Category: John Donne

Within John Donne’s love poems there are many unique ideas of love presented, his attitudes towards love are contrasting as love is presented as more physical rather than emotional. Donne’s presentation of physical love can be viewed as an attempt to glorify it. John Donne’s ‘the flea’ and ‘to his mistress going to bed’ could be seen as attempts to glorify physical love, and rejecting society’s typical view of love at the time, along with equating physical love to spiritual love by transforming its physicality into a celebration of the holy union between souls and god.

Within each ‘The Flea’ and ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’ John Donne glorifies physical love. In “The Flea,” the narrator tries to seduce the woman inside the poem with a surprising, and potentially gross, extended metaphor: each the narrator and the woman have been bitten by the same flea, which means their separate blood now mingles inside the flea’s body. In the first stanza, the narrator explains to the woman that after the flea has sucked each of their blood, the two of them already grow to be one thru their blood mingling in the flea’s body, as a result, if they had been to have sex it wouldn’t be “.A sin” and wouldn’t cause “shame, nor loss of maidenhead” because they have already technically done what, in Donne’s eyes, equates to having sex. Back in the seventeenth century, it was believed that during sex the participants’ blood would mingle so Donne’s metaphor isn’t so far fetched. Later in stanza three, after the woman has killed the flea in spite of the objection of the narrator, Donne describes the woman’s concern for her loss of chastity as “false fears” due to the fact that having sex with him should be no simpler than really killing a flea. However, back in Donne’s time, sex before marriage used to be considered a sin and a very big deal, and if it were found out by society, a woman could be shunned and it would make it hard for them to find a husband.

In ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’, not only is physical love as shameless, but it is also glorified as an exciting and happy adventure.“To His Mistress Going to Bed” is a poem of seduction. within the poem, the narrator tries to persuade the woman presented to undress, get in bed, and have sex with him. The poem unfolds as the narrator of the poem attempts to persuade this woman to undress by means of grooming her, using pretty language blended in with crude remarks, it can additionally be viewed as the woman undressing throughout the poem. If the poem is taken as the woman is undressing throughout it seems that the narrator, Donne, appears to be enjoying it, as he claims that “All joys are due to thee, As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must be, To taste whole joys.’ and hence “full nakedness!’ is what brings him joys. The speaker additionally deems that the woman’s body an unexplored land that is ready to be conquered, as he describes her body as ‘O my America! my new-found-land’ and whilst exploring it states “My kingdom, safeliest when with one man mann’d”, this could be viewed as Donne objectifying this woman. ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’ therefore also celebrates physical love, much like ‘the flea’.

Donne’s glorifying of physical love consequently rejects and challenges the Petrarchan notion of love. In Petrarchan poetry, the mistresses are commonly chaste and remote whilst the male lovers would be continuously devotional yet eventually suffering from unrequited love. In ‘The Flea’ and ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’, however, Donne creates an entirely distinctive scene with the idea of a courtly love being non-existent. In ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’, the woman is far from being remote to the male lover, as she has a physical presence in the poem, which is in the bedroom with the narrator. In ‘the flea’, unlike how the male lovers would normally try to win over the women with beautiful and unrealistic languages in the Petrarchan love poetry, in ‘The Flea’ the speaker uses unromantic imagery of a parasite, the flea as the metaphor for his intimate relationship with the woman, in order to persuade her to have sex with him. Most importantly, both ‘The Flea’ and ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’ stress on the immediate physical satisfaction which is a direct opposite to the chastity spirit of the Petrarchan world.

Apart from glorifying the physical nature of love and as a result breaking the Petrarchan traditional idea of love, in ‘The Flea’ and ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’, Donne additionally equates the physical love with the spiritual love by means of transforming the mere physical union into a more holy union between the body and the soul, and even between the soul and God. In ‘The Flea’, the flea becomes the representation of the sacred and holy religious ritual of marriage between the speaker and the woman as he claims to her that “This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is’. The blood that the flea carries in its body not only represents the essence of life, but it additionally symbolizes unique aspects of life, from the physical passion to the religious devotion. In the second stanza, the ‘three lives in one flea spare” additionally refers to the flea as a sacred ideal of the holy trinity of the Bible. The many religious metaphors presented in ‘The Flea’ therefore, can be viewed as an indication of Donne’s belief that the physical union with women can also bring them closer to the union with God.

Such a connection between physical love and religious love can additionally be reflected in Donne’s adaptation of the Neoplatonic concept of love in ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’. The Neoplatonic idea of love treats physical love as the lowest rung of the ladder. Once there is the appearance of physical love, it can then pass onto the higher rungs of the ladder and eventually progress as the love for God and for spiritual beauty. In ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’, the speaker suggests in “As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must be’ that the spiritual connection of two souls outside the body is crucial. The narrator compares the woman in the poem with an angel, as in ‘In such white robes, heaven’s Angels used to be Received by men; Thou Angel bringst with thee A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise’. Angel symbolizes the divine mediate between human beings and God, and therefore here in the poem the speaker believes that his love for her, physical or not, can help bring them nearer to God.

Despite Donne’s many changing views of love, ‘The Flea’ and ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’ share a lot of similarities. In both poems, Donne glorifies the physical nature of love, suggesting that it is worthy of celebration. Such glorifying of the physical love then, in turn, rejects and challenges the traditional Petrarchan thinking of courtly love and its spirits of chastity. Finally, in both poems, Donne additionally equates physical love with spiritual love, transforming the physical union into the holy union between souls and God.

The term metaphysical itself is very self-explanatory as to what it stands for. “Meta” is the word equivalent of anything that is above or beyond the “physical”, which stands for the physical world, things and objects that abide by the laws of physics. Metaphysical poetry therefore, serves the purpose of using words to reach the deepest realms of understanding than its exact prose paraphrase. Philosophy and the abstract, emotions and the otherworldly, metaphysical poetry depicts and illustrates intangible matters in ways that does not require any overweighing words or even the excess use of it. This paper aims to look at what makes metaphysical poetry what it is, what makes John Donne a metrist and how are the elements reflected in his works.

Metaphysical poetry tackles with unambiguous meanings that hit one’s understanding in such a way that most others cannot. And it does so with a set of literary devices known as conceits, metaphors, hyperboles, imagery, carpe diem etc. A conceit, which is to make comparisons between the unlikeliest of things, is a key element in metaphysical poetry. For instance, John Donne in his poem A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, he compares two entwined lovers to the two separate legs of a compass, hinting at the individual lovers being connected to each other in an inseparable manner, even though they are singular entities. And in his poem The Sun Rising the central conceit lies around the poetic persona comparing the unwelcomed intruder, the sun as an “unruly” elderly person. Author Andrew Cutrofello in his book titled The Insistence of Art, “To write metaphysically meant to write “wittily.” True wit consisted in the ability to bring apparently opposite things into harmony with one another” (2). Another key characteristic of metaphysical poetry is carpe diem, which means to seize the day. To elaborate, it emphasizes how one must make the most of the time that they have, living life, as we know it, to the fullest. Andrew Marvells, in his poem To His Coy Mistress illustrates this element when the poetic persona says, “But at my back I always hear/Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;” emphasizing on the limited amount of time the speaker has. In the same poem, a hyperbole which is exaggeration of certain things, (in this particular case, time and its exaggerated pace) can be noticed in these lines as the poetic persona says to his lover, “Vaster than empires and more slow;/ An hundred years should go to praise /Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; /Two hundred to adore each breast, /But thirty thousand to the rest;”. These elements undoubtedly make metaphysical poetry standout from its brethren and gives it the sort of individuality it is known for. Aside from these elements, the subject matter of most metaphysical poetry associates with philosophical matters, things otherworldly to us and even abstract emotions such as love.

The characteristics which set metaphysical poetry apart from other forms of poetry, and makes it what it is, is exactly what makes John Donne a metrist. The elements of metaphysical poetry given the shape as we see it today, has largely been shaped from the ways of Donne’s works. In his poem The Canonization , there are a lot of well-arched metaphors such as, when the poetic persona says that he and his lover are like moths drawn to a candle “her one, me another fly”, and again when it is mentioned how the two lovers embody the eagle in resemblance of a strong and masculine entity, and the dove in resemblance of a peaceful and feminine entity, as they are bound by the image of the phoenix, dying but then rising once more by love. One can find instances of implemented hyperboles in Donne’s poems as well, for example, in his poem The Sun Rising these particular lines, “ Thy beames, so reverend, and strong/Why shouldst thou think?/I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke,/But that I would not lose her sight so long;” exaggerate the fact of how the poetic persona could, if he wished, make the sun disappear with only a mere wink, but he chose not to do so because it would mean he would not be able to view his lover for the moments he had kept his eyes closed. Donne’s works are very lyrical and are arranged in such a manner that one’s reverie can be broken with an aha-moment of enlightenment, as is with most metaphysical poetry. Author Arthur H. Nethercot in an article titled The Reputation of John Donne as A Metrist, mentions “The melody in Donne’s lyrics could escape only the orally and mentally deaf” (469). Instances of wit or literary conceits are also very prominent in his poems as mentioned previously. It is no surprise that Donne’s name is such a celebrated one in the realms of metaphysical poetry and his works adored to this day, as they remain the frontrunners in the genre still. Donne is a true metrist both in style and in substance regarding his poetry.

John Donne having evidently a knack for crafting the art which is metaphysical poetry, has had the required characteristics very skillfully embedded in his poems. The style and the elements all compliment each other making the poems beloved throughout the ages. In an article titled DONNE’S METAPHYSICAL POETRY: A NEW THEORY OF LOVE, Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad says,

It is neither the content nor the form but style that gives it the name. Their style was distinguished by witticism, casuistry and metaphysical conceits that are realized by farfetched or eccentric similes or metaphors, such as in Donne’s comparison of tear with a coin. Strange paradoxes, far-fetched imagery and the use of quasi-logic are the hallmarks of metaphysical poetry. (281)

Which goes to show how Donne engraved these particular aspects with finesse in his poems, the wit, the metaphors, exaggerations and the like, the exact set of elements that make metaphysical poetry, so metaphysical, are indeed the same set of elements that give credibility to his title of being a true metrist.

Metaphysical poetry, throughout the years has survived and aged very well as the intricate way of words that deliver unambiguous meanings continues to enchant generation after generation over time. It is undoubtedly a form of art to be marveled at for what it is, as well as Donne’s works which make him a successful metrist, with embedded elements of it so delightfully engraved in his poems.

John Donne was the leading English poet of the Metaphysical school and is often considered the greatest love poet in the English language and is also known for his religious sermons and poetry. Because almost none of Donne’s poetry was published during his lifetime, it is difficult to date it accurately (Pinka). Metaphysical writers like John Donne utilize perplexing, sensational expressions and an assortment of abstract ideas like expanded conceits and imagery in casual and individual language that challenges thoughts of morality, traditional love, and sexuality; it is very creative and even mind-blowing since it blends and connects two dissimilar things to make extended metaphors and tales that is interesting in contrast with past artists of his time especially Edmund Spenser (Marjani). Donne is valuable not simply as a representative writer but also as a very unique one but was also a man of contradictions: As a minister in the Anglican Church, Donne possessed a deep spirituality that influenced his writing throughout his whole life; but as a man, Donne possessed a substantial lust for sensation, life and experience. In his best poems, Donne mixes the concepts of the physical and the spiritual and over the period of his career. Donne gave wonderful expressions to the two domains. Donne is regulated as the first metaphysical writer, and Donne’s expertise for unique, mentally complex poetry absolutely assisted with setting a new trend for poetry that followed him.

As a literary device, a conceit utilizes an extended metaphor that analyzes two dissimilar things. A conceit is regularly intricate and controls an enormous area of a poem or the whole poem which was popularized in the 16th to 17th centuries. Conceits are frequently very interesting and open, and can introduce striking juxtaposition and correlation of the unlike things. A conceit along these lines, frequently adds to a more prominent complexity of comprehension about the things being contrasted due with the unexpected factor of the unusual correlation. The meaning of conceit has changed after some time. It was a particularly famous literary device in the Renaissance Era, and with the alleged metaphysical poets, similar to John Donne. In the start of the Renaissance, the word conceit alluded to any whimsical expression of wit. Afterward, it gained negative implications, and was utilized to portray the kind of over-the-top correlations that artists of the Renaissance Era once in a while used to depict their friends and family.

There are two sorts of conceit that researchers perceive: metaphysical and Petrarchan. Petrarchan conceit is named for the Italian artist Petrarch, and applies just to love poetry in which the lover is contrasted hyperbolically with extraordinary encounters or things. Metaphysical conceit is an innovative jump made to look at two unlike things and investigate their likenesses. Sometimes a poet can conceal the genuine significance of the metaphor under the surface of this comparison, while other times, a poet may decide to literalize a metaphor and investigate what it would resemble if the metaphor was practical (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). For instance, in the sonnet ‘The Flea,’ John Donne utilizes a metaphysical conceit between a simple flea and the complexities of youthful love sentiments to build up the storyteller’s argument for a young lady to relinquish her chastity. The speaker asserts that the flea bite goes along with them as does sexual intercourse, and in this manner her chastity should never again be an issue between them. The flea assists the man’s contention in that sexual intercourse joins their souls like the bite of the flea. Donne utilizes the flea, the blood it concentrates, and its last murder as different indications of affection. In the past it was generally accepted that one’s blood was illustrative of their spirit. In this specific sonnet, the blood taken from the couple represents their two souls: “In this flea our two bloods mingled be” (Donne, The Flea, 4), writes Donne, and “pamper’d swells with one blood made of two” (Donne, The Flea, 8). From these two lines, one may infer that the flea bite involves a mingling of their souls – the equivalent to them having sexual intercourse.

John Donne’s utilization of conceits has gotten a ton of analysis from various ages of critics. It is either depicted as a mere sign of cold wit or as an incorporation of thoughts and emotions. Donne crosses the boundaries in poetry between the physical world and the non-physical world to make particular expanded conceits that makes up one of the qualities of Metaphysical poetry. Donne’s conceits are interesting in their blend of abstract and mundane. Donne is great at making surprising combination between various components so as to clarify his point and structure an argument in his poems. Ronald describes Donne’s love poetry as central and the idea of mutual love is an attempt to confront the issues between public and private domains (Ronald, 99). An example of Donne’s quirky comparison is in the love poem The Good Morrow between the unaware lovers and the breastfed babies; between the unconscious lovers and the seven sleepers who slept for two hundred years with reference to an allusion about a legend which tells how seven young Christian men hid in a cave during a persecution. The cave was sealed up, but the young men fell asleep for several centuries, “Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? / But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? / Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?” (Donne, The Good Morrow, 2-4); between two lovers and two hemispheres, “Where can we find two better hemispheres, / without sharp north, without declining west?” (Donne, The Good Morrow, 17-18). The storyteller and his beloved are like the two hemispheres who have united as one and with that their love would never die. In his another love poem The Sun Rising, Donne states compares the beloved with the states and the speaker with all the princes of the world. He portrays that the lover is the inhabited world and he is its ruler. He further implies that their union is the greatest and all the wealth happiness and devotion in the world is just an imitation of what they have between them: “She is all states, and all princes, I, / Nothing else is. / Princes do but play us; compared to this, / All honor’s mimic, all wealth alchemy” (Donne, The Sun Rising, 21-24).

A great deal of Sonnets composed by John Donne, are connected with the topic of death. Unlike other poets, John Donne’s attitude towards to death is quite optimistic. John Donne sees death as a new birth, as people becoming immortal through experiencing death, which is his attitude towards to death. He wrote many religious poems with the main theme as death. In Death Be Not Proud, John Donne writes: “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, / Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, / And soonest our best men with thee do go, / Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery” (Donne, Death be not Proud, 5-8). In this poem, John Donne describe death with “rest and sleep”. John Donne regards death as a short period of rest and sleep, it shows that death is just a moment, while the joy after the death is eternal. Death is just a short time for flesh to rest, but the spirit can be free. In Death, Be Not Proud another conceit is that death is being compared to a boastful and not very impressive man. Donne addresses Death as if it were a man he’d come across in his everyday life. He mocks Death for its pride, for it being portrayed as mighty and dreadful, simply because some have called it so: “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee/ Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;” (Donne, Death be not proud, 1-2). In This is my play’s last scene, Donne compares his life with a play and it’s last scene like his life is coming to an end and says that his life was like a pilgrimage which he has run idly and yet quickly. There were times in his life that he wasted, but all in all his life went by fast: “This is my play’s last scene; here heavens appoint / My pilgrimage’s last mile; and my race,” (Donne, This is my play’s last scene, 1-2). This poem is stark opposite in the context of death with Death be not Proud with the relation that Donne seems to be afraid of death and feels like his life went by too quickly and now death would engulf him. Donne compares his life with a play or a stage which is coming to an end and has reached its final performance. The concept of the two metaphysical conceits Pilgrimage and race continues throughout the poem with Donne’s belief of what happens to the body and soul after death. In Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay? Donne has compared God with a magnet in the sense that God is the only one who can attract and draw the iron heart of the poet which is full of sins: “Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art, / And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart” (Donne, Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay, 13-14). “Adamant” has two meanings: the lodestone, or natural magnet, and the perfect example of surpassing hardness, that which is impenetrable by any force. “Iron heart” denotes a heart (metaphorically, the soul) hardened by nature or sin; adamant creates a complex metaphor, suggesting the irresistible pull of God’s grace (Smith).

Donne’s tendency to utilize conceits represents a large number of the most important characteristics of his poetry, including its cleverness, its creativity, its wide-extending intellectual associations, and its impression of Donne’s capacity to see likenesses even in things which appear, from outside, to share little, practically speaking. Numerous writers can make brisk correlations, however, Donne appears to have had an uncommon ability for investigating all the multifaceted implications of a comparison. John Donne specialized in using figures in his poetry to show his real emotions. The figures should be cold and emotionless, but with his ability in penning, the cold and emotionless figures became tender and soft. Donne’s conceits are a combination of physical, intellectual, mystical and poetical experiences ruled by thought, emotions and imagination and are weighed by symbolism. Donne was particularly fond of using planetary imagery and the idea of space travel in his work and drew conceits from a wide range of subjects, such as geography, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy etc. Such type of conceits gave an intellectual tone to his poetry (neoenglish). By using metaphysical conceits in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Donne compares two lovers’ souls with a draftsman’s compass legs and explains that distance wouldn’t effect then since their love is strong enough for them to stay connected even if they’re afar. The separation of the husband and wife in the poem is like the movement of one leg of the compass while the other leg is fixed at the center. “If they be two, they are two so/ As stiff twin compasses are two;” (Donne, A Valediction: Forbidden mourning, 25-26). By doing this, Donne made use of a cartographic element and compared it to the lovers’ soul so as to invoke emotions in the readers. In the poem The Canonization, a fusion is observed in the comparison of the lovers to a phoenix and the divine saints. The speaker assumes that like the phoenix, the lovers would die and rise at the same time and prove mysterious by their love. Reference to this mythical creature sums up Donne’s theory of sexual metaphysics; a real and complete relation between a man and a woman that fuses their soul into one whole being. He also compares the lovers to different birds like dove, eagle and tapers: “We’re tapers too, and at our own cost die, / And we in us find the eagle and the dove. / The phœnix riddle hath more wit / By us; we two being one, are it.” (Donne, The Canonization, 21-24).

In the poem Hymn to God My God, in my Sickness, the sun is used as a symbol of the speaker’s life – the rising in the east is birth and the setting in the west is his end or his death. In the poem, Donne is describing the fact that death and resurrection are like the east and west on a map. The east and west hemispheres are connected, just as the sun rises and sets, the speaker would live and die. The poem, Hymn to God My God, in my Sickness suggests that maybe death will not be as bad as it seems, because one is resurrected after: “What shall my West hurt me? As West and East / In all flat maps (and I am one) are one, / So death doth touch the resurrection.” (Donne, Hymn to God My God, in my Sickness, 13-15). Just as a map, the speaker can see where he is going or headed – into the west, towards his death. The metaphysical conceit, combined with the symbolism of the sun are both used to describe the speaker’s content with dying and proves the intellectual genius of Donne with his use of elements from fields like geography, cartography and the essence of life. Another beautiful example of Donne’s elaborate use of intellect to invoke emotions is found in his poem Love’s Alchemy. John Donne makes an analogy between the Platonists, who endlessly try to discover spiritual love, and the alchemists, who in Donne’s time, tried to extract gold from lesser metals. This analogy allowed Donne to express his realistic beliefs that such spiritual love does not exist, only physical love does and those who are searching for spiritual love are only wasting their time. He makes use of metaphysical conceit in a way that he compares the futile attempts of alchemists in creating gold to Donne’s futile attempts at gaining perfect love: “And as no chemic yet th’elixir got, / But glorifies his pregnant pot / If by the way to him befall / Some odoriferous thing, or medicinal, / So, lovers dream a rich and long delight, / But get a winter-seeming summer’s night” (Donne, Love’s Alchemy, 7-12). By this Donne makes use of elements from chemistry and philosophy. His poetry is full of arguments, logic, shock and surprise. Instead of conventional romantic words, he used scientific and mathematical words to introduce roughness in his poetry and made comparisons of physical things with non-physical ones. And that is exactly how he brings emotional experience by intellectual parallels.

Metaphysical is the label for the poetic traditions that happened in the seventeenth century. These poets were educated men with intellectual experiences and their interest in new discoveries, in philosophies and concepts gave birth to a new imaginative style. Major characteristic of their poetry is the use of sophisticated mental concepts of wit and learning, and a style rather than a universal subject matter is employed to justify a perceived common ground between dissimilar things. Donne’s conceit or image is highly difficult and complex. Combination of passion and thought characterizes his work. His use of conceit is often witty and sometimes shocking. It brings together the opposites of life i.e., body and soul, earth and heaven, the bed of lovers and the universe, life and death, all in one. Donne’s originality is realized when he makes use of images and conceits taken from various sources and fields, from biblical references to myths and even from different fields of science and also from his life. Conceit is an ingredient which adds an extra spice to Donne’s metaphysical poetry. Some of his conceits are far-fetched, bewildering and intriguing. He mixes diverse passions into something harmonious. It is common in Donne’s poetry that intellect and emotions go together and bring about a union of two very dissimilar things. His use of intellect to make comparisons actually enhances the emotional conveyance to the readers. Intellect and emotion are nearly always viewed as separate things or concepts, one being concerned with strong instinctive or spontaneous feelings or sensations, and the other being the basis of reasoning, knowing and thinking, quite opposite and distinct from feeling. But Donne makes use of these two concepts in such a way that they are seen in harmony.

The poem “The Flea” written by John Donne and published in 1633, Donne describes physical love and it’s true natural nature. The six articles that I choose to use as research explain mainly how Donne’s poem “The Flea” is the most “notorious seduction poem of the English Renaissance” (Hyman 157) and how other poems of Donne have many features in common with “The Flea” poem. In the article “Explicating Donne: ‘The Apparition’ and ‘The Flea.’” by Laurence Perrine, Perrine explains how both poems “The Apparition” and “The Flea” are “dramatic monologues in which a male speaker attempts to seduce a female virgin” (Perrine 1). The articles also analyze Donne’s poem “The Flea” and explain what each stanza of the poem meant and described how the poem was poorly misread by many scholars and critics.

In the article “Explicating Donne: ‘The Apparition’ and ‘The Flea.’” by Laurence Perrine, Perrine compares how both of the poems “The Flea” and “The Apparition” written by John Donne are “dramatic monologues”(Perrine 1) and both present the speaker trying to use seduction as a way of “ winning a woman’s favors”(Perrine 7). Perrine mentions how both poems have been poorly misread by an amaze number of scholars and critics. Perrine therefore explains how he examines both poems side by side to modify their true meaning. The poem “The Apparition” Perrine depicts how scholars have misread it “as an expression of hate and revulsion in which the motive of the speaker, a rejected lover, is revenged”(Perrine 2). Perrine starts by describing the tone of the poem “The Apparition” being “dark and menacing”(Perrine 7). Then Perrine describes the speaker in “The Apparition” as trying to attain his goal by threats. Then for the poem “The Flea” Perrine describes the tone as being “light and playful” (Perrine 7) and the speaker being obviously specious reasoning. Perrine explains how the speaker in “The Apparition” tries “to win his lady’s favors by maximizing her fears of what will happen to her if she refuses”(Perrine 8). Then in “The Flea” Perrine describes the speaker trying to “win them by minimizing his lady’s fears of what will happen if she consents” (Perrine 8).

In the second article “John Donne’s ‘Songs and Sonnets’: The Poetic Value of Argument.” by R.T. Jones, Jones starts by describing how John Donne, among other famous poets of the seventeenth century, has been the most strikingly poet rediscovered in the twentieth century. Jones implies what kind of meaning and truth we can find in “The Flea” poem, Jones analyzes Donne’s poem “The Flea” and explains what the poem is trying to portray to the reader. Jones implies how the reader has to treat it to be able to understand the main theme of the poem. Jones describes the opening line of the poem “The Flea” as “ parodies a preacher’s exemplum , and the argu- ment that follows could not hope to convince the most moronic of ladies”(Jones 41). Then the opening of the second stanza Jones describes as indicating that the women in the poem “she is about to express her comment on the argument by killing the flea” (Jones 41).

Then in the third article “Seeing the Invisible under the Microscope: Natural Philosophy and John Donne’s Flea.” by Wendy Beth Hyman, Hyman begins by mentioning that John Donne’s poem “The Flea” is one of the “most notorious seduction poems of the English Renaissance” (Hyman 157). Hyman explains how the poem “The Flea” exhibits Donne’s skill for turning the least likely images into elaborate metaphysical symbols of love and romance. For example Hyman means how Donne uses a flea to compare his character’s intimacy with the flea. Hyman describes how Donne’s poem “envisions insect life as a formal and philosophical challenge for poetry” (Hyman 157). Hyman is indicating how Donne uses the image of a flea that has just bitten the speaker and his beloved to describe a conflict over whether the two will have sexual intercourse.

In the fourth article “Donne’s The Flea.” The Explicator by Wisam Mansour, Mansour argues how John Donne’s poem “The Flea” was a success and how Donne identifies himself with the female body rather than asserting a superior sense of masculinity. Mansour explains how in the first stanza it presents a potent illustration of Donne’s sporting with gender:

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, or shame, or 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.

(Mansor 7, lines 1-9)

Mansour explains how in this stanza Donne fundamentally probes the dominant, “male” sexuality that the text appears to be pushing the woman toward. Mansour also explains how Donne “subconsciously associates himself both with the female body and with a kind of hermaphroditic erogenous pleasure, revealing his deep sense of identity and gender”(Mansour 8).

In this article “Milton’s and Donne’s Stargazing Lovers, Sex, and the New Astronomy.” by Catherine Gimelli Martin, Martin compares John Donne’s and John Milton shockingly concurrent thoughts on love, sex, and the new astronomy. Martin describes how Donne treats the subject of love in his poem “The Flea” by describing how he uses a flea as an image to symbolize the aspect of romance. For example describing the conflict between the characters in the poem “The Flea” over whether they should have sexual intercorse or not since the flea has bitten them both and mingled their blood together.

In this last article “‘La Puce De Madame Desroches’ and John Donne’s ‘The Flea.’” by David B. Wilson, Wilson criticizes how well the poem “The Flea” by John Donne was translated into French and how anyone who has read it in the French translation will have been amazed by how well the concept is introduced in the first stanza of the poem in the French translation. Wilson explains how Donne’s poem uses the flea’s murder as a analogy for the oldest exchange which is having sex. Wilson depicts how Donne not only questions the virginity of his beloved but also the importance of sexual intercorse. Wilson agrees how much of a success the poem “The Flea” in a French context was noticed by the public a lot and also how the poem is at the same time both more witty and less witty than critics have hitherto allowed” (Wilson 300).

In conclusion all of these six articles mainly discuss how John Donne describes physical love and it’s natural nature by using a flea as an erotic image to elaborate metaphysical symbols such as love and romance. And state how the poem “The Flea” was one of the famous poems of Donne and the most “notorious seduction poem of the English Renaissance” (Hyman 157). Most of the scholars also explain in the articles how so many of them misread or misunderstood the true meaning of the poem “The Flea”, but they examine the poem and study it to modify and try to understand the true meaning or the message the poem was trying to portray to the audience.

In Donne’s love poetry, he certainly sought to comprehend and to experience love in every respect, both theoretically and practically through all his love poetry he wrote. In the poem “ The Flea” written by John Donne he describes how the speaker in the poem is trying to convince his female lover to sleep with him, he argues in this quote:

Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;

Though know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,

(3-6)

Meaning the speaker is trying to explain to his lover if a flea can suck blood from them both and mingled the two in one, surely it will be fine if their bodies mingled together and do the same in a similar fashion way. In stanza two the speaker is insisting and trying to win his lover now that he has compare a flea sucking both their blood to having sexual intercourse and telling his lover to not kill the flea but she does like he describes in the following quote;

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 marriage bed and marriage temple is;

(10-13)

Meaning the flea has a strong religious imagery which is a symbol of the marriage bed and the marriage temple describing their togetherness is more than marriage as the speaker describes during this quote: “Where we almost, nay more than married are” (11).

In the devotional works by John Donne’s, he wrote many poems about how he examined love from every conceivable angle, experienced its joys, and embraced its sorrows. Donne had a way of using his words to describe love in a lighthearted way and not in traditional voices like other poets did. He actually became love’s poet philosopher by describing in his poetry his personal experiences and imaginations about love. The poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is about spiritual peace and Donne describes and proves how love is part of life and without love life is useless and barren. Donne describes how the speaker begins in line 1 how “virtuous men pass mildly away” leaving their friends and lover. He explains how his soul and his lover’s minds are unified and that physical separation will never break their bond. He quotes:

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat

(21-24)

In the “Holy Sonnet 10” written by John Donne is another of his most devotional works that is about death. Donne describes how the speaker should not be afraid or fear death at all. In this quote he describes how death is weak and no one should fear it:

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

(9-12)

Meaning in this quote Donne describes how death has no pride or power over one. Donne describes at the end of the sonnet in the following quotes:“One short sleep past, we wake eternally / And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” (13-14). Meaning how death has no power if there is a belief in life after you die.

John Donne is an love’s poet-philosopher who converted himself to the English church. But given the shape of Donne’s career, it is no surprise that his poems and prose works display an astonishing variety of attitudes, viewpoints, and feelings on the great subjects of love and religion. Even until this day we do not know the time and circumstances for most of Donne’s verses, but it is clear that many of his finest religious poems predate his ordination, and it is possible that he continued to add to the love poems known as his “ songs and sonnets” after he entered the English church. John Donne’s poems are different from the ones we have read before by Sidney and Shakespeare, because Donne’s poems are mainly about love and how Donne sought to comprehend and to experience love in every respect, both theoretically and practically through all his love poetry he wrote. Donne’s poems are not suffering from unrequited love as in poems by Sydney. Sydney wrote more poems about sorrow and suffering like death, and war. He did write about love but they were about love that was not wanted or forced. Shakespeare they do have in common some poems because he also wrote about love but not as deeply as Donne did his and mostly all of the poems Donne wrote where about love.

In the biography of Izaak Walton of the saint- liked John Donne he introduces Donne’s remarkable preparations for his death. Walton describes how Donne is taking his last leave of his beloved study; and being sensible of his hourly decay, retired himself to his bedchamber and saying his last words to his siderable love ones.Walton also explain how he had investigated and studied all Donne’s collected sermons, and how he admired his devotional works such as his poems, letters, and papers Donne wrote before he died. Walton is making Donne look like a saint by saying: “ It is no accident that this biography, published as religious tensions were growing acute and civil war loomed, represented Donne as a “saint” of Anglicanism”(975). Walton showed an image of Donne before his death in 1631, Donne posed in the shroud in which he would be buried. The resulting painting, reproduced in the 1633 edition of Donne’s collected poetry as the engraving shown, it served as a model for the stone effigy of Donne in St. Paul’s Cathedral. This image made him look more saintly, because of the way he was dressed and the way he posed for the image that was being drawn.

Walton describes how Donne was buried in the St. Paul’s Church which he describes that Donne “had appointed for that use some years before his death”(978) and which he passed daily to pay his public devotions to his almighty God. Walton describes how the next day after Donne was buried, one of his friend from the many admirers of his virtue wrote an epitaph with coal on the wall over his grave:

Reader! I am to let thee Know,

Donne’s body only lies below;

For, could the grave his soul comprise,

Earth would be richer than the skies!

(979)

Meaning he may be gone but his body stays to give this earth more knowledge to keep going with his legacy he has left behind to other poets that may yet to come. At the closing passage, Walton describes the dissolution of Donne’s body to “a small quantity of Christian dust” and vowing “But I shall see it reanimated” (980) has a quiet force and grandeur to match Donne’s own Meditations.

Works Cited

1. Donne, John. “The Flea.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp.923.
2. Donne, John. “The Good Morrow.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp.923-924.
3. Donne,John. “The Sun Rising” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp.926.
4. Donne, John. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp.935-936.
5. Walton, Izaak. “Introduction.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp. 976-980.
6. Walton, Izaak. “From The Life of Dr. John Donne.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et. Al. 10th edition, vol. A, Norton, 2018, pp. 974-976.

Faith, as the complete confidence in a belief or concept, serves as the explanation for life itself and all the unknown. This very ideology guides all people towards true purpose, whether that be work or life-long devotion to an individual, namely through religion or love. John Donne, through his metaphysical poetry paired with erotic language, successfully evokes such themes; exploring the universality of each. Born in 16th century England, Donne reflects on the personal challenges, anxieties and impacts of Elizabethan-Jacobean era lifestyle. As the poet focuses on the exaggeration of the existential nature of his works, readers gain insight to the late author’s worldview and to his historical context. Prior to the ruling of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, the abandonment of Catholicism on the part of King Henry VIII caused religious differences to separate the population. Under the reign of 17th century monarchs, this dispute was then extinguished through the attempt to unite and restore peace in the Church. The poet creates sonnets with great detail; and through the frequent use of conceits to accurately conveys individual understanding of the world, renders the writings as metaphysical. Influenced by the discussed ideas of love and religion, Donne’s poetry continues to maintain relevance to contemporary readers in the exploration of faith and it’s universal state.

John Donne’s poem, Batter My Heart, describes the inquisitive nature and religious ambivalence of the poet within the 17th century. Though his metaphysical writing style, Donne questions the teachings of Roman Catholicism and directly asks God to help him wholly accept divine grace due to his story from the holy parth to a sinful life. After his wife’s death in 1617 and the consequences of the ongoing religious conflict of the Elizabethan-Jacobean era, Donne devoted his writing skills to religious poems resulting in the Holy Sonnets. The Collection of 19 poems highlights the themes of mortality, divine judgement, divine love, and humble penance while reflecting deeply on personal anxieties. He reflects on his sensuous past and relationship with God addressing his faults and desperations throughout the sonnet. The quote “But am betroth’d unto your enemy; Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,” is symbolic of his relationship with Satan and need for spiritual goodness. This concept of helplessness is continued through the first quatrain, consisting of alliteration, monosyllabic verbs and assonance assisting the violent tone of the poem and exaggerating the submission Donne desires. Embedded in the poem “knock, breathe, shine and seek to men; That I may rise… Your force to break, blow, burn and make me new.” describes the crave for change and recognition of immoral action while inviting the intended audience to analyse his perspective of his religious state and personal wrongdoings. The poet illuminates the ideas of religious stray through imploring God within the final couplet using erotic language and a paradox. The line “…never shall be free, nor ever chaste, expect you ravish me.” finishes the sonnet conveying the physical brutality needed to convert him, explaining only through sexual force can he be chase and obey the teachings of Catholicism with true intent. Due to the discussion of religious ideals through the strife of Elizabethan-Jacobean ruling and challenging of these concepts, this universal idea of religion and faith is illuminated. Thus, strengthening the connection from past writings to us, as contemporary responders.

Similarly, Donne’s metaphysical poem, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, written in 1611 discusses the universality of the concept of love. In the likeness of the relationship of Donne and his wife, Anne More; the persona’s ideal of spiritual love and the bond between the two lovers even through separation is revealed. The title, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning describes the action of saying farewell whilst, as intended for his wife, states that his parting should not cause sadness. Although dealing with the religious conflicts of the period, the author, with intention to depart on a trip towards Continental Europe, uses conciets to accurately present his love towards More though his metaphysical writing style. The strength and power of this within Donne’s life is represented through the poem and challenges readers to reflect on their own relationship state; displaying the pair as perfect. Donne states his connection between More as a powerful spiritual unification comparative to the movement of the earth. The quote “Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears” illustrating the physical connections of the pair in the likeness of an Earthquake, with impact being noticable and shaking the Earth’s surface, yet has little permanent damage. He exaggerates the lengths of their love as he addresses Anne and his intent to come back together. This is shown in the last stanza with, “Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where begun” which draw similarities between a compass and the couple. With the ability to separate, the two arms of the compass always join together and reflect the relationship of the author. The continued relevance of love within modern day society is evident, and through the poetic study of John Donne allows understanding of such concepts to be explored.

The continued relevance of John Donne remains within the metaphysical works, specifically through the universality of the themes discussed. Within the religious conflict of the Elizabethan-Jacobean period, Donne strived to create existential poems surrounding ideas of love and religion based on personal understanding, experience and faith.

The narrator of this poem is John Donne, which he is known for being a metaphysical poet. A metaphysical poet is a poet “whose works are marked by philosophical exploration and with metrically flexible lines” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/metaphysical-poets). Donne was a Roman Catholic, born in the year 1572 in London, England. His mother is named Elizabeth Heywood and John was named after his father. Donne’s favorite themes to write about were not only God but women as well, he wrote this poem after he was appointed to be a priest in the year 1615 in the Church of England. John pursued his education at Oxford University, Cambridge University and then at age twenty he further studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. Two years later he then decided to join the Anglican Church because his younger brother was imprisoned for being catholic in then died in prison. Donne created two fine volumes of work, one was Satire and the other was Songs and sonnets. In December 1601, Donne confidentially married a woman named Anne More and her father did not approve of the marriage so he had Donne imprisoned for a while as a punishment. While John was imprisoned for a short period it made the couple dependent on friends and family. His wife died at age thirty-three in the year 1617 after giving birth to their twelfth child. This legend that is well known for his cogent style died on March 31, 1631, in London at age fifty-nine.

The speaker of this poem is John Donne which he is speaking from a Christian context, the theme of the title of this poem is sensual and spiritual and in this poem God is considered to have three parts which are the father, the son, and the holy spirit. In (lines 1-2) Donne has this desire for God to extremely sabotage him. He is criticizing God to be more forceful with him. John wants to change as a person but God is only trying to renew him in little ways that aren’t enough for him. He needs to be renewed so he can be worthy of his presence.

In (lines 3-4) he wants to arise and stand but he is not going to because he wants God to overthrow(o’erthrow) him instead. Donne wants to be destroyed by God for him to be an immaculate spiritual being and person. In (lines 5-6) John begins to compare himself to a town that is being overrun, the enemy is coming so he is going to ask for help from another ally from another town to help him with this enemy. He is working his hardest to let God into his heart even though he is overrun with the enemy. So as much Donne tries to let God into his heart, it does not work for him, for Donne God must be more forceful and he needs to invade Donne’s heart.

In (lines 7-8) he starts the line with the word, “reason” which is the ability to conclude. He then states, “your viceroy in me” and the meaning of viceroy is “a person who rules as the representative of someone.” which he is meaning that should be his sign that God is with him. The reason should let God in but for some reason is it not working for John. It should defend him from his enemies, which would be bad habits, evils, and flaws. Reasons actually should help him get closer to God because God gave him reason and if he is a reasonable person he will then make wise choices but it is not working. His reason has been held hostage by the enemy. His reason has been turned into a tool to the enemy, he should be able to think clearly, choose wisely but instead, his thoughts get him into trouble sometimes or his reasoning is too weak and does not lead him to the right decisions. His reasoned is flawed and will not always work which is another reason God needs to take over Donne.

In (lines 9-10) John loves God oh so dearly, and he gladly and confidently wants to be liked by God. In (line 10) Donne has “betrothed” which means “to give in to marriage,” he desires to be liked by God but he has been planned to marry the enemy. Since he is already attached to the enemy which is not good for him in any way possible so he needs God to help him immediately. In (lines 11-12) John wants Got to divorce him from the enemy, he wants God to rip him apart from the enemy. He wants God to untie and break the not from the enemy, he wants God to take him for himself. Donne wants God to incarcerate him so that he can be treated as the enemy but in a lovable manner. John wants God to be forceful to him, and to imprison him to his love jail because he expects God to consume him so he can finally be free.

In (line 13) John uses “enthrall” which means “capture the fascinated attention of” so unless God is going to enslave him and take him over he will never be free. The message is that he wants to be imprisoned by God so he can be free but he wants to be tied with God so he can finally have freedom. In (line 14) Donne uses “chaste” which means to “remain pure, not participating in anything sexual” he also uses “ravish” which means to “fill with intense delight.” He is saying he won’t ever be able to refrain from sexual conduct unless God has sex with him. He is asking God to invade, consume, him physically and spiritually for God to have sex with John Donne and John would be consumed by his beloved. God is his beloved who invades sexually but the result of this is to make John Donne to refrain from all sexual actions and to remain pure.

The 17th century marked a shift from an age of faith to an age of reason. Literature represents the turbulence in society, religion, and the realm of this period. Life for the English people reformed as religious hullabaloo and civil war shook the nation. These issues reformulated the role of individuals in society, perspectives of faith, and social structures in England. Writers of this period offer their own philosophies as resilient of the issues and influenced the masses. Specific examples of authors of this period who extant English issues and perceptions in their works are John Donne and John Milton.

John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England. Donne was the third of six children. His father, also named John Donne, was of Welsh descent and a supervisor of the Ironmongers Company in the town of London. However, he avoided unsolicited government courtesy out of fear of persecution.

Donne was educated privately however, there is no evidence to support the prevalent claim that he was taught by Jesuits. In 1583 at the age of 11, he started studies at Hart Hall, now Hertford College Oxford. After three years of studies there, Donne was admitted to the University of Cambridge, where he studied for an additional three years. Donne nonetheless could not acquire a degree from both institutes because of his Catholicism, since he refuses to take the Vow of autonomy required to accommodate.

Throughout and after his schooling, Donne spent much of his generous heritage on women, literature, pursuits and travel. By the age of 25 he was well equipped for the diplomatic career he appeared to be seeking. He was selected as head commissioner to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. Sir Thomas Egerton and was acknowledged at Egerton’s London house, Strand close to the bastion of Whitehall then the most significant societal center in England.

In metaphysical poetry if anyone’s name stands alive even today then it is of John Donne. Everybody knows that Donne is a metaphysical poet because every factor of metaphysical poetry exists in his poems. Every censor treasured the authority of John Donne in metaphysical poetry. He was the one, who formed new kind of poetry in those days when everyone was following the tradition. Donne’s poetry is notable but only metaphysics does not make it extraordinary. There are surely other elements, which are there in his poetry and make John Donne eminent among other metaphysical poets of his era.

John Donne’s poetry is aninquiring mix of paradoxes. At once divine and metaphysical, it is also deeply entrenched in the physicality of bodieslove as a physical, corporalinvolvement as well as a spiritual high. His bravura can often be startlingly basic, yet his metaphorsarecommonlyintricate, his use of prolonged metaphors requiring some vigilant unpacking.

“The Flea’ is an erotic metaphysical poem first published in 1633. The Flea is amongst such an unusual love poem, where the poet uses a flea to divulge his carnal interest with his mistress.

The poem starts with the man trying to capture the complete attention of his beloved. He uses the word “Mark”, which is used to convey something very essential. He shows the flea and by epitomizing its act of sucking their blood, tries to show how frivolous her deprivation is. The insect has relished their blood and it is neither a sin nor a dishonor, so he questions the idea of the beloved about her refusing his innovations. The man compares the sucking of the blood and their intermingling the insect’s body to the sexual meetings of mortality.

The insect has relished the taste of them both and inflates with pleasure, whereas he is still in hunt of his interests and declares that it is not a sin or a disgrace to lose maidenhead. It is even a measly act than the one performed by the flea, as it could fuse their blood for its pleasure. John Donne epitomizes the insect and ascribes it pleasure and gratification, while sanguineous insects drink blood to endure.

The disclosure of the genuineness that the insect has certainly united their bloods is not liked by the woman and she tries to kill it. The man attributes “Holiness” to the flea by remarking that the act of the flea has made it their “marriage temple”. The mingling of three bloods also alludes to the Christian conception of three lives that exist in an individual, demonstrating that they have surpassed the humanly conditions of ritual, devotion, constraints, parents, etc. They are safely together within the walls of the flea.

The parents grudge indicated that the man has already tried to advance his motives, which is not liked by her parents who consider that a union should take place after the marriage rituals. He then returns to beseeching her to not kill the insect as it would be killing three lives at once. “Killing Three” refers to three forms, murder of the man, sacrilege of the holy being that unites them ” flea” and suicide of the beloved.

“This man excels in alluring his female conquests with his wit and acumen. In ‘The Flea’, his dispute that the woman should surrender sexually to him twists and turns in answer to her unheard words and concealed trial. He claims primarily that the flea represents the tiny honorable decision facing her (‘How little that which thou deny’st me is’) and then hastily adopts a less facetious tone, portentous that the flea in fact represents the great holiness of their sexual convention, because ‘we’re met and cosseted in these living walls of jet’. When the woman confounds him by killing the flea, its triviality, which is embedded in her ‘pitiless and sudden’ act, is the indication for the final twirl of his dispute ‘Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me, Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee’. From a female point of view, the cleverly sacrilegious quarrel is imposing not so much for its minutiae as for its diligence. The phallic metaphors of the flea, which ‘pampered, swells with one blood made of two’, implies that the amount of cerebral vigor expended in the hunt is directly impartial to the substantial efforts that might follow the woman’s surrender. It may not be politically accurate, but it is highly erotic.”

Once again, using the initiative of snobbery, he describes in a very metaphysical approach the connection they have with each other using the flea as a core that is holding their lives within it. He tries to pursue her on by saying the “flea” is like their matrimony bed and matrimony temple, in which their affiliation is consecrated and nothing is immoral with it. He hopes she thinks that due to using that as a metaphor, she feels the clarity of the deed he wishes to consign and does not look at it as a sin or matter of ignominy. He extends the flea from just being the tradition of the marriage to it now being their ‘marriage bed’ or ‘marriage temple’.

“Donne fundamentally probes the prevailing, “male” sexuality that the text appears to be pushing the woman toward. In fact, the man in the poem assumes the position of the woman seduced rather than that of the invading flea, whose demeanor provides an average for his conflict. The man declares that he is “sucked first” and the vagueness of this “cannot be said a sin, or shame” refers to some extant to the man’s experiencing satisfaction by that sucking.” Very cunningly he plays with words where he says, “(And cloisters’ in these living walls of jet).”

Jet, is a deep glossy black stone. In this case, he is referring to the color of the flea. He generates sturdy metaphors in this line, by comparing a comatose black stone with the “living walls”.

She moves to kill the flea, and he aptly implies she would be killing him and additionally herself. He refers to her killing herself as suicide and mentions “sacrilege” if she were to do it, as she would be committing 3 sins at one go, taking his life, committing suicide and killing the flea.

Donne has used a lot of symbolism in the entirety of the poem. Throughout the poem, he’s used the flea as a symbol of their togetherness, and expands on it being their marriage bed. He alludes to the symbolism of the Holy Trinity when he talks about three things in one body. One of the very interesting modes of symbolism he has used is ‘blood’, particularly in the last stanza.

Blood symbolizes life and Donne has used it to symbolize erotic, infatuation and spiritual dedication. At last she crushes the fly, not paying any heed or notice to his advances on her. He has already mentioned “blood” of theirs being intermingled in the body of the flea, representing them being “one flesh”. He admonish her and asks her concerning the sin the poor flee had devoted other than the fact that the flea just sucked a little blood from them. It is worth mentioning here the job of the female in this poem. Her objections are never noted, just reacted to, and she makes a very powerful yet non-verbal testimonial by crushing the flea. Very fascinatingly the reader can see the conceits in which he first tries to show the flea being superior than the church, the sacred connection between a man and woman and then steadily showing the church and the affiliation being greater than just a mere flea. He has realized that she has not fallen for his urging; therefore he changes tactic and his dispute therein. He carries his conceit through, now giving her no motive not to sleep with him, he argues that killing the flea was an effortless thing, as she shows it did not damage them, he claims then docile to him would have just been as effortless and painless as killing the flea.

To summarize, this work is a metaphysical play with words, wherein themes such as yearn, religious metaphors, and mischievous scenery are being used. Donne has used words which allude to celestial aspects of living in that era which give more than one view on what he is essentially trying to say.

In conclusion, the poem uses a lot of spiritual imagery as it helps add a sort of authority to the poem, as Donne has publicized and argued that what they were about to do was not only supported by religion and God, but not doing it would be sacrilege too. The process of rhythmical conceit was used very ingeniously to broaden the flea to have many diverse meanings to it and add more color and humor to it. “Donne was the first to have the flea bite “both him and his mistress, thus making it a symbol not of the lover’s yearning but of the beloved union”. The flea becomes a union symbol because in its” mingling of bloods” it symbolizes the thought to take place during coition.

Due to the universal human experience, all human beings are subject to the inherited ambiguity associated with the continuous cycle of life and death, and ultimately the search for the truth regarding their own mortality. The role of texts in our society is to allow for the examination of our own consciousness and the evaluation and awareness of our human nature. Intertextuality allows for a deepened philosophical exploration of mortality through the use of concepts and ideas that connect and resonate with the audience on a deeper interpersonal level, creating an ongoing conversation about the profound nature of life and truth. Margaret Edson postmodern play ‘wit’ and John Donne’s metaphysical poetry both represent death’s ability to reveal ultimate truths about one’s values and attitudes throughout life, allowing for the examination of humanity’s complex relationship with the abstract nature of death and impermanence.

All texts are fundamentally shaped by the prevailing sociocultural values of their time period, a comparative study of texts illuminates transcendental human concerns that are not limited to context or temporal length of human existence. Context, in literature, acts as a frame that surrounds a text and provides resources for its appropriate interpretation and reception. John Donne, a man heavily influenced by 17th century religious beliefs and the academic climate of the metaphysical poetry movement, used his poetic works to explore life and truth. Donne’s poetry is challenging and broadening his intimate audience’s personal values and beliefs, which were under the influence of the hegemonic principles that were established by the Catholic Church. When analysing Donne’s sociocultural context of religiosity, collective attitudes towards death and spirituality can be seen throughout his poetry, represented by the repetitive conceits of resurrection, redemption and the significance of humanities attempts to prevail over sin and achieve eternal life. This theological ideology is portrayed throughout his sonnets, in ‘Death be not proud’ as he refers to the idea that death is momentary, “one short sleepe past, wee wake eternally”. Donne draws on the antithesis between sleeping and waking to reflect on the Christian beliefs of the afterlife and the concept of redemption. The in opening apostrophe, “Death be not proud though some have called thee mighty and dreadful”, Donne develops a metaphysical conceit through the personification of death, attempting to epitomise his valiant struggle to find solace from his impending mortality through intellect. In ‘Hymne to God, my God’ the line “so, in his purple wrapp’d, receive me, lord.” highlights the collective obsession with Gods judgement and acceptance, emphasising the social impact of organised religion on the perceived meaning of life and one’s interpretation of truth. J C Sisson purports “for the Elizabethans, and for John Donne, the unseen other world of eternity was not only more certain in means belief, but it was closer to the world of human reality”, a notion extensively explored throughout Donne’s work. Contrast to the periods of highly saturated religious beliefs and obsessions with attaining eternal bliss seen in Donne’s works, Margret Edson and her engagement with the postmodernism aspects of literature, aims to reshape humanities relationship with death and the religious certainty of the afterlife. The postmodern era saw the decline of religious faith and the discovery of vast unexplored irrational and unconscious forces in regions of the human cognizance, introducing concepts of absurdity and nihilism to the human intellect, furthering the apparent loss of human spirituality and compassion in the age of totalitarianism. These postmodern values and attitudes are represented by the dehumanisation of Vivian during her treatment, reducing her to a title of purely medical research, seen in Vivian’s proclamation “what we have come to think of as me is, in fact, just the specimen jar, just as the dust jacket”, highlighting postmodern society’s excessive desire and demand for scientific knowledge, emphasising the greater concern for data and a lesser concern with the fundamental human emotions, empathy and compassion. Edson has characterised both Jason and Vivian to display strictly postmodern philosophical belief’s, resembling absurdist and nihilist ideals, as seen in the constant use of intellectualism to obscure mortal vulnerabilities, as seen in Vivian’s ironic hyperbole describing how she knew, ‘all about life and death. I am…a scholar of Donne’s Holy Sonnet’. Through this statement, Edson establishes how the academic comprehension of death within Vivian’s research orientated existence has hindered her ability to grasp the complexities of mortality as a tangible human emotion and experience, positioning the audience to emphasise with Vivian’s omnipresent fear of mortality, and her use of intellectualism to gain a sense of control over immutable existential anxieties.

Death, as a force of nature, allows for the examination of one’s inherent beliefs and ideologies surrounding the subjective inference of the abstract statement ‘a life well lived’ and the implications this has on the audience’s perspective of the narrative. Edson has characterised Vivian to allow the audience to make judgements on her life’s value, leading to questions about the finality and authority of death. The use of metatheatrical elements such as breaking of the fourth wall, as seen in Vivian’s disclosure with the audience “Ive got less than 2 hours, then curtain” allows for the reality of death to be stripped of significance and power, diminishing it to the act of closing the curtain, furthering the underlying notion of the simplistic nature of death and allowing the audience to judge the significance of Vivian’s singularly focused life by unconsciously comparing it to their own. In Vivian’s death scene, the postmodern philosophical idea that ‘death is a release/cleansing from the pain of living’ is shown through the use of minimal lighting and emotion evoking phrases “she walks away from the scene, towards a little light” , referencing the familiar concept of ‘a light at the end of the tunnel’ as a cleansing force and a removal of suffering. Edson has used death in this manner to allow the audience, through Vivian, to see the inadequacies of her hyper-intellectualized view of life, allowing them to reflect on the power they offer death and they considerations they reflect on to regard a life well lived. Similarly, Donne challenges the inherit complex nature of death in ‘Death be not proud’ by using the paradox “death, thou shall die” he personifies death, establishing its powerlessness over mortals and that it should not be feared, because for Christians, it will result in an eternal bliss. Furthing the concept of diminishing the authority of death, Donne writes death as “thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and the desperate men” , personifying death as reliant on the forces of humanity, introducing the notion that ‘without mortals, death is nothing’ positioning the audience to realise death is not a separate entity, but is instead parallel to humanity and the human condition. Death is seen the final reality of human life, not just for the banal reason that death is inevitable, but because the finiteness and vulnerability of our existence in this world is what gives urgency, meaning and notability to human life.

Although composed in vastly differing contexts, John Donne’s metaphysical poems and Margaret Edson’s postmodern play Wit, retains significance through the examination of mortal fears and the approach of spiritual processes necessary to gain acceptance of death. Through intertextual readings of these texts, the audience gains an insightful understanding of the way context shapes our perception of our own life and truth and allows for a greater understanding of death, redemption and the enduring nature of human condition.