donne’ poetry is colloquial in diction and has the flexibility and liveliness of spoken language which imparts an energy and force perfectly capturing his mercurial jumps in thought and description; his poetry is filled with unusual images and metaphor for the fact most of it deals with love and relations between the sexes (Moore 12). Besides “The Flea,” “The Good Morrow,” and others, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is another famous masterpiece for which John Donne is recognized. Izaak Walton, a contemporary of John Donne, stated that “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” was addressed to Donne’s wife, Anne More, on the occasion of his leaving for a continental trip in 1611 (Bloom 63). Donne’s poem is a good example that shows his metaphysical wit, a term was conferred on him along with his followers, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, and others by Samuel Johnson, a critic and essayist in the eighteenth-century (Bloom12). To sum up, Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (Apr 84) is such a love and farewell speech among which he uses a series of simile, symbolism, and analogy to express his feelings and comfort his wife while he is abroad. Donne, in the first two stanzas, uses the image of virtuous men’s death as a metaphor to his separation from his wife to tell her their love is so great...
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...Through the comparative study of John Donne's poetry and Margaret Edson's play W;t we are shown the individual context of both writers and their perspectives on relationships and death. Donne represents his assurance of life after death in his Holy Sonnets. Additional to this in his earlier poetry, his valuing of deep relationship being critical to the human experience is reflected by his renaissance belief. Edson's individual post-modern context is apparent in the appropriation and rewriting of Donne's ideas to reflect her own perspective. This is further emphasized in the choices made by each composer to represent their ideas in different textual forms. Before Donne changed to his Protestant Christian faith in 1601 he believed that the meaning of life was through love. Donne ignores the reality of love and instead writes about what is outside reality, the metaphysical. In 1601 Donne secretly married a young seventeen-year-old girl by the name of Anne More. Donne wrote about how the love between him and his wife would go past this life and travel with them to the afterlife. After her death, Donne wrote “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” which describes his undying love for her. Donne made sure that his audience understood the significance of relationships, through the self-importance of "twin compasses"," thy soul, the fix'd foot", "making my circle perfect". The 17th century context is reflected in the representation of circular perfection which lifts the status of relationships...
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...change due to her disease. In particular, Ms. Bearing’s advocacy for the need of wit in language loses its importance under the influence of her experiences in the hospital. Vivian’s concept of witty language undergoes fundamental changes during her hospital stay, which results in her understanding of the role played by simplicity in the expression of real life human experience. Being a professor of English, Vivian Bearing is passionate about the subject of her life, that is, language. Her primary idea of language has cardinally changed under the influence of her experiences in the hospital, where she appeared in the result of her diagnosis of Stage IV ovarian cancer. Vivian in fact adored language in its complicacy, whereas poetry of John Donne was used by the woman as a source of the author’s wit that provided her with great examples for her students’ learning of sophisticated English. In particular, Donne’s sonnet “Death Be Not Proud” was her favorite one, as it was a manifestation of “…wit at work: not so much resolving the issues of life and God as revelling in their complexity” (Edson 39). However, Vivian reshaped her opinion of language’s beauty as triggered by its wit after her own life’s complication by the need to choose between life and death. The final exam of Vivian’s own life has shown her that language does not need wit or any other devices of complication when simple words are more than capable of getting the message across. The woman catches herself thinking...
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...British Lit / Test Two Review Essay Questions 1. The genre of “The Fairie Queen” is a romantic epic. Epic poetry is the highest form of poetry; long and episodic. It is a narrative that contains many adventures, a central character, journey to hell, gods and goddesses, and it starts in the middle (in medias res). The Fairie Queen is allegorical of the Protestant Reformation. It contains many biblical allusions supporting the Protestant faith and criticizing Catholicism. It is written in Spenserian stanza, stanzas of nine iambic lines; the first eight are pentameters and the ninth is hexameter with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc. 2. The term Renaissance translates into “rebirth”. This was a great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe; marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world. The Renaissance began in Europe around 1390; this was around the same time of the Canterbury Tales. The Renaissance did not begin in England until1485. It was so late coming to England because of the civil war due to the “power struggle” between the House of York and the House of Lancaster. This Civil War was called the War of the Roses. The two houses fought until they killed each other off and in 1485, King Henry took crown and this was the beginning of the Tudor Dynasty. England finally had a level of peace allowing its people to acknowledge and then take part in this renewal of life, vigor, and interest. 3. The difference in doctrine between Protestantism...
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...reciprocal values of these texts’ transcend their contextual limitations. Their meaning immortalised, they remain forever relevant to the human attempt to derive meaning. Through a comparative study of the texts, the eternal paradox of the complex journey (and process of suffering) required to realise the importance of accepting embracing values of faith, simplicity and, human mortality, in the process of achieving redemption (and forming a new identity )has been exemplified. “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”. This use of personification encapsulates the beginning of a journey both Vivian and Donne undertake upon reaching a state of “salvation anxiety”. Immersed in the death of his four still born children, and the plague ridden society that was in the process of forming the first cracks in what would be a paradigm shift away from blind faith, Donne initially struggled to accept his mortality, using “verbal swordplay” as a means in which to “run and hide” from a death which was no longer a mere gateway to the inevitable afterlife. He attempts to conquer death, as seen through the emotive apostrophe and personification of death in Death be not Proud, in which he claims of death, “mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so”. However, just as Vivian realises that “now is not the time for verbal swordplay, for metaphysical conceit, for wit” he to...
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...ABSTRACT John Donne is acknowledged as the master of metaphysical poetry and is admired for his talent and magnificent wit exercised in his writing. Metaphysical poetry is a special branch of poetry that deals with the pedagogic use of intellect and emotion in a harmonic manner. The basic praxis of metaphysical poetry is to highlight the philosophical view of nature and its ambience concerning human life. Despite criticisms from various corners, Donne and his other companions remained busy with their work to concentrate on metaphysical poetry to portray the feelings and sentiments of human beings by dint of their skillful and artful literary accomplishments. This paper is to address the outstanding performance of John Donne in the arena of metaphysical poetry and it endeavours to make a critical assessment of the diverse issues allembracing metaphysical poetry as well as to establish the relevance of metaphysical poetry in the literary realm. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION ―Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere‖ The Sun Rising: John Donne The startling conversational lines marvellously enumerate the poet‘s intense appeal to spread the beams of sun on the lovers‘ world as a mark of illuminating the macrocosmic world and beckon the readers to enter into a new realm of poetry with a sense of attachment and belonging between different objects of nature...
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...HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE "And as I lay and lined and looked on the waters slombred into a sleeping, it swayed so murye"- From The vision on Pier’s Plowman by William Langland The wit remains too: in his last poem, written when he was dying, he bargains with God about forgiving his sins, punning in the last lines on his name: "And, having done that, Thou hast done:/I fear no more. – JOHN Donne "the proper study of mankind is man", -Alexander Pope Dryden did for English poetry what Augustus had done for the city of Rome—"he found it brick and left it marble." – Dr Johnson "the contemporary l.iterature of France was characterised by lucidity, vivacity, and—by reason of theclose attention given to form—correctness, elegance, and finish...It was moreover a literature inwhich intellect was in the ascendant and the critical faculty always in control." – by W.H. Hudson in “An Outline History of English literature” "It is almost exclusively a "town"poetry, made out of the interests of 'society' in the great centres of culture. The humbler aspects of life are neglected in it, and it shows no real love of nature, landscape, ortountry things and people." – W.H.Hudson wrote about Neo classical poetry Romanticism described by Pater, “the addition of strangeness to beauty” By Watt Dunton, “therenaissance of wonder” By Goethe, “Romanticism is disease, Classicism is health.” “Human...
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...Anniversary’ as two poems written by John Donne possess certain similarities, largely through Donne’s use of extended metaphor in both to portray his feelings of love. However, elements of these poems can also be seen as to greatly juxtapose with ‘A Valediction’ focussing on the concept of ‘greater love’ enduring distance whilst ‘The Anniversary’ seems to portray the same love, though enduring time. Both poems convey a sense of ‘higher love’ - a highly spiritual experience. In ‘A Valediction’ Donne writes of ‘Dull, sublunary lovers’ in comparison to himself and his wife, using assonance to amplify the portrayal of these lovers as heavy-sounding and truly physical rather than anything more spiritual. The adjective ‘dull’ creates a lack of brightness about most lovers in comparison to Donne, whilst as he adds ‘Whose soul is sense’ Donne uses sibilance to continue the peaceful and gentle air of the poem in order to replicate his love, rather than to portray the love of the ‘Dull, sublunary lovers’. Donne’s ‘refin’d’ love (syntactically placed at the end of the line for further weight in describing the innate majesty of Donne’s love) connotes that of a diamond – a precious commodity in the 17th century – to describe the rich wealth of his love to his wife, but also its rarity, whilst Marxist literary theorists perceive this to be a reference to Donne’s ‘hardly attainable’ love, only truly expressible in the higher classes. In ‘The Anniversary’ , Donne too uses the concept of love described...
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...Him to take over, prove Himself, so that we can know that He is real and we can give our heart to Him. In the poem “Batter my heart, three-personed God”, written by poet John Donne, the speaker is asking God for exactly that. With his use of metaphors, paradoxes, and alliteration, we can actually feel the speaker’s urgency to be saved. The violent imagery and changes in tone throughout the poem prove just how desperate he is for God to take over control of him. Body The title itself, with the metaphor “Batter my heart”, draws the reader in. It captures the attention and makes one curious as to what will happen next in the poem. It gives the reader an image of destruction to an essential essence of life; for without a heart, we cannot survive. Is he stating that there is no life without God? The title also provides the initial tone of the poem. It gives the reader the impression that the speaker is desperate, vulnerable, and seeks to be violently manipulated. As we move on, we find that the speaker believes in the Holy Trinity, as he is pleading to the “three personed God”. He states that so far God is gently and lovingly trying to lead the speaker to Him, saying “you as yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend”, but that this method is not working, he needs a more forceful approach. Donne uses a paradox, stating that he “may rise and stand” if God would just “o’erthrow” him. Then he throws in alliteration to get his point across. He needs God to use His...
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...metaphysical poet John Donne. He was the one that concerned the metaphor of the bell that it was signaling that someone has gone from this life which mean that it was signaling the death of human life. In the famous lines at the beginning of the “For Whom The Bell Tolls” paragraph: “ No man is an lland, intire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a Clod be washed away by the Sea, Europe is the less, as well as a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in menkind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Donne was trying to tell that everything has it end, that if something affects one it can affect them all because everyone like him is involved in menkind, and he realized that when he got ill. It is exactly how it happens with a tree, it starts from the seed, the stem, then comes the flowers that later produces fruits, and in the end one day it is fading. That is how it happens with humans beans, they get born, they grow up, produce and in the end they die just like the trees are fading. We live in fear every day in this world because we know that one day the clock will stop for us just like our heartbeats will stop beating anymore, and then I believe that all the fear we had felt will disappear forever. But it is also apparent that in this paragraph Donne could also mean that...
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...contextual values of religion and human epistemologies. In the poetry of John Donne (1572‐ 1631) and play Wit (1997)by Margaret Edson, the recurrent issues of death and self actualisation are realigned in the Elizabethan context and post modernist ideals. While centuries separate the historical and social context of the paired texts, the human issues remain parallel reasserting the fundamental concerns of life and death in Donne’s poetry to give rise to new interpretations of the understanding of life. The evolution of societal ideologies regarding humanity’s attitude towards death is reliant upon the vicissitudinary nature of both cultural and historical contexts. In Donne’s context the Jacobean era saw the flourishing of Protestant Christianity and scientific advancements as seen in individuals such as Shakespeare and Galileo. This anthropocentric, humanistic movement is apparent in Donne’s challenge to the petrarchan conventions of poetry, in which he expresses the confidence of humanity and the arrogant attitude towards death that is central to his Holy Sonnet X ‘Death be not proud.’ Addressed through the second person references ‘thou’, ‘thee’, ‘thy’, death is not considered abstractly but anthropomorphisedas the poems central conceit. In Donne’s apostrophe to death , he personifies this concept and arrogantly reduces its power in “Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and Dreadful, but thou art not soe.” Donne rejects this medieval perception of death being ...
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...Death, Be Not Proud “Death, Be Not Proud” is a nonfiction sonnet written by John Donne, in which the speaker takes on Death, claiming it to be boastful and proud unjustifiably. The speaker takes a stand against the oppressive nature of Death, and asserts that a greater effect can take place through the use of simple human means, such as “poppies, or charms.” In fact, Donne ultimately claims that death has no real effect, and could conceivably be a relief, as we will “wake eternally.” He alleges that in the end, the only thing to die is Death itself. Throughout the poem, Donne talks to death as though he is speaking to it directly. This use of personification is of use, especially when the author is seemingly patronizing death, calling it “poor Death.” He exploits Death’s dependence on accidents, mistakes, and misfortune. According to Donne, Death is at the mercy of “Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men.” He demeans Death’s endeavors to such an extent that he pokes fun at its bleak and undesirable affiliates, “poison, war and sickness.” In giving death the role of something tangible, Donne is certainly aiming to take control and humble a force that is seen to most as unnerving. By establishing supremacy, it seems as though John Donne is trying to convince others to adopt the same attitude as he. Considering his obvious belief in heaven through the phrase “wake eternally,” Donne is proudly claiming to have conquered death because of his acceptance of the Christian afterlife...
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...English 178 - poetry | Donne’s “Language of Love” in Elegy XIX: “To His Mistress Going To Bed”. | Poetry Semester Essay | | Telan Hamer | 18184626Tutor : Tamsyn Allies | | The poetic works of John Donne has been afforded high acclaim when it comes to his use of language in the dominion of love. In his elegy “To His Mistress Going To Bed”, he beckons for his lover to be bedded with him, describing her beauty as he tries to influence her to disrobe. Donne, in this poem, makes visible the way in which love and desire can be expressed in language attiring his poems with extended metaphor, metaphysical conceit and masterful wit, to the extent to which one may re-read the poem simply to savour the way in which Donne has sculpted his imagery. “To His Mistress Going To Bed” is seen to fall under the poetic genre known as ‘the blazon’, a genre of poetry that glorifies a woman by focusing on certain desirable body parts whilst using appropriate metaphor. Hence, the main focus of this essay will be to provide a commentary on the use of “the language of love” with reference to Donne’s blazon, by highlighting a series of appropriate examples that will provide a platform to analyse what it is that Donne is trying to convey in his poem, and how he accomplishes its conveyance. The examples will be analysed with reference to how the poet incorporates certain aspects of language such as diction, form, style, tone, rhetoric, and his use of figures of speech. The opening lines...
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...In other words, it is a type of poetry dealing with abstract or philosophical subjects such as love, religion, God, beauty, faith and so on. But in reality the poetry which comprises the ideas or aspects that – physical love leading to spiritual union or religious, argumentative presentation of emotion, terseness of expression, use of conceit and wit in profusion, skillful use of colloquial language instead of Elizabethan lucid diction with the abrupt opening can be considered to be metaphysical. Originally the term ‘ Metaphysical Poetry ’ was coined by John Dryden and later popularised by Samuel Johnson and the features of the school which unite the various authors are quite numerous. As well as making widespread use of conceit, paradox and punning, the metaphysical poets drew their imagery from all sources of knowledge particularly from science, theology, geography and philosophy. However, John Donne is the founder of the school of metaphysical poetry and the other practitioners of the type of poetry are Crashaw, Cowley, Denham, Davenant, Herbert, Marvell , Vaughan and Waller . The most striking quality of Donne’s poetry is the use of metaphysical conceit which is a figure of speech in which two far fetched objects or images of very different nature are compared. It surprises its readers by its ingenious discovery and delights them by its intellectual quality. Such conceits are available in his poetry. Such a famous conceit occurs in the poem titled...
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