Vanessa & Amanda
The Funeral By John Donne
The author of The Funeral was religious man who was born in the year of 1572 in London. He was a poet who wrote many renowned sonnets, and being somewhat of an outsider, was never censored in what he wrote. However, when England made a shift to anti-roman sentiment, Catholics and their church were persecution and harassment. Around the 1590’s John converted to the English church because he could no longer tolerate the strict Catholic Church and the issues that surrounded it. He later became an ordained minister of the Church of England and was very successful.
Words we need to know!
1. Viceroy: a governor of a country or province who rules as the representative of his or her king or sovereign.
2. Manacled: to be chained at the wrists of hips.
3. Dissolution: the termination of a meeting or relationship.
4. Sinewy: Possessing physical strength and weight
5. Relics: ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated.
Questions for thought!
1. How is John Donne’s past reflected in his poetry.
2. Is this “mistress” metaphysical manifestation for Johns love of Poetry or literally his mistress?
3. What is the significance of the title?
4. What is the undertone of this poem, meaning is this a depressing poem or perhaps an uplifting one.
5. How does this poem reflect John’s opinion of himself?
Summary & Analysis
The poem begins with the narrator advising those who come to see his literal dead body to not question or touch the “subtle wreath of hair which crowns his arm”, because it is his outward soul. He talks about ascending towards heaven because he is a “Viceroy to that” meaning that he was always a servant of god. He will go to heaven and god will do what he pleases to do with him, while his provinces, the activities he achieved on earth, will remain on earth. In the next stanza he talks about his literal death in comparison to the greater idea that the poem addresses which is the idea of his eternal being. He will last forever by word of poetry. So in other words this poem in our oppion is similar to many lover he has composed, only this love is poetry.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Air and Angels
Gideon
Elina
- Air and Angels by John Donne
- Persecuted for being born a catholic, John Donne converted to the Church of England, only to become a minister in his later years. Donne’s life contained many ups and downs, which his works reflect. Donne had a long and prosperous marriage; the father of 12 children, he wrote many different poems on the topic of love.
3. Some lovely glorious nothing did I see. – He couldn’t see the spiritual beauty, “true love”, that a woman could.
But since my soul, whose child love is, - Due to the less holy state of his soul, he experiences love physically.
Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do, - The only way that he could experience love was through the body.
So thy love may be my love's sphere – So that his sphere could be within her sphere. In some way her sphere transcends his sphere.
As is 'twixt air's and angels' purity, 'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be. – Similar to the difference between Angels and Air, although men’s love is great, women’s love is more spiritual and a “better” love than men’s.
4. - How is the difference between air and angels comparable to the difference between men and women’s love?
- What is the speaker’s attitude toward the difference between men and women’s love?
- Why is the speaker able to love only in a physical sense?
- How does this poem compare to some of Donne’s other works? Do you think that the poem is similar to other contemporary English poems?
- What do the first two lines mean?
Friday, October 31, 2008
"Holy Sonnet 10" by John Donne
1) Holy Sonnet #10 by John Donne
2) Background information:
John Donne suffered in poverty and developed a depression that stayed with him for the remainder of his adult life. Donne’s young wife gave birth to no less than twelve children, and Donne once lamented that “another death would be one less mouth to feed” but that he could not “afford a burial.” Donne also wrote, put did not publish a poem about suicide. Having contemplated death for such a long time, Donne did not seem to fear death, but on the contrary welcomed it as a long awaited slumber. Towards the end of his life, Donne found a job with the Church of England as a minister. Perhaps Donne’s holy career influenced the religious references in his poem.
3) 5 terms, phrases, or words to define: “soul’s delivery”(8), “why swell’st thou?”(12), “which but thy pictures be”(5), “Then from thee much more must flow”(6), “And poppy or charms”(11).
4) 5 compelling discussion questions:
-How is Death like “rest and sleep,” and what does this comparison imply about Death?
-Why are “poppy, or charms” just like Death and even better? How does this apply to the theme of Death thinking so highly of itself?
-How is Death “slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men?” How does this same theme apply to “And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,” and how does it further degrade death?
-Who is the narrator of the poem? Does our interpretation of the narrator affect whether the poem is meant to be a source of inspiration for the reader, or a personal poem that declares Death is not to be feared? If none of the above, what is your view of the poem’s purpose and from what perspective is it written?
-A reoccurring theme personifies that Death cannot kill and that Death will die. Although a strong metaphor, how does it touch on the meaning of the poem, but leave out its foremost purpose? If you agree, should it be the last line?
5) Summary and analysis:
Donne begins his poem by personifying death by directly addressing it. Donne’s entire poem is a personification of Death, and he continues to address it like a person. Donne first attempts to humble Death by telling it that it is not as terrifying as it believes to be. Although Death is generally mighty and destructive, and can “overthrow” one’s physical being, the poet mocks Death and says it cannot really kill him. Death is next compared to a peaceful eternal sleep, thus destroying Death’s terrifying reputation. In addition, Donne questions why should Death be so proud if all “our best men with thee do go.” Donne continues to berate Death and degrades it as a “slave to Fate” and a mere consequence of disease and war. At the end of the sonnet, Donne makes it apparent that Death is actually weak rather than powerful because all it destroys is physical life, but can never maim the soul.
2) Background information:
John Donne suffered in poverty and developed a depression that stayed with him for the remainder of his adult life. Donne’s young wife gave birth to no less than twelve children, and Donne once lamented that “another death would be one less mouth to feed” but that he could not “afford a burial.” Donne also wrote, put did not publish a poem about suicide. Having contemplated death for such a long time, Donne did not seem to fear death, but on the contrary welcomed it as a long awaited slumber. Towards the end of his life, Donne found a job with the Church of England as a minister. Perhaps Donne’s holy career influenced the religious references in his poem.
3) 5 terms, phrases, or words to define: “soul’s delivery”(8), “why swell’st thou?”(12), “which but thy pictures be”(5), “Then from thee much more must flow”(6), “And poppy or charms”(11).
4) 5 compelling discussion questions:
-How is Death like “rest and sleep,” and what does this comparison imply about Death?
-Why are “poppy, or charms” just like Death and even better? How does this apply to the theme of Death thinking so highly of itself?
-How is Death “slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men?” How does this same theme apply to “And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,” and how does it further degrade death?
-Who is the narrator of the poem? Does our interpretation of the narrator affect whether the poem is meant to be a source of inspiration for the reader, or a personal poem that declares Death is not to be feared? If none of the above, what is your view of the poem’s purpose and from what perspective is it written?
-A reoccurring theme personifies that Death cannot kill and that Death will die. Although a strong metaphor, how does it touch on the meaning of the poem, but leave out its foremost purpose? If you agree, should it be the last line?
5) Summary and analysis:
Donne begins his poem by personifying death by directly addressing it. Donne’s entire poem is a personification of Death, and he continues to address it like a person. Donne first attempts to humble Death by telling it that it is not as terrifying as it believes to be. Although Death is generally mighty and destructive, and can “overthrow” one’s physical being, the poet mocks Death and says it cannot really kill him. Death is next compared to a peaceful eternal sleep, thus destroying Death’s terrifying reputation. In addition, Donne questions why should Death be so proud if all “our best men with thee do go.” Donne continues to berate Death and degrades it as a “slave to Fate” and a mere consequence of disease and war. At the end of the sonnet, Donne makes it apparent that Death is actually weak rather than powerful because all it destroys is physical life, but can never maim the soul.
"The Canonization" by John Donne
“The Canonization” by John Donne.
Sophie Summergrad and Clara Fraden
Background Information:
John Donne was born into a devout Catholic family. Many of his family members were persecuted and brutally killed because of their beliefs. In the 1590s he converted to the Church of England in order to avoid persecution. Many of his poems are critical of English society. In 1601, he had a secret marriage to seventeen-year-old Anne More, niece of his superior, Sir Thomas Egerton. He was twenty-nine at the time. He was briefly imprisoned and dismissed from military service. He retired to the countryside where he lived a life of economic instability. He wrote “The Canonization” in 1633.
An eagle is a symbol of strength and vision. A dove is a symbol of mercy and mildness. A phoenix dies every 500 years and rises from its ashes as a new bird. It is a symbol of immortality and is often associated with Jesus Christ.
Words to define:
Palsy: (n). complete or partial muscle paralysis
Gout: (n). a disease of uric acid metabolism esp. occurring in males
Flout: (v). to show contempt for; to scorn
Litigious: (adj.). contentious, argumentative
Tapers: (n). a slender candle or waxed wick; a gradual decrease in thickness or width of an elongated object
Canonization: (n). the act of declaring a deceased persona Saint; the act of glorifying
Discussion questions:
Could this poem be about his marriage to Anne More? Why or why not?
Is the speaker fighting to be in a relationship with someone? Or does he believe love can last even when people are separated?
Why is the speaker’s love so frowned upon?
What is Donne trying to canonize? How does the title relate to the poem?
Do you agree with the speaker?
Summary and Analysis:
Donne starts out the poem on the defensive. The speaker is questioning another about why they are harassing him about love. The speaker raises the point that no one is injured by his love, that there are far worse things in life like wars, and that there are people dying from the plague. His love is far less damaging to the Earth as these things so he wonders why people are focusing on his love when there are more important things to be concerned with. They can only harm each other and shorten their own lives by loving each other. However, he views this in a positive light because by killing yourself through love, you are living through love and making the best out of life. In lines 19-21, he compares him and his lover to flies, a symbol of lustfulness, and tapers, candles that not only attract flies to their death but also consume them as candles do. There was a superstition that sex led to a shortened life but Donne does not care about this because he view him and his lover consuming each other as the best way to live. He argues that even after death, you can canonize love, making it sacred and therefore eternal. He expresses this belief throughout the entire second half of the poem, illustrating it with images like the phoenix, which is characterized by rising from the ashes.
Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick
Delight in Disorder
By Robert Herrick
Background:
Herrick only published one volume of poems, Hesperides, in 1948. Many of his earlier poems were happy and charming, although they carry a deeper meaning. His poems reflect the cultural war going on between the royalists, who wanted more traditional English culture, and Puritans, who were much more ordered and clean. He supported the slightly sloppy English royalists, not the overly precise Puritans.
Words, terms, and phrases
Wantonness: can mean recklessness in general or in a sexual context (l. 2)
Lawn: fine linen scarf (l. 3)
Erring: wandering (l. 5)
Stomacher: ornamental covering of the chest worn under the laces of the bodice (l. 6)
Precise: used satirically about puritans (l. 14)
Discussion Questions
1. Herrick compares women to art. What does this show about British culture in the 16th century?
2. What does Herrick’s merely physical description of women show about his view of them?
3. How does Herrick feel about perfection?
4. How are the subject and tone of this poem (and the poet’s message) different from other British poems from the same time period?
5. How do the diction and format of the poem reflect disorder?
Robert Herrick’s Delight in Disorder is a charming salute to imperfection and “sweet disorder.” He describes different ways a woman’s clothes can be disordered: a linen scarf thrown around the shoulders, a piece of lace which sways around, an untied cuff leaving ribbons flowing, a wrinkle in the chaotic petticoat, an untied shoe. Herrick finds that all of these imperfections, which show slight wantonness - recklessness, which could also be seen as a sexual innuendo – are more appealing to him than precise, meticulously detailed art. He sees an oxymoronic “wild civility” in these women. He compares a woman’s appearance, more specifically her clothes, to art, showing that he views woman as objects to be observed; he never mentions one woman in particular, nor does he describe anything about her actual being, body or soul.
The structure, ironically, is quite ordered in a poem about the beauty of disorder. The meter is mainly dactylic quatrameter, and the rhyme scheme is 7 pairs of rhyming lines. The tone of the poem is light, nonchalant, and quick, partly from the rhyme scheme and meter, and also from diction. Herrick uses alliteration and consonance to add whimsy; pairings such as “winning wave,” “shoe-string,” and “kindles in clothes” sound playful and happy. Long, jumbled words also add to a feeling of blissful disorder, with words like “tempestuous petticoat,” “wantonness,” and “crimson stomacher.” Perhaps, since the structure of the poem is rigid but the diction is more whimsical and disordered, Herrick implies that women’s effect on the senses (sound of diction and sight of disordered clothes) is what defines them rather than their more concrete characteristics.
By Robert Herrick
Background:
Herrick only published one volume of poems, Hesperides, in 1948. Many of his earlier poems were happy and charming, although they carry a deeper meaning. His poems reflect the cultural war going on between the royalists, who wanted more traditional English culture, and Puritans, who were much more ordered and clean. He supported the slightly sloppy English royalists, not the overly precise Puritans.
Words, terms, and phrases
Wantonness: can mean recklessness in general or in a sexual context (l. 2)
Lawn: fine linen scarf (l. 3)
Erring: wandering (l. 5)
Stomacher: ornamental covering of the chest worn under the laces of the bodice (l. 6)
Precise: used satirically about puritans (l. 14)
Discussion Questions
1. Herrick compares women to art. What does this show about British culture in the 16th century?
2. What does Herrick’s merely physical description of women show about his view of them?
3. How does Herrick feel about perfection?
4. How are the subject and tone of this poem (and the poet’s message) different from other British poems from the same time period?
5. How do the diction and format of the poem reflect disorder?
Robert Herrick’s Delight in Disorder is a charming salute to imperfection and “sweet disorder.” He describes different ways a woman’s clothes can be disordered: a linen scarf thrown around the shoulders, a piece of lace which sways around, an untied cuff leaving ribbons flowing, a wrinkle in the chaotic petticoat, an untied shoe. Herrick finds that all of these imperfections, which show slight wantonness - recklessness, which could also be seen as a sexual innuendo – are more appealing to him than precise, meticulously detailed art. He sees an oxymoronic “wild civility” in these women. He compares a woman’s appearance, more specifically her clothes, to art, showing that he views woman as objects to be observed; he never mentions one woman in particular, nor does he describe anything about her actual being, body or soul.
The structure, ironically, is quite ordered in a poem about the beauty of disorder. The meter is mainly dactylic quatrameter, and the rhyme scheme is 7 pairs of rhyming lines. The tone of the poem is light, nonchalant, and quick, partly from the rhyme scheme and meter, and also from diction. Herrick uses alliteration and consonance to add whimsy; pairings such as “winning wave,” “shoe-string,” and “kindles in clothes” sound playful and happy. Long, jumbled words also add to a feeling of blissful disorder, with words like “tempestuous petticoat,” “wantonness,” and “crimson stomacher.” Perhaps, since the structure of the poem is rigid but the diction is more whimsical and disordered, Herrick implies that women’s effect on the senses (sound of diction and sight of disordered clothes) is what defines them rather than their more concrete characteristics.
Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick
Delight in Disorder
By Robert Herrick
Background:
Herrick only published one volume of poems, Hesperides, in 1948. Many of his earlier poems were happy and charming, although they carry a deeper meaning. His poems reflect the cultural war going on between the royalists, who wanted more traditional English culture, and Puritans, who were much more ordered and clean. He supported the slightly sloppy English royalists, not the overly precise Puritans.
Words, terms, and phrases
Wantonness: can mean recklessness in general or in a sexual context (l. 2)
Lawn: fine linen scarf (l. 3)
Erring: wandering (l. 5)
Stomacher: ornamental covering of the chest worn under the laces of the bodice (l. 6)
Precise: used satirically about puritans (l. 14)
Discussion Questions
1. Herrick compares women to art. What does this show about British culture in the 16th century?
2. What does Herrick’s merely physical description of women show about his view of them?
3. How does Herrick feel about perfection?
4. How are the subject and tone of this poem (and the poet’s message) different from other British poems from the same time period?
5. How do the diction and format of the poem reflect disorder?
Robert Herrick’s Delight in Disorder is a charming salute to imperfection and “sweet disorder.” He describes different ways a woman’s clothes can be disordered: a linen scarf thrown around the shoulders, a piece of lace which sways around, an untied cuff leaving ribbons flowing, a wrinkle in the chaotic petticoat, an untied shoe. Herrick finds that all of these imperfections, which show slight wantonness - recklessness, which could also be seen as a sexual innuendo – are more appealing to him than precise, meticulously detailed art. He sees an oxymoronic “wild civility” in these women. He compares a woman’s appearance, more specifically her clothes, to art, showing that he views woman as objects to be observed; he never mentions one woman in particular, nor does he describe anything about her actual being, body or soul.
The structure, ironically, is quite ordered in a poem about the beauty of disorder. The meter is mainly dactylic quatrameter, and the rhyme scheme is 7 pairs of rhyming lines. The tone of the poem is light, nonchalant, and quick, partly from the rhyme scheme and meter, and also from diction. Herrick uses alliteration and consonance to add whimsy; pairings such as “winning wave,” “shoe-string,” and “kindles in clothes” sound playful and happy. Long, jumbled words also add to a feeling of blissful disorder, with words like “tempestuous petticoat,” “wantonness,” and “crimson stomacher.” Perhaps, since the structure of the poem is rigid but the diction is more whimsical and disordered, Herrick implies that women’s effect on the senses (sound of diction and sight of disordered clothes) is what defines them rather than their more concrete characteristics.
By Robert Herrick
Background:
Herrick only published one volume of poems, Hesperides, in 1948. Many of his earlier poems were happy and charming, although they carry a deeper meaning. His poems reflect the cultural war going on between the royalists, who wanted more traditional English culture, and Puritans, who were much more ordered and clean. He supported the slightly sloppy English royalists, not the overly precise Puritans.
Words, terms, and phrases
Wantonness: can mean recklessness in general or in a sexual context (l. 2)
Lawn: fine linen scarf (l. 3)
Erring: wandering (l. 5)
Stomacher: ornamental covering of the chest worn under the laces of the bodice (l. 6)
Precise: used satirically about puritans (l. 14)
Discussion Questions
1. Herrick compares women to art. What does this show about British culture in the 16th century?
2. What does Herrick’s merely physical description of women show about his view of them?
3. How does Herrick feel about perfection?
4. How are the subject and tone of this poem (and the poet’s message) different from other British poems from the same time period?
5. How do the diction and format of the poem reflect disorder?
Robert Herrick’s Delight in Disorder is a charming salute to imperfection and “sweet disorder.” He describes different ways a woman’s clothes can be disordered: a linen scarf thrown around the shoulders, a piece of lace which sways around, an untied cuff leaving ribbons flowing, a wrinkle in the chaotic petticoat, an untied shoe. Herrick finds that all of these imperfections, which show slight wantonness - recklessness, which could also be seen as a sexual innuendo – are more appealing to him than precise, meticulously detailed art. He sees an oxymoronic “wild civility” in these women. He compares a woman’s appearance, more specifically her clothes, to art, showing that he views woman as objects to be observed; he never mentions one woman in particular, nor does he describe anything about her actual being, body or soul.
The structure, ironically, is quite ordered in a poem about the beauty of disorder. The meter is mainly dactylic quatrameter, and the rhyme scheme is 7 pairs of rhyming lines. The tone of the poem is light, nonchalant, and quick, partly from the rhyme scheme and meter, and also from diction. Herrick uses alliteration and consonance to add whimsy; pairings such as “winning wave,” “shoe-string,” and “kindles in clothes” sound playful and happy. Long, jumbled words also add to a feeling of blissful disorder, with words like “tempestuous petticoat,” “wantonness,” and “crimson stomacher.” Perhaps, since the structure of the poem is rigid but the diction is more whimsical and disordered, Herrick implies that women’s effect on the senses (sound of diction and sight of disordered clothes) is what defines them rather than their more concrete characteristics.
"To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell
D I A N A * C H A N
K A T R I N A * W O N G
1. “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell
2. A woman claiming to be Marvell’s widow but was probably his housekeeper published the poem after Marvell’s death.
3. coy - artfully shy or reserved; slyly hesitant; showing reluctance
vegetable - lively, growing, animate
quaint - out of date (but also a pun for female reproductive organ)
transpires - breathes forth; to be revealed, known, or apparent
languish - to become feeble, weak, or depressed
4. To whom is the speaker of the poem addressing? Think of different definitions of “Mistress”. (The “other” woman, a teacher, a woman with power, an unmarried woman…)
What does the speaker of the poem literally and figuratively want?
How does the speaker personify time? Find three instances. How does the personification contribute to the poem?
Does the narrator love his “Mistress?”
What do you think of the speaker of the poem? What do we know about him? Do you support him? Why or why not?
5. In the first stanza, the speaker of the poem enumerates the things he would do with the mistress if they had all the time in the world. He would sit with her, walk with her, and admire her eyes, her forehead, and all her features for great lengths of time. Also, if they had all the time in the world, the speaker would accept the mistress’ coyness or would enjoy chasing after her; however, in the second stanza, the speaker acknowledges the effects of time. Time, which is passing quickly, ages the couple, and brings the two closer to death. So the speaker in the third stanza concludes that while they are both still young and beautiful, they should have sex now because there isn’t enough time to be coy.
K A T R I N A * W O N G
1. “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell
2. A woman claiming to be Marvell’s widow but was probably his housekeeper published the poem after Marvell’s death.
3. coy - artfully shy or reserved; slyly hesitant; showing reluctance
vegetable - lively, growing, animate
quaint - out of date (but also a pun for female reproductive organ)
transpires - breathes forth; to be revealed, known, or apparent
languish - to become feeble, weak, or depressed
4. To whom is the speaker of the poem addressing? Think of different definitions of “Mistress”. (The “other” woman, a teacher, a woman with power, an unmarried woman…)
What does the speaker of the poem literally and figuratively want?
How does the speaker personify time? Find three instances. How does the personification contribute to the poem?
Does the narrator love his “Mistress?”
What do you think of the speaker of the poem? What do we know about him? Do you support him? Why or why not?
5. In the first stanza, the speaker of the poem enumerates the things he would do with the mistress if they had all the time in the world. He would sit with her, walk with her, and admire her eyes, her forehead, and all her features for great lengths of time. Also, if they had all the time in the world, the speaker would accept the mistress’ coyness or would enjoy chasing after her; however, in the second stanza, the speaker acknowledges the effects of time. Time, which is passing quickly, ages the couple, and brings the two closer to death. So the speaker in the third stanza concludes that while they are both still young and beautiful, they should have sex now because there isn’t enough time to be coy.
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