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Flashcards

John Donne

lilyb3 English University English 46 cards

Cards in this deck (46)

  1. 1angels affect us oft and worshipp'd be'worshipp'd' = veneration and religious context
    misleading: suggests idolatry of women by men
  2. 2some lovely glorious nothing did I seeoxymoronic phrase: i.e. 'nothing' and 'see'
    the intangibility of angels
  3. 3so thy love may be my love's sphereDonne misleads the reader - the beginning of the poem suggests that he will compare the female to that of an angel
    * But here he actually suggests that she will be the airy sphere that will clothe his purer spirit
  4. 4as twixt air and angels purity, twixt women's love and men's will beair is not as pure as the angel it manifests - so the woman's love is not as pure as a man's
    * Donne as misogynist?
  5. 5for god's sake hold your tongue and let me lovedramatic opening - Donne challenging the his reader - speaker renouncing the world
    * 'Love' bookends each stanza, uniting the poem in a single theme
  6. 6who's injured by my love?individual rights perspective - exasperated tone of the speaker
  7. 7what merchant's ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed this ground?Petrarchan satire: 'my tears are rain and my signs are storms'
  8. 8we two being one one neutral thing bothreflection on Galations 3:28 where Christ is neither male nor female - they are joined both spiritually and physically
  9. 9the lovers are like a 'well wrought urn becomes / the greatest ashes'metaphor for the lovers' balance between sensibility and passionate abandon
  10. 10in this flea, our two bloods mingled bethe speaker, as a form of persuasion, suggests that he and the woman are already joined in some meaningful spiritual way
    * Image of compression, which characterizes Donne's metaphysical poems
  11. 11this our marriage bed and marriage temple isDonne moves from the secular and erotic to the sacred
  12. 12cloistered in these living walls of jet'cloistered' heightens religious sentiment as it can mean closeted but also refer to a monastery
  13. 13sacriledge, three sins in killing threePertrarchan hyperbole: the speaker is slain by the woman's cruelty - it is now sacrilege to kill the flea because it is now a sacred thing
  14. 14tis true, then learn how false thy fears be; just so much honour when thou yieldst to memale arrogance - 'when' suggests that the speaker anticipates that she will allow him to seduce her - she will lose no more honour than she has in killing the flea i.e. none
  15. 15let maps on maps, worlds on worlds have shown'let maps' is written iambic pentameter but the monosyllables make it sound clumsy - this reflects the clumsy nature of the world outside in comparison to the microcosm of the lovers' world
  16. 16without sharp north, without declining westthis sentence contrasts to the previous; it is divided into two parts, three words each, in reflection of one another - mirrors the perfection of the lovers' world
  17. 17as other falconers use, I spring a mistress...and the game killed (Love's Diet)misogynist nature of Donne as a poet: he hunts women as men do birds
  18. 18a bracelet of bright hair around the bonethe bracelet (a circle) is a symbol of fidelity - the hair unites the lovers - 'bright' contrasts to the dark, damp grave that the lovers inhabit - the light of their love
  19. 19our hands never touched the seals, which nature...sets freein contrast to many of Donne's other poems, here the speaker suggests that he and his beloved have abided by 17th century social laws
  20. 20busy old fool, unruly sun, why dost thou...call on us?Donne's hyperbolic assertion of the sun's consciousness - egocentric mannerism of the speaker
  21. 21must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?Donne inserts the idea of the bedroom as a microcosm of their love, complete with their own 'seasons' of love
    * 'rags of time'
  22. 22both th'Indias of spice...lie with me'India' = symbolic of the lover's exotic nature
    - 17th century an era concerned with exploration, so no surprise that Donne uses images of discovery
  23. 23she is all states and all princes, Ihis lover is the state which he rules over as the 'Prince' - female submission - the emphatic placing of 'I' at the end of the sentence highlights male importance
  24. 24as virtuous men pass mildly away and whisper to their soulsDonne contradicts Catholic doctrine of solemn, celebrated burial - he wants the lovers to part with the same quietness as virtuous men uttering their last breath
  25. 25no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempestsPetrarchan satire: my tears are rain and my sighs are storms
  26. 26interassured of the mindspiritual connection, not just physical
  27. 27an expansion, like gold to airy thinness beatwhen they part, the lover's will experience an expansion rather than contraction of their love
  28. 28as stiff twin compasses are two, thy soul the fixed foot'stiff' i.e. unbending in their love - will take more than a clumsy violation to break them - they are 'twin' because they are equal and symmetrical in their love
  29. 29thy firmness make my circle just and makes me end, where I begunthe motif of the 'circle' as seen in 'The Relic' i.e. 'a bracelet of bright hair around the bone' - symbolic of the eternal nature of their love
  30. 30Sonnet 1 (Thou hast made me...) repair me nowSonnet about the speaker's preoccupation with death and the need to atone for his sins and receive divine grace: the repetition of 'death' in the third line reflects this obsession with morality - imperative phrase - the speaker is product of God so only he can repair him
  31. 31our old subtle foe so tempteth melink to Sonnet 14 where the speaker talks of how he is 'betrothed' to Satan - 'our' highlights the unity that the speaker feels to God - the fallibility of man after the Fall
  32. 32thou like adamant draw mine iron heartmetaphysical analogy by Donne - God pulls man towards him to like iron to a magnet - the irresistible pull of God
  33. 33Sonnet 5 (I am a little world...) 'pour new seas in mine eyes' 'let their flames retire and burn me, O lord'Donne speaks of atoning for his sins as in Sonnet 1
    * Water and Fire as images of cleansing - Genesis i.e. Noah and the Flood
  34. 34in eating healDonne speaks of receiving Holy Communion - the Eucharist of Christ - but also the heavenly banquet of the Lord as referred to in Luke 12:37 where God will 'make them to sit down to meat'
  35. 35Sonnet 10 (Death be not proud...) 'rest of their bones and soul's delivery'paradoxical Christian belief of death: that in a physical death you receive an eternal spiritual life in heaven with God
  36. 36death shall be no more, death thou shalt dieallusion to St. Paul in Corinthians 1: 'the final enemy to be destroyed is death'
  37. 37Sonnet 11 (Spit in my face...) 'spit in my face ye Jews and pierce my side'Donne assumes a Christ-like role - he wants to assume the same punishment and suffering that Jesus suffered at his crucifixion
  38. 38buffet and scoff and scourge and crucify mereminiscent of Sonnet 14 where the speaker asks God 'to force, break, blow burn' - 'scourge' means to 'whip' which evokes the exorcism of sins
  39. 39I crucify him dailyDonne inverts Corinthians 15:31 where St. Paul suggests that he 'dies daily' from his own sinful nature - here it is Christ that the speaker feels he is hurting
  40. 40Sonnet 13 (What if this present...) 'profane mistresses'Donne in his religious journey now reflects on the sexuality of his youth with scorn
  41. 41Sonnet 14 (Batter my heart...) 'Batter my heart three personed God)Imperative, demanding, dramatic opening - violence - reference to the Trinity of Christ, God and the HS
  42. 42force, to break, blow, burnDonne takes images form the torture chamber - extreme exorcism of sins
  43. 43like a usurped townDonne wanting to be 'usurped' by a foreign power i.e. God - he is frustrated that his 'viceroy' i.e. his sin, has been captive to the enemy force of Satan
  44. 44but am betrothed unto your enemy, divorce meDonne uses secular love imagery - 'betrothed' to described the length of his entanglement with the devil - 'divorce' = shocking because strictly speaking there was no 'divorce'
  45. 45imprison me...enthral me...ravish methe sonnet ends on a mirror of aggression to the opening, this time sexual - the speaker implores God to act in a paradoxical way i.e. only through divine rape can the speaker be set free
  46. 46Sonnet 18: 'who is most true and pleasing...when she is embraced and open to most men'the Church transformed in to the blasphemous image of a promiscuous image - entering the Church is compared to sexual intercouse

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University English (John Donne) Flashcards on John Donne, created by lilyb3 on 29/04/2015.
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