Abstract
John Donne viewed love in a very unique context. His attitudes towards love can be found in many of his works including "The Flea" and "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to Bed".. This paper examines how these poems are excellent examples of the beliefs that Donne held regarding the sexual roles of both men and women and how Donne includes symbolism and other literary techniques to show his inner feelings and beliefs towards the roles one plays when dealing with romance and love.

From the Paper
"Donne uses the literary techniques known as ethos, logos, and pathos in "The Flea", intentionally or not, and it helps the reader be more readily convinced of what the roles of gender truly are. When Donne mentions, "And in this flea our two bloods mingled be", he is using ethos to show the audience he in fact is a reputable author who was knowledgeable about the beliefs and culture surrounding him. In the time of this writing it was a common belief that sex was no more than the mixing of two bloods. The whole argument of the lover is that the flea has already done that which sex actually constitutes so it would therefore be meaningless for her to worry about losing her virginity."

Tags:analysis, critical, donne, gender, john, poetry, roles

Abstract
John Donne's "Meditation XVII" and Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth" present readers with reflections upon death and its significance. This essay will compare and contrast these two works, exploring both similarities and differences in how each represents the theme of death. As will be seen, although their immediate subjects and styles are very distinct, both works share in how they represent death and life in a single instance as being an integral component of a larger, holistic vision of the universe.

From the Paper
Assignment 3: Comparison and Contrast Topic 3: John Donne and Virginia Woolf On the Theme of Death John Donne's "Meditation XVII" and Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth" present readers with reflections upon death and its significance. This essay will compare and contrast these two works, exploring both similarities and differences in how each represents the theme of death. As will be seen, although their immediate subjects and styles are very distinct in their respective world views, both works are similar in how they represent death and life in a single instance as being an integral

Tags:woolf, donne, death

Abstract
This paper examines Elizabeth Dickinson's poem"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" and John Donne's poem "Death Be Not Proud," evaluating the technical style of each poem in terms of rhyme scheme, meter, syllables per line, etc., and comparing and contrasting them with regard to theme, appeal and interpretation.

From the Paper
" Emily Dickinson's Because I could not stop for death and John Donne's Death be not proud are both poems that reflect upon the poets' personal concept of death. Both poets speak of death as if it were a person Dickinson speaking of it in the third.."

Tags:John Donne, Elizabeth Dickinson, Because I could not stop for death, Death be not proud, poetry

Abstract
In this article, the writer provides a justification for why the English poet John Donne should be elevated to a more prominent position in contemporary cannons of literary discourse. The writer maintains that this is because of his unparalleled dedication to inspiring humanity through the provision of hope in his works.

From the Paper
"In comparison with poets of his generation John Donne's work is readily recognized as being superior for its vibrancy of language and its immediacy of metaphor. Born in London England Donne had an intensely full life including a career as a Jacobean poet preacher and the father of twelve children with his only wife Anne More Donne. As the writer of many forms of poetry including satire elegies erotic poetry and religious poems. Donne's poems offer one overriding aspect of human ..."

Tags:death, humility, inspiration, verse, poetry, Donne, literary

Abstract
This paper discusses the life and works of John Donne. The paper examines Donne's fascination with the theme of death, which is prevalent in all his literary works. The paper explores the impact the death of Donne's wife had on his views of death. The paper contends that her death in childbirth profoundly affected Donne's writing.

From the Paper
"There can be no question that one of the central themes of John Donne's work, in poetry and prose, is death. Not for nothing did a recent academic biographer of Donne devote an entire chapter to his subject's attitude towards, uses of, and presentation of, the theme of death (Carey 229ff). As a writer concerned with both the intensely spiritual and the intensely physical, death was a natural focus of Donne's thought and work throughout his life; as a Christian, convinced of the reality of resurrection and salvation, death was in a sense the fixed point around which his world-view revolved. Donne's fixation with the body, with its physical substance, its relationship to the outside world and its role as an expression of the divine, relates powerfully and inevitably to his conception of the significance of the body's physical dissolution in death and the consequences of this for the soul (Selleck 150-1)."

Tags:death, dying, stillborn

Abstract
This paper explains that John Donne, in his poem "The Canonization", argues against societal restrictions, which would denounce his romantic relationship without taking into account the ways in which that relationship reflects the better parts of human's ability for commitment and compassion. Next, stanza by stanza, the author relates the powerful imagery and symbols, witty jabs at other poets and Elizabethan English society and playfully blasphemous attitude toward religion through which Donne projects his ideas. The paper concludes that Donne reveals his desire for permanency by expressing the "canonizing" of his love as a piece of literature and by according himself and his love the status of saints. The paper includes footnotes.

From the Paper
"Although Donne was ordained as a priest and therefore was presumably quite religious, many of his poetic works demonstrate his questioning of society's deemed superiority of religious love over romantic love. His love poetry often contains naturalistic, vivid bodily and sexual imagery that subverts traditional Petrarchan metaphors for love. In "Elegie VIII", Donne compares drops of dew on a rose to drops of sweat on his lover's breast. He also utilizes the rather grotesque image of a flea sucking and mingling both his and his beloved's blood, used as a metaphor to justify her losing her virginity to him in "The Flea." Donne never shies away from describing or alluding to the sexual aspect of his romantic relationships in his poetry. He makes it clear that the love he is speaking of is not dreamy, unrequited love but reciprocal, passionate and physical. The opinion of the public referred to in "The Canonization" condemns two unmarried lovers. Therefore their passion is in direct opposition to the Church's prescriptions. This is what makes the conceit of lovers as saints in "The Canonization" so interesting. Through his use of sexual and religious imagery and emblems in "The Canonization," Donne suggests that romantic love and religious love are more similar than different, as both represent a desire for unity and spiritual fulfillment."

Tags:allusion, sexual imagery, religious saints invocation

Abstract
This paper discusses John Donne's "Sonnet XIX," which is part of his collection of "Holy Sonnets." The paper discusses Donne's attempt to capture some of the images and emotions of God's love and mercy in his sonnets and in "Sonnet XIX" in particular. The paper also describes Donne's language and tone and the relevance of the placement of "Sonnet XIX" at the end of his work.

From the Paper
"It is also important to note the placement of this poem is the arrangement of the "Holy Sonnets." "Sonnet XIX" is the last sonnet in the collection and it seems to sum up what the poet has been feeling up until this point. The poem represents a culmination of his good, or best, days. In the beginning of the composition, he is fearful and he seeks God's attention. His fear and his ultimate discovery reassure him of God's redeeming love. However, it also reminds him of the fact that he must maintain his worthiness, which is difficult because he is human. Humanity is the inconsistency that stands in his way and it something that the poet cannot change about himself. This is the conflict, or the contrariness the poet experiences."

Tags:mercy, God, imagery, composition

Abstract
The paper explains that the novelty of John Donne's poetry is that he does not merely talk of love as a personal experience, but undertakes a universal doctrine of love. The paper refers to Donne's poems "Good Morrow," "The Sun Rising," "A Canonization" and "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" in order to show how Donne speaks of love in alchemical terms, emphasizing the magical and unusual force which is obtained with the union of the two lovers.

From the Paper
"The seventeenth century English author John Donne is probably the most prominent among the poets which were identified with the metaphysical strain. His work consists of poems, essays and sermons which emphasize the flight from medievalism and the dawn of modernism. One of the most representative poets of his century, Donne, wrote extensively on love in new and original ways. The novelty of Donne's poetry is that he does not merely talk of love as a personal experience, but undertakes a universal doctrine of love. His philosophy molds love as an erotic and spiritual ideal at the same time, the symbol of a passion that takes scope of the whole universe and not only of the two lovers."

Tags:love, alchemy, union, magic, souls, bodies

Abstract
This paper explains that John Donne's poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a string of metaphors and comparisons, which invoke the metaphysical and spiritual nature of love in an attempt to make the parting of husband and wife easier. The author points out that Donne makes constant use of the sphere and the circle as symbols of perfection and eternity. The paper relates that a theme of erotic carnality, typical of Donne's writings, is not present in this poem but rather it expresses only the deepest and purest feelings for the wife. The author suggests that the husband demonstrates his sentiments by professing his devotion to a spiritual love, which has transcended itself above the merely physical and into the celestial heavens. The paper includes the complete poem and many quotations.

From the Paper
"John Donne opens up with a metaphysical comparison of dying, "virtuous men" who "whisper to their souls to go" and two lovers saying goodbye before a journey. Death, in this sense, should not be seen as an ending but as the beginning of a journey. It seems very strange to compare their departure to the passing away of a virtuous man, but it's actually a very powerful comparison. When a virtuous man begins to die, he knows that when he dies he will enter into Heaven. In knowing this, he is able to remain calm and peaceful. In the same way, when two "refined" lovers part, there is no sadness or pain, "No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move," because they know each will remain true to the other, even though they are apart (l. 17; l. 6)."

Tags:metaphors, parting, quatrain, ptolemaic, love

Abstract
The paper gives examples from Donne's poems of imagery involving comparisons that are often far-fetched, yet intellectual. The writer asserts that these poems are written records of Donne's inner-turmoil. The paper shows that Donne's love poems fall into two distinct categories-- passionate poems and cynical poems.

From the Paper
"Just as Donne wrote passionate poems of the sacredness of love, he wrote cynical poems of the hypocrisies of love. His "concern for the "honesties of love' turned him into a rebel and atheist of love" (Williamson 55). It is in the works of this time that Jack Donne, trapped between his idealistic conception of holy love and the reality of superficial love, which seemed so prevalent in society, can be seen at his best. Under his attack were women; he scorned both faithlessness and faithfulness and wrote of women with contempt. "At this time he despised them equally for yielding to his lust or for denying themselves to him" (Keast 124). Such disdain can be seen in his poem "The Apparition," in which he addresses a murderess of his love, cursing her so that she will feel his presence when she is in the bed of another. In his "Song," Donne challenges any man to find " . . . a woman true and fair" (Abrams 1064), an impossible feat, since "Though she were true when you met her . . . she/Will be I False . . ." (Abrams 1064). As Jack matures into John, his perceptions of love become more realistic, as lovers are never perfect soul mates."

Tags:metaphysical, imagery, intellectual, passion, cynicism