Questions about Metaphysical Poetry (Donne and Jonson)

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4. In one conceit, John Donne explains how whenever the bell tolls for someone, it is technically tolling for you be-cause everyone is connected and when someone dies we lose their stories and their presence. In another con-ceit, Donne explains how no man is an island. This again shows how everyone is connected and that even though it may appears that we are “islands,” separated from another, we are all one because when someone dies we lose their tales and experiences.

2. What Donne means is that all humans are connected that no one is an “island” and that all humans are part of the “continent.” This alludes to England, which is an island, separated from Europe, but still part of the conti-nent. When one human dies, we lose their memories and stories and are thus less in value.

5. The use of the phrase compares with Donne’s intended meaning by showing how everyone is connected and is we lose one human (continental Europe) to death (Nazi Germany) then we are worse off. The phrase also applies directly to Britain because it is an island. Britain wanted to keep Europe away from the fascism of the Nazis and keep alive the stories and importance of the sovereign nations.

3.
a. The speaker is trying to convince his beloved that he will only be gone a short amount of time and that she shouldn’t be upset because destiny says that he will have to leave.

b. In the first stanza, the speaker says that he is not leaving because of her. Then he says he will only be gone a short amount of time. Then he says is sad that he has to leave. Then he says that she shouldn’t be sad be-cause that makes him sad. Then he says that it is destiny that causes him to leave and when he does leave, just think of him on the other side of the bed.

5. I believe exaggeration is a valid technique in arguing as long as it is not done too much or is not too drastic. Ex-aggeration makes your point a little bit stronger but it is based on falsehoods, which can hurt your argument is overemphasized.

2. The comparison of them using the compass shows how the speaker is always changing his view on her while she has a fixed position on their love.

3. Lines 3–4 are reinforced by the strong, paradoxical lines 13–14. The ending lines use stronger verbs to show how Death is not scary or overpowering but a step on our journey.

4.
a. The statement means that Death is no longer scary and is simply a nuisance and should be ended or “dead.”

b. It is paradoxical because Death is not a person and is rather a state of being, and thus cannot die. Also, if Death were to die, then it would have nowhere to go since there is no death.

1. “Meditation 17”: “…all mankind is of one author and is one volume: when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language and every chapter must be so translated.” This shows how everyone is related and that when someone dies, we lose his or her stories. “Song”: “Yesternight the sun went hence, / And yet is here today; / He hath no desire no sense, / Nor half so short a way…” This shows how the speaker is like the sun by that they always leave but they always come back and fairly quickly. “Holy Sonnet 10”: “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be…” This means that the images of Death are the only thing frigh-tening of it, not the experience.

2. “Song”: “…unkindly kind…” This shows how something is not necessarily “nice” but it is “nice.” This can mean criticism. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”: “…some of their sad friends do say / The breath goes now, and some say, No;” When everyone dies, they cease to live; however, some people argue that their souls leave and live on forever.

3.
a. The conceit is so abstract that it would appear that nothing could tie the two together. However, it uses “vi-olence” to force a comparison between the two and show how the two lovers are like the legs of a compass.

b. Johnson is missing how the comparison creates a beautiful image of comparison.


4.
a. The images of love in the poem are in common by that they are all common symbols of love and are com-mon to find around. They are gentle. They are mostly circular (a drink’s lid is a circle).

b. This suggests that love is common and that we can find love in everyday things. Since the images are mostly circular, they are all “perfect” images of love.

5. Jonson’s way of presenting the speaker’s grief is effective because it mourns the loss of his son and also shows how the father does not want to be a father anymore.

3. The first stanza is epigrammatic quality because the phrases (“Drink to me only with thine eyes”) are easy to remember and can be quoted. He then says to “leave a kiss…in the cup” and that we will “not look for wine,” showing the humor of the stanza.

4. The last line is paradoxical because something that is loved cannot be disliked. However, it shows that Jonson never wants for his children to die because he loves them.

5.
a. I believe it would not be suitable for the subject’s gravestone because it has to deal more with Ben rather than Benjamin. However, the first four lines are elegiac and can be on the gravestone.

b. Some epigrams make good epitaphs because they can be quoted and thus associated with that dead person. They are at times witty but they express truths about that person memorably.

1. Separation expands their love.

2. Her sighs sigh away his soul.

3. Her weeping weakens his life’s blood.

4. Death is mighty is said.

5. Death does not conquer life.

Donne was dismissed by Sir Thomas Egerton. He had found out about Donne and Anne More’s secret marriages. Secret marriages were considered socially unacceptable. It is believed that they spent the next few years it poverty. His poetry was affected by this period.