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John Donne

In: English and Literature

Submitted By victpre
Words 710
Pages 3
Victor Abengowe
Dr. Bonds
British literature
26 March 26, 2015
Expectations of John Donne The Indifferent (Rough Draft) In John Donne’s The Indifferent there are many ways that the poem can be broken down, there are also many different audience members that this poem could be speaking to. John Donne is writing to a specific audience to get his point across. Though many people have a clue who the poem refers to, I have come to realize that it is regarding women. John Donne exhorts to women that there are things in which he likes personally. The audience is really important in evaluating this poem, Gregory Machacek says,” Not only can he love a variety of women, not only does he love the two women to whom he is speaking, but he has found himself in this very position.” This shows how the audience and also his preference is the main idea of the poem. In Stanza number one, he discusses more of the detail of the women he prefers. “Her who loves loneness best, and her who masks and plays, her who the country formed, and whom the town, and who believes, and her who tries, her who still weeps with spongy eyes.” He shows that these are the women that he is attracted to. He also shows a lot of interest in those who are unfaithful, “I can love her, and her, and you, and you, I can love any, so she be not true.” This shows that he loves women who are open minded and will be unfaithful. In Stanza number two, he tries to persuade women into having sexual relations with him. He wants to have his way with them and do as he wants. He doesn’t want to be unfaithful to her but he just wants them to be open with other women while with her. “Rob me, but blind me not, and let me go. Must I, who came to travail through you, Grow your fixed subject, because you are true?” This shows how John Dunne feels as if it is too overwhelming to just stay with one female for the rest of his life. Reviewing this shows that he would like some variety in his life so that makes him to feel infatuation with other women. Fetzer says, “The speaker of “The Indifferent”, notably a little discussed poem”, this means that the speaker is very hard to be established and found throughout most of the poem. In Stanza number three, The Greek God named Venus did not condone this way of thinking. Venus likes the concept of love and not infatuation and lust in the way he’s using it. “Venus heard me sigh this song, And by love’s sweetest part, variety, she swore, She heard not this till now; and that it should be no more. She went, examined, and returned ere long, some two or three Poor heretic in love there be, Which think to ’stablish dangerous constancy.” This explains that that Venus suggests that he’s not giving love a chance. This poem shows a lot of different audiences and presents how even though it explains the women he prefers it depends what he wants to do with them and also what makes them attractive to him. I am really surprised by the people who tolerated these poems by John Donne back in the olden days, because I would believe that it was more strict like I think most people would believe these poems to be unethical. Even though the poem is very well written I think that it makes it very hard to see who he is talking to. Is he talking to women or is he really just talking to Himself? I believe that he is speaking to both because he must first talk to himself before talking to these women.

Works Cited
Donne, John. "The Indifferent." The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
Gen. ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. F. New York: Norton, 2012. 617. Print.
Fetzer, Margret. John Donne's Performances : Sermons, Poems, Letters And Devotions. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Machacek, Gregory. "Donne's The Indifferent." Explicator 53.(1995): 192-194. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

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