John Donne’s Love Poems Essay

tin Donne is cardinal of many poets of his time who wrote revel poetry. The amour that sets him apart from the others is that he manages to successfully subvert the traditional conventions to his own ends. for each one of the secular verses The Flea, The Sunne Rising and A cong Forbidding Mourning shows Donnes verbal dexterity, manipulation of the conventional crop and the use of a mannikin of textual features.For the secular love verse The Flea the conventional form is that the flea is to be used as a symbolism of love. Donne subverts this form and uses the flea for the key read/write head to his parameter and to symbolise sex/marriage.In the poem Donne conveys meaning finished the rhyming and structure. In each of the three stanzas the front six-spot ducts hold three sets of twain rhyming couplets that symbolises the couple (the male and womanly lover). At the end of stanzas there is set of three rhymes that is pretty indented which symbolises the union of the fl ea with the couple.Donne uses hyperbole in beginning 1, stanza 2 three lives in one flea spare and again in line 7, stanza 2 where he begins the argument that in killing the flea she commits murder, suicide and sacrilege. This extreme quarrelsome, exaggeration creates a flow and pace throughout his sustained arguments.The use of religious spoken communication eg. Cloistered, three live in one flea -holy trinity, sacrilege etc. helps to adjoin an authority from god to the poem and it also elevates the language.Donne also uses repetition line 1, stanza 1Marke but this flea, and marke in thisto create a commanding, direct breed to the audience. It gives the poem an imperative tone. In this poem the use of rhetorical questions conveys an argumentative tone and in stanza 3, lines 1 and 2 the use of emotive imagination changes the pace of the argument and makes it more personal.Another secular poem, not unlike the Flea, that Donne subverts is c anyed The Sunne Rising. This poem is a dawn poem and the conventional form for such a poem is that the minstrel or lover is sit down outside by the girls house serenading the situation of the two lovers as the day breaks. Donne manipulates this form as he places the lover in the girls room and instead of serenading the sun, he curses it.Donne conveys meaning through the structure of the poem. In each stanza the lines are indented or left normal according to what the line talks about. If the lover is talking about things outside the room whence the lines are indented. If the lover talks about something inside the room therefore the lines are left as normal. This creates an expectation as to what will slip by in those lines.The last two of the last three stanzas has a rhyming couplet symbolising the two lovers.The use of monosyllabic words creates an intense, assertive, manful tone. The extreme hyperbole and metaphor from stanza 4 lines 1 and 2 She is all states, and all princes, Isupports the tone set by the arroga nce used. The pun in line 10, stanza 3.. and thou shalt heare all, here in one bed layassists with a flow for the poem and the argument.A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is yet another diverse secular poem by Donne that has been subverted, just as The Flea and the Sunne Rising had been. The conventional form for a farewell speech is that it should be emotional. Donne manipulates the form by not lenience outbursts or saddens and emotion.The long vowels used eg virtuous mentwere profanation get the best the poem and give it a slower pace. The quiet opening of the poem displays alliteration using ms, ns and ss. The light vowels eg. men, friends, breath,meet etc. go provided in subduing the poem.In this poem Donne uses many similes to make his point. In the first stanza he likens the lovers departure to a death of a virtuous man. This begins his argument convincing his lover that a scene isnt needed, that their love is beyond separation.Donne contrasts the dull sublunary lovers wi th his relationship in baffle to further his argument and create flow for the poem. He also likens their love to gold, the most valuable of the metals. This simile is used to further show the care for of their love and to further the argument.The likening of the lovers to a compass is both a paradox and a hyperbole that catches the audiences attention and creates a startling image. This clever analogy dazzles the audience by its wit and pushes the argument into its last stages. The last analogy of their love is to a beat drawn by the compass. It suggests continuity, perfection, renewal and marriage and finishes the argument with the idea that like the circle that doesnt end neither will their love.Even within a conventional form it is possible for a clever poet to subvert the conventions. John Donne has done that in three of secular love poems the Flea, the Sunne Rising and A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.