Metaphysical Poetry The Flea By John Donne Metaphysical

Metaphysical Poetry The Flea By John Donne

Metaphysical Poetry- Definition(1) n n By itself, metaphysical means dealing with the relationship between spirit to matter or the ultimate nature of reality. The Metaphysical poets are obviously not the only poets to deal with this subject matter, so there a number of other qualities involved as well: Use of ordinary speech mixed with puns, paradoxes and conceits (a paradoxical metaphor causing a shock to the reader by the strangeness of the objects compared; some examples: lovers and a compass, the soul and timber, the body and mind)

Metaphysical Poetry- Definition (2) n n n The exaltation of wit, which in the 17 th century meant a nimbleness of thought; a sense of fancy (imagination of a fantastic or whimsical nature); and originality in figures of speech Abstruse terminology often drawn from science or law Often poems are presented in the form of an argument In love poetry, the metaphysical poets often draw on ideas from Renaissance Neo-Platonism to show the relationship between the soul and body and the union of lovers' souls They also try to show a psychological realism when describing the tensions of love.

Metaphysical Poetry – Platonic Love(1) n n During the Renaissance, Plato got mingled with Christian and Eastern thought. Through this mingling we get Platonic love (which is a lot more than you probably think it means). For Plato, beauty proceeds in a series of steps from the love of one beautiful body to that of two, to the love of physical beauty in general, and ultimately to the love of that beauty "not in the likeness of a face or hands or in the forms of speech or knowledge or animal or particular thing in time or place, but beauty absolute, separate, simple, everlasting--the source and cause of all that perishing beauty of all other things. " When this scheme is Christianized by equating this ultimate beauty with the Divine Beauty of God, the Renaissance Platonic lover can move in stages through the desire for his mistress, whose beauty he recognizes as an emanation of God's, to the worship of the Divine itself.

Metaphysical Poetry- Platonic Love(2) n n This complex doctrine of love which embraces sexuality (the mystical union of souls, cf. Donne's "The Canonization") but which is directed to an ideal end (discussed in Plato's Symposium) is particularly evident in Donne. (But we see it in poets from Sidney to Lawrence). Platonic love has also come to mean a love between individuals which transcends sexual desire and attains spiritual heights (for examples, see some of the courtly romances like Tennyson's Idylls of the King), as well as homosexual love (see Forster's Maurice), derived from the praise of homosexual love in The Symposium.

The Flea By John Donne

John Donne- Biography ->born in Bread Street in 1572 to a prosperous Roman Catholic family ->1593 his brother, Henry died of a fever in prison after arrested for giving sanctuary to a proscribed catholic priest. Donne began to have doubts in his faith. -> 1601 secretly married Lady Egerton’s niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More, daughter of Sir George More ->1611 Donne was invited and joined Sir Robert Drury to the continental trip. It was then Donne composed several of his most prominent poems. “A Valediction: Forbidden Mouring”

John Donne- Biography (2) ->1617 Donne’s wife died. Within 16 years, she gave him 12 children. ->1631 Donne died of serious illness.

John Donne- Writing Style Donne’s work were famous for themes if his faith in God and women. Though not writing with conventional glamorous style of verse like the Petrachan style, Donne successfully and beautifully connect the time and space in his poems with extraordinary images. Donne’s usage of diction and language in composing his work is considered revolutionary of his time. His style is regarded as “metaphysical” in the modern study of poem.

The Flea- Main Idea “The Flea” is a poem about class distinction, marriage and struggle between religion conception and physical needs. Read “The Flea” now.

IMAGERY You can also consider the imagery used by the poets. Do NOT become bogged down in discussion of single images n Consider, rather, the whole range of sources of imagery each uses. n

DONNE’S IMAGERY n n n Donne is eclectic (not wide-ranging) and apparently obscure He did not write for publication, but showed poems to friends whom he supposed to be well-read enough to understand these references Donne's imagery draws on the new (in the late 16 th century) learning of the English renaissance and on topical discoveries and exploration We find references to alchemy, sea-voyages, mythology and religion (among many other things). Certain images or ideas recur so often as to seem typical kingship and rule; subjectivism ("one little room an everywhere" "nothing else is"); alchemy - especially the mystical beliefs associated with elixir and quintessence and cosmology, both ancient and modern (references both to spheres and to the world of "sea-discoverers").

Explanation and Analysis. Marriage and Class Distinction n n n this is a poem about an unblessed marriage class distinction, the two “blood” mixed together (stanza one, line 4~6) used the flea as a metaphor of connection of their (fragile) marriage (stanza two, line 3~4) deeply related to religious concepts. Ex. When he talks about his wife, that if she kills the flea, that she would be commit three crimes of marriage. flea as the metaphor of a fragile marriage. Because it would be easily destroyed. THE change of mind: after his wife squeezed the flea, he thinks that there is no loss for her to marry him (stanza 3. )

Explanation and Analysis. Religion and Sex n n The poem that reflects the change of era- the conservative, religious value v. s. the new values that comes with religion. He prefers the blood mingled together as a connection rather than sexual intercourse, which he thinks is a sin.