The name "metaphysical poets" is now applied to a group of 17th-century poets who, whether or not directly influenced by John Doone (1572-1631), use similar poetic procedures and abstruse arguments. Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), who was born 50 years later than Donne, was one of these metaphysical poets.
Metaphysical style is characterized by a seemingly outrageous or far-fetched logic, which organizes the poem in the form of an urgent or heated argument--with a disdainful lady who sexually rejects her lover, or God, or death. The extravagant uses of hyperbole produce a startling and witty effect. Give some examples that illustrate this "shock tactic" of metaphysical poets. How do the ingenious uses of paradox, pun, the rough and colloquial idioms, the dramatic form of apostrophe or direct address create the shocking effect? Or, among the poems we discussed so far (by Donne or Marvell),which simile or metaphor is most shocking for you?
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There are some pieces impreesed me actually. I want to talk about poems written by John Donne. First, I want to discuss "Death, be not proud." In this poem, the author personified Death, telling him not to be so proud; because Death will be beaten by a Christianity soul for he goes to heaven after died. Death seems to be a forbidden topic in Chinese culture. I think it is a new perspective to view death as something not so horrible. We don't have to be a christian, as long as we have a faith in our mind, such as love, family, or anything that can support us; death is no longer a monster anymore. In the end, Death is just the beginning toward the myth of death or you can say, birth.
“The Flea” shocked me the most. I can never come up with such witty metaphor. At first, I think the poet uses a farfetched metaphor. However, read it over and over again I find that the metaphor is excellent and pretty convincing. He said that the flea is their marriage bed because the flea had sucked both their blood. Their blood mingled in the flea’s body. Use this point to convince the lady having a sex with him. Also, after the lady killed the flea he claimed that she should sleep with him because the virtue she had would not be weakened just as the flea’s death would not threaten their lives. What a genius!
In this two pieces, I like John Donne’s “Death, be not proud.” Done used unique opinion to discus death. He firstly tell that death be not proud, and then explained the reason of why death be not proud. He personified death, and shocked readers that it death couldn’t kill anyone. The speaker thought death, rest, and sleep are the same. Moreover, rest and sleep will have much more pleasure, but death won’t. The speaker sympathizes with death. Moreover, death existed to undergo mission from the poison, war, sickness. The author changed death’s mighty status. The author emphasized that people just take a sleep and being eternal. It means death is a pass by, a process, and people will get eternity after they wake.
When I read the poem "The Flea", it really shock me because the speaker used the flea in order to convince his lover to make love with him . And it was very funny and interesting to read this poem. When I get close to realize what it mean, it really made me amaze how genious the poet wrote it on this way. When I read the sentence "Oh, stay, three lives in one flea spare," I can't help but smile at these words. How quip it is.
In "The Sun Rising",John Donne personified the sun as an old fool,blaming him for being intrusive,disturbing the privacy with his lover.The poet tried to banish the old fool away,telling him to perform his duties elsewhere,which is impossible without doubt.Instead of keep on refusing the penetrating beams,the poet embraced it by changing his statement.After reading and understanding this poem,I witnessed how interesting,witty and ridiculous metaphysical conceit can be.It definitely opens our mind and expands our view.
The poems which use metaphysical style impress me a lot. When I read this kind of poems, I always admire that those metaphysical poets can write such interesting poems; however, some poems are quite difficult to realize about the metaphors that the poets use, such as “The Flea” by John Done. “The Flea” shocked me the most compared to the other poems I learn in the class. In this poem, the author uses the flea for the metaphor of love. The speaker tries to convince the lady to sleep with him and talks to her that this is not a sin. The speaker mentions that if the lady kills the flea then she kills the three lives.
This poem indeed explores me visions for the metaphysical poems, and interests me to read them.
Both Donne and Marvell’s poems shocked me, yet I think Donne’s poems are most shocking, because they’re full of witty conceits but often only via an insignificantly small or futile thing. However, it’s a little difficult for me to comprehend Marvell’s poems at the first time. He used lots of hyperboles which let me have the sense like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies. In the poem” The Good Morrow” of John Donne, he said, “Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown.” I was really impressed by these sentences which extend the breadth of affection even more tremendous than the whole world. What amazing that only this one sentence can be endowed with such great imaginations and continuous creations. He also described the relationship between him and his wife as stiff twin compasses. The compass has a fixed foot and no matter how big circle it goes to draw, finally, the tips will come together again. I think it symbolizes consummation as well, because it only can draw circles which like a never ending relation. This is just a trifling tool; however, he just wanted his wife can be faithful, string and firm to wait him home. Donne gave a colorful life to it and many fancies derived from this. I have never thought about the recondite meaning when I used a compass which made me take on an entirely new look definitely. About Marvell, I appreciated a lot about his idea “carpe diem“. In the poem “To His Coy Mistress”, he expressed his affection to his lover by many hyperboles. For example, Love you ten years before the Flood; An hundred years should go to praise thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze. He indicated that the man can spend many years to praise the woman’s single part of her body. He used a pun in the final sentence” Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.” Sun is a pun of son. The man wants to stop time and have a son with the woman and bring him up. Although he used some sexual connotations, I can feel the abstruse emotion was really intense and haunted with immeasurable fantasy all the time.
The poem that shocked me the most is the flea by ‘‘John Donne’’. Unlike many others, who persuade their lover in a cliché way, it impressed me very much that he used a flea to persuade his wife to have sex with him. In the last stanza, Donne told her wife that there is no need to be afraid of having sex that makes her status lower, and it is just like being sucked by the flea. By that he means his wife won’t lose life after beaten by the flea, and your virtue will not be weaken by sleeping with him. I found this kind of metaphor very ingenious and was way beyond my imagination.
I was most shocked by "The Flea." I think the poem is kind of a stupid love letter since i think no one would be convinced to have sex with him by this but as well, in my opinion, is kind of a great metaphor for convincing women to make love with him by a flea. Who can think of prevailing to have sex on people in such a genius way. The last three sentences, talking to the girl that "Have sex with me. You wouldn't lose your virtue just like you won't be killed by a flea's bite," were very impressive to me. I would say, I feel both ridiculous and fascinating of this poem.
Among these poems I was impressed by the "The Flea” the most. This poem uses the image of a flea to sketch an amusing conflict over whether the speaker and his beloved will engage in premarital sex or not. He says that to kill the flea would be sacrilege (what an amusing and creative description), "three sins in killing three." Donne's poise of hinting at the erotic without ever explicitly refers to sex, while at the same time leaves no doubt to understand what he means. I think John Donne is such a genius, and only he has the ability to creative this unique poem.
To me, there are two poems that impressed me. The first one is "The Flea." When people mention love, we often think of many romantic things, such as flowers, heart-shades, etc. However, Donne uses a tiny little flea which is usaually a hateful thing to human kind because it sucks blood from human to refer to the love between he and his lover. He even use this to try to persuade her not to kill the flea because if she kills one, she kills three (he, she, and the flea) but he doesn't suceed. Moreover, he says their love won't disappear through the death of the flea. The second one is "The Sun Rising." He says everyone likes sunshine because it brings happiness and lives. However, he doesn't need the light because he already has his light, which is the woman he was holding in the bed. Their room is his whole world.
I think the poem "The Flea" shocked me most. Because it used flea to depict their marriage, it is very surprising. We always think that marriage is a holy thing and it is love is a complicated thing. However, in this poem, the poet use flea to woo the woman; he told she that they shouldn't waste time. It is better to make love with each other as soon as possible. It is not good to hesitate or refuse because accept him would't hurt her. I think it is very straight in some ways to use the image of flea to describe the condition. I consider it is shock and very impressive for he said the desire honestly and directly. I like this poem very much that it is not ambiguous to understand.
I think Andrew Marvell wants to portray his poem like the metaphysical conceit, and his poems are so hyperbole but interesting. Like “To His Coy Mistress”, he uses the syllogism to portray three periods of time; he wants to tell his mistress to seize the day and make love with him. In the poem, he uses some special words to exaggerate; for instance, he uses the conversion of the Jews and the flood to portray the end of love; the end of love was exaggerated like the world which seems to be destroyed by God. It’s a interesting but hyperbole way to describe it; I think it is the metaphysical way for him to present it.
For me, the most shocking metaphysical conceit may be the computation, which is very interesting and short but special. John Donne uses the many numbers which is add up to 2400 to present a day how much he loves his lover, and the numbers becomes so important factors to lead readers to know how he feels one day to be so many years. It is also the metaphysical conceit, which is exactly interesting and witty for readers to study.
"The Sun Rising" is the most shocking for me. To me, the poem is very novel and the narrator is bilnd because is is in love. Donne blames the sun for disturbing the lovers in the morning. The sun is just like a person who repeats his work day after day without compaining. In addition, that the lover become the center of everything is very apposite to not just them but also the couples nowadays.
I think John Donne really did a good job in composing the poem “The Sun Rising” with many shockingly good metaphysical conceits toward the sun. I am shocked by how ingeniously John Donne personifies and describes the sun and its ability; moreover, he makes such ingenious comparisons between the sun and the lover’s love. The poet asserts that the lover’s love outshines the sun by telling many creative and imaginative reasons. There are three examples below. Firstly, the narrator says that he and his lover don’t need the light shone by the sun because time is of no use for lovers. Secondly, he indicates that the sun is only half as happy as them, for it can only shine at half of the Earth, which is equal to the lovers on the ground of their love, in one time. Finally, he even proudly suggests that the sun simply stay and shine at them to accomplish its duty because they are equal to the whole world. All these metaphysical conceits are excellent in my eyes for their perfect elaboration. It’s weird that you would even be somewhat convinced by the poet even though you know that these metaphors are over exaggerated. I think it’s due to the ingeniousness of these metaphysical conceits created by the master of them, John Donne.
I was impressed by "Batter my heart, three-person God" the most.
In the poem he identifies himself as leaky pot, capture town and kidnapped virgin.
"Take me to You, imprison me, for I,
Except You enthrall me, never shall be free
Nor ever chaste, except You ravish me"
I was really shocked by these sentences because it is such an ingenious uses of paradox. John Donne is really an ingenious and creative poet that in his poem you can find so many interesting sentences in his poems, and those sentences give me many different thoughts that I've never think about.
John Donne is good at using a lot metaphor to support his arguments and most of his ideas are creative that really impressed me. Take “The Flea” for example, in this poem he uses flea as examples to persuade a women to have the sexual relationship with him. And in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning “, he cleverly use compasses as the metaphor of the relationship between him and his wife. He tries to persuade her wife that her responsibility to stay home when he leave, just like fixed foot to stay in the same place, waiting for her husband to come back and leans when missing her husband. When the time the husband comes back, it erects.
Still others such as in “The Computation,” he uses many years as metaphors to show that how he misses his beloved one deeply. He means that if he can’t see the woman he loved, a day can be as long as 2400 years. In “The Good-Morrow,” he use two hemispheres as metaphor to express the idea that two loves combine can be one perfect world. There are still a lot of other examples, and I really surprised about John Donne’s conceited but creative thinking.
Actually, there are lots of works shocked me, especially the most funny one "The Flea". It really impressed me that i would never think out this kind of witty metaphor. The author use the convincing description that you can't help but admire the author's talent. It talks about their love, and sex are connection with the little flea, for it had sucked their blood. This mentioned as making love really shocked me.
Sorry, I have posted the wrong comment. The one before this comment can be deleted. The one which I impressed me the most is John Donne’s “A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning ”that the author uses the compasses as the relationship between husband and wife in traditional values. I am surprised by John’s amazing imagination that he uses the fixed foot comparing to his wife in order to persuade her to stay at home and wait for his comeback. The metaphor is close to real life and is also very touching.
The poem that shocked me most is” The Flea.” I think I won’t forget this poem in the rest of my life because of its elaborate but witty way to persuade a lady to have sex with him. I have ever seen such a crazy and brainy way which using the flea to woo a lady. He said that actually he and the lady had already had sex before because their blood already mangled inside the body of flea. And the most shocking part is, at first, he beseeched the lady do not kill the flea because the flea is their wedding bed and their wedding temple. However, when the lady eventually killed the flea, he told her that she wouldn’t die due to the death of the flea, so if she had sex with him, she wouldn’t die of it, too. How witty way! No matter the flea was alive or dead, he could create his own persuasion. I was shocked of examples the author used and his witty persuasion. I never imagined that can use the flea to create such an interesting poem.
Metaphysical poems are really enjoyable, and certainly more fun to read than other love poems. They twisted the most unlikely things into something that sounds pretty stupid, yet still convincing. Their references to all classic are brilliant, and with the way they twist it, Death become a thing that can be enjoy, flea as the product and transmitter of love, and Apollo along with Pan becomes someone nasty. It is hard to create a classic, harder to make fun of a classic, and hardest to become a classic by poking fun at the classic; metaphysical is a poem style that live up to its name, and cool, I might add.
When I read the poem “The Flea” , I feel so ridiculous about the poet’s point . The topic totally argues irrationally . While due to the statement you just can’t find the killing mistake to say it wrong . Then you have no choice but to admire their superb writing ability . The most surprising part which shocked me is the resistance on poet themselves . Take John Donne for example , the poem “Song” is talking about the topic of there is no woman both with true , fair personality and beauty . And the poem “Death , be not proud” also take a critical attitude towards death . The way they show opinions on these familiar things is too uncovered . Compared to traditional system , the way they create is really bold and original . Even until now people will think it remains a extraordinary masterpiece to respect .
In John Donne's poem, Batter my heart, three-personed God, there are three metaphors in it. The metaphysical objects are that the leaky pot, kidnapped virgin, and a captured town. From these metaphors, John Donne wants to reveal the thought of being treated toughly by God since the objects that he uses are all dealt with roughly by their managers. As a result, the argument he makes suggests that he wants to be violently treated.
To me, Donne’s “The Sun Rising” shocked me most. In this poem, Donne described the sun as a busy, old fool and unruly. In common sense, we usually think the sun is warm and friendly. So Donne’s simile toward the sun really shocked me. But after reading this poem, I also think Donne is a creativity and witty poet.
Andwer Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is a shocking one for me. The speaker intent to persuade his lady to have sexual intercourse with him, with such unreasonable but wit words. He says that his love toward her is eternal. He can even praise each of her brest for two hundred years. However, they should focus on time, because her beauty will be gone, and her virginity that she protected for so long will lost in the grave by worms. They should have a son before it's too late. I wonder if the woman was convinced after he wrote this poem.
“The flea” which written by John Donne is really shock me. When people think of “love”, they used to come up with the romantic things such as rose. But John Donne used the flea to contact with love, it is unthinkable. How negligible the flea is. If someone uses fleas in that romantic way, we may think it is ridiculous. But in Donne’s poem, he used it in a very convincing way. Sucking by flea image to making love, how unromantic it is. It seems laughable but convincing. What a genius he is!
“The Flea”is very interesting by useing a silly argument to talk about the issue of marrige and struggle between sex and religious. At first they saw the flea, and when the lady was trying to kill it, the speaker become angry immediately. When she finally killed the flea by her finger nails, the speaker said she was cruel because the killing is meanigless and the flea is totally innocent.
In all the metaphysical poems that I have read, I think that “the flea” shocks me most. The speaker uses an interesting and vivid way to convince a girl to make love with her. The speaker uses the flea to draw closely the relation between him and that girl. After I read it, I really admire the poet’s abundant imagination and intelligent. What’s more, the part that he uses varies ways to convince the girl that making love with him is not a misconduct attracts me most. I really admire him that he can make people feel so interesting to his nonsense.
I think John Donne’s poem is more shocking me because metaphysical conceit is more interesting to me. He used a lot of creative metaphor in his poets, and he connected two different things in an amazing way such as d The Flea and The Sun Rising. His poets are more attractive and give us some unthinkable ideas. He also added a lot of Christian images in his poets and I think it’s another creative way of writing poets. In short, he was a very talented writer and effected the writing style a lot.
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