- Born in 1572 in London to a prosperous family
- Persecuted (along with his family) for his Catholic views
- –Donne was related to Sir Thomas More (broke with Henry VIII over the Oath of Allegiance and was beheaded)
- –His uncle was hanged, castrated, disemboweled, and quartered
- –His brother Henry was arrested and died of the plague in prison.
- 1598—became Secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton
- Eloped with Egerton’s 17-year-old niece, Anne More
–Sir Egerton put him in jail for marrying a minor.
–But he and Anne remained married, and she bore him 12 children before dying in childbirth at age 33.
Writing:
•Poems first printed in 1633—called Songs and Sonnets
•Prose printed between 1633 and 1651
The Metaphysical School:
Metaphysical:
a- ‘of or relating to the transcendent or to a reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses’
B-highly abstract or abstruse
Main features:
•colloquial language (for that era);
•poems usually take the form of a philosophical argument with another person;
•contain a range of discordant images
Common topics in metaphysical poetry include:
•God and theology
•The church
•The court
•Love
•Nature
•Death
This poetry was a reaction against the deliberately smooth and sweet tones of much of 16th-century verse.It is energetic, often uneven, and rigorous. The poem often takes the form of an argument with God, with the poet’s lover, or with the poet himself.
Key feature/technique- Conceits
A key feature of metaphysical poetry is that it contains conceits.
Conceit : a figure of speech that establishes an elaborate parallel between two seemingly dissimilar or remote objects or ideas. Note the word- elaborate.
•A conceit will develop a comparison which is exceedingly unlikely but is, nonetheless, intellectually imaginative.
• A comparison turns into a conceit when the writer tries to make us admit a similarity between two things of whose unlikeness we are strongly conscious and for this reason, conceits are often surprising.
Such as a flea being used to symbolise a marriage bed- union of love.
Or a broken heart becoming a damaged china pot.
Therefore, metaphysical poetry involves combining dissimilar images—and showing how they really are alike.
Through use of conceits and philosophical/emotional subjects, metaphysical poets tried to show the complexities and contradictions of life.
In metaphysical poetry the “conceit” is often a controlling image around which the whole poem is organized—we will see this in Donne’s ‘The Flea’ and in Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”.
We have said that metaphysical poetry often deals with the subjects of religion and love.
Oddly enough, Donne links together sexual and religious images in both his love poems and his religious poems.
Metaphysical Conceits:
Examples from Donne:
A woman’s naked body as an explorer’s map—”Oh, my America!”
Two lover’s bodies as a compass with two legs and a fulcrum point holding the two parts together
The action of God’s grace as a battering ram
A flea’s body that has just bitten both lovers as a sacred altar or a marriage bed.
How to Recognize a Donne Metaphysical Poem:
- a dramatic situation in which there is a speaker and one spoken to, who is always silent (apostrophe)
- a conversational tone
- highly imaginative and unlikely drawing of likenesses between things (conceits)
- images drawn from all sorts of sources that seem more worldly than the lovely images of typical 16th century poetry
Context
The early seventeenth century saw important changes in poetic fashion. Several prominent Elizabethan genres were no longer in evidence (sonnet sequences, pastoral poems), nor were stylistic features such as nature imagery and florid ornament. The norm was coming to be short, very concentrated poems in a colloquial and often witty “plain” style.
The major poets of these years were Donne, Jonson, and George Herbert.
The poetry itself uses rough everyday rhythms of language – it is not gentle poetry – and is often used as an argument: Donne engages with God, himself, his spouse, science, and elements of the natural world.
Donne uses witty, often sexually-based metaphors. In a poem about undressing his mistress, for example, Donne writes, “Oh! my America, my newfound land!” comparing the revelation of her body to the discovery of a new continent. He also employs the word “death” (fully intending the double entendre- ‘le petit mort’) to suggest both death itself and sexual activity, hence, the lines, “I die and rise in thee again” carry a physical, sexually-charged resonance.
'The Flea'
Simple/modernised summary
In A Nutshell:
•The speaker of "The Flea" tries to talk his crush into bed by using strange (hardly arousing) images such as the sucking of blood, the squashing of insects, and suicide. Nowadays, we may ask-what on earth made him think this would be an effective pickup strategy? Did they not have roses and teddy bears in the seventeenth century?
Actually, when you talk about John Donne you're talking about one of the ‘master pickup artists of all time’ ( please don’t write that in your essays!). Along with some of his British contemporaries – the "Metaphysical Poets" – Donne wrote heaps of clever and erotically charged love poems. You get the sense that when he wrote this poem he was thinking along the same lines some rappers (I’m thinking in terms of lyrics but also people like Kanye West when he sports those sunglasses that actually block your vision): "Can I really get away with this?"
•Donne does indeed get away with trying to seduce a woman by talking about a bug. But let's not overstate the accomplishment.
"The Flea" was written in an age when people were not such squeamish germ-o-phobes as they are now. Fleas were a not-infrequent subject of seventeenth-century European painting. Then again, we are germ-o-phobic for a reason: the flea is now known to have contributed to the Black Plague that swept through Europe before Donne was even born. The point, though, is that the image of a flea sucking blood would not have automatically led a Renaissance audience to recoil in horror the way most of you did yesterday!
•Donne is famous for writing in at least two genres of poetry: erotic love poetry, like "To His Mistress Going to Bed" and "The Flea," and devotional (religious) poetry, like the famous "Holy Sonnets." As I said yesterday, there is not always a strict line between religion and eroticism in Donne's poetry, and in the seventeenth century you could be a preacher and still take a passionate interest in sex. Donne, we should add, was a well-known preacher who converted from Catholicism to Protestantism.
Donne's poetry was not collected and published as a whole until after his death. It has been speculated that "The Flea" may have been written around 1610 and first published in 1633.
If you are looking at the poem and thinking- ‘John Donne- this is far too difficult for me!’, then let’s simplify it for you: just imagine John Donne as a teenage boy at summer camp who has found himself a lady friend at the girl's camp across the lake.
There he is sitting on the dock, wearing his frilly lace tights and collar- fashion was strange during the English Renaissance. He has the boldness and self-centeredness of a teenager who thinks that the world is his oyster.
Let's put aside the whole sex bit and say that he's just trying to get the girl next to him to give him a kiss. In his British accent, he's all: "Give us a kiss, love!" And she's like, "No way! Everyone will think I'm easy!"
All of a sudden, he sees a mosquito land on her arm. (Fleas are not such a huge issue at summer camp, so we’ll use mosquitos instead as they are more common these days!) First he gets all jealous that the mosquito gets to go to first base while he, the nerdy poet, hasn't even kissed a girl yet.
Later, he argues that they are pretty much already kissing inside the mosquito, and nobody would call her easy because of that, so why don't they just get it over with and kiss for real already!
Seriously, folks, that's the gist of the poem. It's a slightly sleazy but charming boy trying to convince a girl to hook up with him despite her fears about developing a "reputation."
It's a sticky-sweet coming-of-age poem, perfect for anyone who's ever been to summer camp...even if your camp didn't have poets from the seventeenth century running around in it. (Which is a good thing, because the rest of you boys would have had a hard time scoring that first kiss if Donne had been stealing all the hearts!)
What actually happens?
•Stanza 1: The poem's speaker, in an effort to woo a lady and convince her to sleep with him, discusses how a flea has bitten them both and mingled their blood, a euphemism for intercourse. The speaker claims there is no "sin; nor shame; nor loss of maidenhead." in the flea biting them, so how can there be in intercourse- surely that to is simply a mingling of blood?
•Stanza 2: The speaker, once again, attempts to persuade the object of his affection by claiming that since their blood has already been mingled in the flea, they might as well, therefore, mingle their blood amorously. The flea has already joined them inside itself- so surely that is as f they are married? He tries to stop her from harming the flea by saying she would be killing three people- the flea, he and her.
• Stanza 3: The object of the speaker's affection has killed the flea, an apparent sign of rejection, so the speaker explains that the mingling of blood has made neither of them weaker or less honourable, much in the same way yielding to each other will not.
Meter, Rhyme and Rhythm
Let's start with the rhyme scheme: AABBCCDDD. These couplets (and one triplet at the end of the stanza) help you keep track of the speaker's argument, which generally proceeds in two-line units. So each time we get a new rhyme, we're also getting a new idea. The rhyme words are very simple, usually limited to one syllable: this/is, thou/now, met/jet. The most commonly used rhyme words are "thee" and "be." Notice, too, Donne's clever pairing of "me," "thee," and "be" at the end of the poem. He manages to unite the couple in rhyme, if not in real life.
The poem's main rhythmic unit is the iamb: a short, unaccented syllable followed by a long, accented syllable:
This flea is you and I, and this
Our mar-riage bed, and mar-riage tem-ple is (lines 12-13)
The lines alternate between eight and ten syllables (iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter). Each stanza has nine lines, and the first and last line of each stanza has eight syllables.
The rhythm of Iambic tetrameter (couplets) iambic pentameter (triplets) is regular suggesting a clever and well thought out argument.
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic pentameter is the name given to a line of verse that consists of five iambs (an iamb being one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed, such as "before").
Poems in iambic pentameter may or may not rhyme. Those that are written in continuous lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter are said to be in blank verse, while rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter may be called "heroic couplets", particularly when each couplet closes a thought or sentence on its second line.
Iambic Tetramater
Iambic tetrameter refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs (think Tetris- 4 blocks!
Example:
Ap PAR..|..elled IN..|..cel EST..|..ial LIGHT, The EARTH,..|..and EV..|..ry COM..|..mon SIGHT,
Moving beyond the surface..
Before we move on any further, it is important to point out that John Donne was a man who believed that love required both a physical and a spiritual component- hence the joining of sexual and religious imagery. In Donne’s view of love, the physical body (some sort of tangible matter or sign), typically coincides with the spiritual soul. Donne was quite keen on this body/soul relationship. He also believed that ‘true’ love must be mutual and reciprocated. If two individuals could attain this status of love, then whatever was expressed between those two was something much greater than a connection between two earthly bodies, and even deeper than an intermingling of two spiritual souls; love takes on a heavenly condition and there, in the hearts of those two lovers, is a reflection of the divine: the love of God for humankind.
This is shown when he states: 'And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be” (l. 3-4). In these lines, the flea bites the speaker and proceeds to bite his beloved. The speaker makes the argument that since this petty insect has combined their blood within itself, why cannot the speaker and his lover do the same? This sort of image, this intermingling and connection of the physical (blood) as depicted in “The Flea,” was crucial to Donne’s understanding of love as he presents it in so much of his poetry- two becoming one.
The speaker in “The Flea” goes further to say, “Thou know’st that this cannot be said / A sinne, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead”, presenting the notion that if his beloved were to give up her virginity, she would not face any shame in doing so, and she need not worry at all about such an action being considered a sin: a flea bite, which like sex, would mingle the two lovers’ blood, could not be classified as sinful. No sin was committed, nor honor lost as the woman was bit by the flea and the lovers’ blood was joined; so, similarly, the physical exchange, in sexual intercourse, would not result in sin or dishonor. Donne believed that love is something granted to humans by God, and meant to be explored and consummated with the physical bodies, which were also given to us by God. Sensory perception is a means of understanding; thus this bodily connection in the love-making process, as the speaker contests is not sinful, but necessary.
In the final three lines of the first stanza, “Yet this [the flea] enjoys before it woo, / And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two / And this, alas, is more then we would do” the speaker hints at the idea of pregnancy, with the phrase ‘pamper’d swells,’ but lets his lover know that she should not worry because they have not done anything yet. Obviously as the two have not engaged in coitus, there is no legitimate concern here for the woman. Some have argued that the flea is representation of a “mock-Christian miracle of virginal conception” and Donne uses this idea as another attempt to seduce his beloved. In this instance, once again Donne’s language provides vivid imagery with an underlying spiritual meaning, specifically, conceiving a child: Christ by the Virgin Mary. The speaker’s beloved refuses to fall victim to the argument that in the past, through a connection strong enough and divine grace, a woman was made pregnant; thus, it is not impossible that the same could happen here. The woman’s rejection of the speaker’s reasoning, or lack thereof, does not take away from the fact that Donne’s speaker utilizes language which, seen on the surface as particularly physical, is actually tapping into something much deeper as it alludes to far greater sacred meanings.
There is an ambiguity to the poem- is he purely a pick-up artist, or does he really love her?
In the second stanza, the speaker moves from an outright argumentative tone and takes on a seemingly more desperate tone, while still being insistent and trying to convince his love to have intercourse with him: ‘Oh stay three lives in one flea spare… And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.’ Here, the speaker pleads (‘oh stay’) with his beloved, as she raises her hand to strike the flea, begging her not to kill it. Donne again uses sacramental language as he alludes to the marriage between the speaker and his lover, as their blood is joined within this insect. The flea serves as an embodiment of these two individuals’ lives and they are made one within its dome-like body.
The speaker goes one step further with the word ‘cloistered,’ further suggesting an even more religious experience: nuns or monks who have vowed to live according to certain religious precepts and are attached to the community of the monastery. In addition, these religious affiliates have given their promise to some higher deity to remain chaste; this notion of refraining from sexual intercourse permeates all throughout “The Flea” as the woman constantly refutes the speaker’s arguments asking her to give up her sexual purity. In this instance, Donne wittingly uses the flea as representation of a temple to allude to a deeper religious implication. Still further, the speaker informs his beloved that to kill the flea, the sign, the symbol of the sacrament of their “marriage,” would be sacrilegious. Not only would the speaker’s lover kill the innocent insect, she would also be murdering the speaker, whose blood is within, and she would be committing suicide in a sense as well, as her own blood is also within; thus ‘three sins in killing three’ . Again, there is this fairly overt religious ideology as demonstrated through the speaker’s arguments against murder and suicide.
The speaker’s beloved, however, seems to go on un-phased by the idea of sacrilege as she smites the flea. With the third and final stanza, the lady shoots down the speaker’s pleas; she has “purpled [her] naile, in blood of innocence” as she destroys the “temple of their love” The speaker says, “Yet thou triumph’st” which is to say that the woman feels victorious in killing the flea, and therefore the speaker’s argument, and she notes that she feels no loss of strength or virtue.The speaker concludes, “’Tis true, then learn how false, feares bee; …life from thee” In this final triplet, the speaker argues that his beloved, by giving up her virginity, will lose just as much honor as she lost in murdering the flea: none. There is an interesting reading of the last segment of “The Flea.” which argues that Donne is juxtaposing the symbol, a merely physical representation of something greater and more meaningful, and the sacrament, a religious ceremony or act representative of divine grace: the flea as marriage, the murder of the flea as a ‘loss of honor,’ and the woman’s reputation with her actual chastity. These earthly, “tangible” signs are all underpinned with some actual worth and value. This comparison between the death of the flea and the loss of maidenhead reveals to the woman that her “sexual abstinence—physical chastity—is but a tangible sign” just as she destroyed the flea, a sign of divine grace, of marriage, and of love, then she will see no harm in destroying the symbol of her purity as a woman: her virginity. For surely the destruction of the sign will not affect the underlying truth…the sacrament is one thing, the virtue is another. When the poem is interpreted this way, that is when sacraments are perceived as material representations of some greater essential truth; readers align themselves with the woman, they most likely succumb to and enjoy the speaker’s pursuit of pleasure, giving in to Donne’s skillful ability to improvise and persuade.
In can therefore be argued that “The Flea” is more than just a lover’s chase and petition to his beloved to sleep with him; instead, “The Flea” is a poem that uses sexual language to allude to a connection with the divine. This poem is more than just the yearning for carnal fulfillment, rather it is a piece of writing which delves into the theological; it goes further than just the sacrament of marriage and beyond physical love. “The Flea” represents not only a physical connection in love, but a necessary divine intervention. Donne uses this work to show the similarities of secular sexual union to a spiritual union. Even though the physical and spiritual connection established here between the two lovers in the poem is almost entirely imaginative, Donne uses the relationship to signify that human love is more than just a physical bond between two bodies, and even more than the intertwining of two souls. Their love is a representation of God’s love for Man as was embodied by Christ and is remembered through the partaking of his body and blood with the sacrament of communion.
Do you agree?
Key Features
1.Metaphysical poem. A dramatic lyric. Full of conceits: elaborate but powerful.
2.Donne seeks to persuade through the use of wit. Wit (cleverness) shown through conceits but also perfect structure and rhythm.
3.Themes: love and religion
4.Donne manipulates time. Time slows down throughout poem (use of caesura) as every intricate detail is described – suggests a strong sense of intimacy between the two people. Their love has the power to even control time.
5.Poem deals with contrasts:
•Flea and body of lovers;
•Flea’s body and church/temple
•the trivial flea bite and the serious occasion of losing one’s virginity;
• the relatively meaningless crime of killing a flea and the huge crimes against the self and God.
Apostrophe
In literature, apostrophe is a figure of speech sometimes represented by exclamation “O”. A writer or a speaker, using an apostrophe, detaches himself from reality and addresses an ( often imaginary) character in his speech.
It is important not to confuse the apostrophe which is a figure of speech and the apostrophe which is a punctuation mark (‘). It shows possession or a mark to indicate omission of one or more letters (contractions) while apostrophe used in literature is an arrangement of words addressing a non-existent person or an abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and capable of understanding feelings.
Examples of Apostrophe from Literature
Example #1
William Shakespeare makes use of an apostrophe in his play “Macbeth”:
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
Come, let me clutch thee!
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”
In his mental conflict before murdering King Duncan, Macbeth has a strange vision of a dagger and talks to it as if it were another person.
Why do you think Donne uses this technique?
Essay questions to try:
1.Choose a poem in which there is effective use of one or more of the following: verse form, rhythm, rhyme, repetition, sound. Show how the poet effectively uses the feature(s) to enhance your appreciation of the poem as a whole.
2.Choose a poem in which contrast is important in developing a main theme. Explore the poet’s use of contrast and show how this adds to your appreciation of the main theme.
3. Choose a poem in which there is an element of ambiguity. Show how the poet’s use of ambiguity enriches your appreciation of the poem as a whole.
4.Choose a poem which seems to you to be critical of a person or a point of view. Discuss how effectively this criticism is presented by the poet.
'A Valediction...'
In comparison to the ambiguity of the physical love ( is it purely physical?) described in ‘The Flea’,‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ is a direct statement of Donne’s ideal of spiritual love.
Spiritual love is a love that transcends the merely physical.
History/Context
•Written in 1611 as a tribute to his wife as Donne left for France.
•A dramatic lyric poem rich in imagery.
•Celebration of the fact that Donne and More can feel emotion more powerful than anyone else.
•Donne seeks to create a marked contrast between their powerful love and the ‘sublunary love’ of the ‘laity’ (normal people)
Synopsis/Summary
He calls upon their spiritual love to avoid any “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests” from taking place during their farewell.
The poem includes a sequence of metaphors and comparisons (conceits), each describing a way of looking at their separation that will help them to avoid mourning it.
Key Images
1. “As virtuous men pass mildly away
…
So let us melt, and make no noise”
•Simile-their goodbye should be quiet and understated, as the uncomplaining deaths of virtuous men.
2.
•“Moving of th’ earth”
Metaphorical- Conventional love is like an earth-quake which is dangerous and fast-moving
= physical urgency of conventional love
But…
•“Trepidation of the spheres”
Metaphorical-Their love is of the planets which is more powerful but creates no harm.
= “trepidation” suggests hesitancy but also intensity- a shaking of the planets is more powerful
= slower and more gradual but also loftier/more powerful- does not create harm.
3.
The Lovers’ Souls
The lovers’ two souls are united as one, so when the lovers move apart, the area of their unified soul simply expands
Just as Gold can be beat to ‘aery thinness’ and remain Gold, so they can expand, be changed physically but will remain connected- the same.
4.
The Compass
The lovers’ souls are united as the two legs at the foot of a compass.
This image symbolises the values of spiritual love: deeply connected, balanced, symmetrical and intellectual.
The circle of a compass also refers back to the planets- cosmology
Meter/Rhythm
Meter is important in this poem because:
- It aids the subtle beauty of the poem.
- It links the powerful and profound love with intelligent and carefully crafted language.
- The rhythm is a reflection of his love for Anne More- constant- never changing.
Meter is the rhythm of the poem. When we discuss meter we are really concerned with measuring the syllables in a line of poetry.
Iamb – a measurement of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Pentameter – five of them
Tetrameter – four of them
E.g. dum-ti dum-ti dum-ti dum-ti dum-ti
The ‘ti’ in the above example is stressed.
Donne is slightly more subtle in his approach, yet the stressed and unstressed syllables are certainly there and still form a regular pattern.
'A Valediction' is composed of nine four-line stanzas called quatrains, each with an alternating ABAB rhyme scheme.
The meter is iambic tetrameter:
'Though I must go, endure not yet.' (22)
The poem sticks closely to its pattern, but there is some variation and it's worth noticing:
The first line has an insignificant little deviation—it's got an extra unstressed syllable in the word "mildly." The extra unstressed syllable de-emphasizes the stressed syllables and makes this more peaceful. The same thing happens in lines 17.
The beginning of stanza 3 reverses the stress on the first two syllables so that the word "moving" gets extra oomph, which makes sense, because we're talking about an earthquake. The next stanza loses its first syllable altogether, letting the first line open with the thudding stressed syllable "dull." Line 14 and 15 have the first hard enjambment and that gets extra stressed with the reversed beginning word "Absence."
Stanza 6 has the most variation in the poem. First, the opening line reverses the stress to throw emphasis on the word "souls." Then there is a missing syllable in line 23, which hammers home that whole idea of a "breach."
To sum up then, this poem sticks to a rigid form and meter, with slight variation when it wants to emphasize or mirror its content.
Ptolemy was a 2nd century Egyptian Mathematician and astronomer.
'Trepedation of the spheres'
Ptolemaic Cosmology believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe, and the other planets moved around it.
•After 36,000 years planets would be perfectly aligned. [1]
This conceit shows the sheer power and majesty of their love.
•Their love is of the heavens – quite literally. It resembles scientific perfection of planetary movement. A relationship of beautiful balance. The two of them are always connected and will always re-align.
•Donne subtly hints at this through rhythm and structure of the poem. 36 lines to reinforce alignment, regular rhythm of iambic tetrameter. Power of love comes through the very lines.
•It is another tribute to wit and intelligence of the poet. We see readily the influence of science and academic thought.
•We can also link this to the conceit of the compass – move 360 degrees to create a perfect circle.
The Comparison Question
The main difference is that you deal with two poems instead of one.
•You should look to comment on which poem you prefer and why. This is where the evaluation aspect comes in.
•Key difference: ‘The Flea’ focuses on the physical side of things; ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ shows us a more deep-rooted emotional love- spiritual.
You want to look at at least 3 main points/differences:
Compare the imagery:
•Flea - a humorous idea; with the sexual undertones used we see the focus on the physical side of love/relationships.
•Imagery in AV:FM is more about the strong unity between two people and an incredibly powerful love. (Use compass/ gold here)
Compare the structure:
•‘The Flea’ makes regular use of triple structure. Aids persuasive tone and links strongly to religion. Focus is always about importance of physical pleasure. Used triples and the idea that physical connections can be like a religious experience to sway his lover.
•‘AV:FM’ Quote ‘trepidation of the spheres’ verse - regular tetrameter (power of love), but on a larger scale, we have the ideas of ptolemaic cosmology coming through – 36 lines, movement of the planets etc. Relationship transcends the earthly.
Compare narrative voice/tone:
•Both dramatic lyrics, and as such they both seek to present a persuasive argument.
•‘The Flea’ takes a domineering tone – first couplet.
•‘A Valediction:’ is gentler in tone, seeking to illustrate togetherness. Could focus on use of repetition (sibilance/alliteration) as persuasive tool, showing unity or deep connection (verse 2/5).
Structuring the essay- MB paragraphs
Can deal with both poems in 1 paragraph :
TS
Quote
A/E
Introduce 2nd poem
A/E
Preference
or:
TS
Q
A/E/ Link
And so on.
Question to try:
Choose two poems which explore human relationships.
By referring to both poems, discuss which you consider to be the more convincing portrayal of a relationship.
Use the exemplar to start you off…
Tips:
- Remember- use key words from the essay question in your introduction, your topic sentences and your links at end of paragraphs.
- Explain what themes are and give context to poems/quotes- don’t be vague.
- Analyse sound- all poems are about sound. Try to look at least one sound technique in a poetry essay.
Wow! That was an awesome post. John Donne was a great poet and his literary work is also good, I learn that John Donnes's metaphysical writing also good and John Donne was a poet of honor. বাংলায় পড়ছি।
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