11 May 2022

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Themes and Criticism of Donne’s Poetry

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John Donne is a well-known poet in the industry due to the use of artistic techniques traceable in most of the poems ( Andreasen, 2015) . The paper will major on two of Donne’s poetry works namely “The Good-Morrow” and “Valediction Forbidding Mourning." The poetic styles used in both pieces illustrate the author’s ability to bring out the themes and ideas open for the understandability of the audience. The contrast in these poems creates an ideal environment for the user to read between the lines with the aim of learning how the writer compares two or more themes in the poem. 

To begin with "The Good-Morrow," it is a poem of contrast between the lust possessed by human beings and the true love from the heart. The profligate past of how people used to love one another is put into comparison with the situation experienced in the current world. Therefore, the main theme of this poem can be argued out to be love. However, there are other secondary themes discovered comprehending the interesting poem. They include but not limited to the theme of awakening as well as earthly versus the spiritual world. The poet might have used them to put more emphasis on the idea of love and how people misunderstand it with lust.

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The concept of renaissance primarily explains the beginning and continuity of love. Donne’s have rhetorically used the theories to convince the audience on how love came to existence ( Robbins, 2014) . Despite the numerous versions of beliefs existing on the origin of love, Renaissance marks sight as the central startup of the love feeling. Indeed, the poem magnifies the sense of sight by categorizing it into two ways. First, the author illustrates the power of love in a libertine roving eye. On the other hand, a steady gaze of true love tells all that there is a mutual feeling between two people.

A key introduction of the main theme is found in line six of the first stanza. At this point of the poem, the author does not hesitate to mention his experience with an attractive woman. At the first site, the poet derived emotional desire and got overwhelmed by expressions. It is a person a good thing or someone for such feelings to form in the body. Unlike the case of Donne, the current generation poorly depends on sight to love ( Robbins, 2014) . For instance, currently, people are meeting on social platforms and other online related sites only to fall in love and title themselves as couples. To some extent, that has proven the sight theories right since these relationships are not lasting for a long period. Donne’s theme in this poem is a lesson to the young youths who are still in the race of looking for lovers. 

In the second stanza, there is a comment on how both the poet and his wife watch each other without any element of fear. The writer of poem uses this part to the emphasis on the concept of steady gazing in true love. Where there is "true love," there is control of sight. That means there is nothing outside the box of love can be more interesting to gaze at compared to all that is associated to a lover. Two partners in a couple facing one another single-mindedly is a clear indication that their images of love reflect on their faces. So as to wind up on the theme of love as used by the author, gazing reinforces true love that rests in the hearts full of openness as well as trust. 

“Valediction forbidding mourning” is ranked as one of the most popular poems written by Donne. Most people might think that the poets’ wife is involved in the poetic task due to how writer sounds while bringing out the themes in this poem. Donne is quick to use narration of self-experience as a way of delivering ideas to the audience. In most of his poems in the archive, the idea of love is the joining factor ( Robbins, 2014) . As a result, primary themes in “Valediction forbidding mourning” can be termed to be separation and the power of love. The use of mystical forces and sacred completeness has helped in proving the power of love and consequences of separation in a healthy relationship. 

Donne talks of the propagation of human being joys in telling the layette of their love. These lines purely hold on the intentions of looking for help from priests and other religious leaders when things get worse in love. However, running for help brainwashes lovers’ minds and forget that priests also exist in a same scenario of love. After evaluating the different ways in how they tend to solve love related problems, it is arguable to say that their love is mysterious. The cry of separation in love detaches victims from achieving their goals in life. The author talks about a situation where true love is a key motivator towards the great thing. When separation falls in between, all the efforts applied are turned down gradually.

According to the poem, the battle of separation depends primarily on courage and the immediate shoulder to lean on. Other sacred power and metaphysics of love hardly deliver a victim from that situation. The pot quotes “Thy firmness” as the only way to overcome the bitter experience of being heartbroken ( Robbins, 2014) . Indeed, separation in the current generation is associated with hard choices that go to the extremes of people committing suicide. However, most people who are not in true love use separation as a way to move out of a relationship.

The other major theme of in “Valediction forbidding mourning” poem is the power of love which the author is focusing on the beloved. By so doing, Donne shares a portion of the love they experience together with the wife. Having a successful relationship does not necessarily mean that there are no ups and downs. In fact, most people pretend not to be hurt by their lovers but deep down their minds lies a depression. However, there is still something that draws two lovers together despite the challenges their face. According to Donne, the comfortable feeling that exists when true love is present may hinder people from separating and turning to be enemies. That means they both work as an encouraging factor for each other in the journey of life. 

The power of love is marked by the impossibility to conquer people who are in true love. Their reparability depends on whether one party finds it necessary to have the other as a mutual friend. Donne in his poem "Valediction forbidding mourning" explains a scenario of his life where real love is powerful to overcome any challenge that comes their way. Where real love exists, distance does not matter. In the case of Donne and the wife, even when thought to go apart invade their mind, true love brings in the sense of togetherness. Therefore love tends to lift people up and achieve their goals ( Robbins, 2014) . The connection of the heart feeling to the body motivation is something that lovers fail to understand but get moved by tat power. Eventually, scholars who have tried to define love come up with deferent suggestions on what is all about. That makes the role of defining love a bit challenging. However, the mutual feeling illustrated by the author of the poem proves that there is a supernatural power in true love.

To summarize, both poems by the Donne has some similarities in their contexts. They are composed of narration on the author's real-life experiences on love. They both promote the theme of love and offers a lesson on how true love can be powerful. Also, “The Good-Morrow" poem indicates the power the origin of love at first sight and supports the argument by the theories of Renaissance. To be a bit critic, Donne focusses more on the love and which is not a physical neither a tangible thing hence being hard to prove to people that it exists. The fact that love is a feeling means it may defer from one person to another. Hence, it people may have different opinions according to the people’s experiences. The degree of love to which an individual can term a feeling as true love is different from which another person may use hence creating a situation of uncertainty. 

References

Andreasen, N. J. C. (2015).  John Donne: Conservative Revolutionary . Princeton University Press.

Robbins, R. (2014).  The Poems of John Donne: Volume One . Routledge.

Robbins, R. (Ed.). (2014).  The Complete Poems of John Donne . Routledge.

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 16). Themes and Criticism of Donne’s Poetry.
https://studybounty.com/themes-and-criticism-of-donnes-poetry-essay

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