John Donne

John Donne

 

John Donne is a metaphysical poet (the name given to a diverse group of 17th century English poets whose work is significant due to its innovative use of intellectual and theological concepts in unusual conceits, paradoxes and strange imagery). Donne was the leading poet in this field, distancing his conversational, argumentative rhetoric from Elizabethan love poems.

 

The Flea (1633)

 

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,   

How little that which thou deniest me is;   

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;   

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,

    Yet this enjoys before it woo,

    And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

    And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.   

This flea is you and I, and this

Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;   

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,   

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

    Though use make you apt to kill me,

    Let not to that, self-murder added be,

    And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?   

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?   

Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou   

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;

    ’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:

    Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,

    Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

 

 Form and structure:

   'The Flea' alternates between lines in iambic tetrameter and lines in iambic pentameter, and each stanza ends with two lines written in iambic pentameter, maybe reflecting the separation of the couple until the last two lines. The regular rhyme scheme follows an A A B B C C D D D structure, perhaps using the couplets to reflect the narrator and his subject (reflecting the unity represented by their 'mingled' blood), and the rhyming triplet at the end of the stanza to represent the speaker, his 'lover' and the flea, or the thought of pre-marital sex. The first stanza ends with the rhyming triplet 'woo', 'two' and 'do', the second stanza ends with the triplet 'me', 'be' and 'three', whilst the final stanza ends with 'be', 'me', and 'thee'. 'Woo' alludes to the act of courtship, 'two' reiterates the unity that Donne tried to create with his rhetoric and he uses the verb 'do' to allude to the action of sexual intercourse and the proactive nature of it. In the final stanza 'be' is used to perhaps suggest how natural it would be to have sex after the flea has 'mingled' their blood. Whilst 'me' and 'thee' reiterate the pairing and, by ending with 'thee', the lover is ultimately given the power in that they can grant or deny him of what he wants. Additionally, Donne uses three stanzas to represent himself, his subject, and the flea.

 

Language:

    Donne uses the flea to symbolise their existent intermingled state and therefore suggest there would be no harm in having sex before marriage: 'This flea is you and I, and this /Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is'. Donne uses the unlikely, repellent conceit of the flea to represent the romantic ideas of courtship and marriage. The poem starts with the line 'mark but this flea, and mark in this', in a commanding lecture style, setting the tone for the rhetoric. Donne uses provocative language such as the repetition of the verb 'sucked', to emphasise the vulgarity of the flea's act, suggesting that the object of his affections has nothing to lose (innocence, purity) by having sex with him. At the end of the second stanza, Donne pleas with his subject to not squash the flea as that would be 'self-murder' and would 'kill three' as their blood represents their lives. In the last stanza, the beloved squashed the flea; 'purpled thy nail in blood of innocence', and, in turn, squashed his argument. Donne goes on to highlight 'how false fears be' of pre-marital sex and loss of virginity, arguably presenting a shockingly contemporary attitude to women or equality of the sexes, or presenting this argument purely for his own gain and to satisfy his desires.

 

 

The Sun Rising (1633)

 

 BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
      Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
      Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
      Late school-boys and sour prentices,
   Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
   Call country ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

 

      Thy beams so reverend, and strong
      Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
      If her eyes have not blinded thine,
      Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
   Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
   Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."

 

      She's all states, and all princes I;
      Nothing else is;
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
      Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
      In that the world's contracted thus;
   Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
   To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.

 

 Form and structure:

'The Sun Rising' consists of three 10-line stanzas, with an A B B A C D C D E E rhyme scheme. The separation in this rhyme scheme could represent how the sun, or time, is a barrier between the lovers, yet ultimately love triumphs as the stanza ends with a rhyming couplet. The poem starts, as a lot of Donne's poetry does, with a grandiose, shocking line; 'Busy old fool, unruly sun', personifying the sun as an intruder.

 

Language:

'The Sun Rising' focusses on the common literary theme of time vs. love. The idea that the sun is an intruder is sustained throughout the poem. The poem states 'why does thou thus, through windows and through curtains, call on us?'. Donne presents the sun to be powerful as it penetrates into the lovers' world. The end of the last stanza reads 'Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime/ Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time'. Donne clearly presents love as being superior, and the use of the word 'rags' represents the useless and insignificant ripped portions of time. Donne uses hyperbolic romantic imagery in 'I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,/But that I would not lose sight of her', suggesting that his power, and the power of his love, supersedes the power of the sun. In the beginning of the third stanza, Donne writes 'She's all states, and all princes I'. This could be interpreted as giving his lover a lot of power as, in the Ptolemaic/Geocentric model, the earth is more powerful as the sun orbits it. However, as the speaker gives himself the title of the princes, he rules over her, placing him in a superior position. Donne ends the poem with the line 'This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere'. Donne gives the lovers full power by placing them at the centre of the universe, and their love is so fulfilling that their room is the whole Earth.