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POETRY-1 (ENG403). LECTURE – 22. JOHN DONNE (1572-1631). Decline of Elizabethan Age End of Elizabethan Era Political Upheavals Religious Disturbance Materialistic Social Attitude. REVIEW OF EARLIER POEMS. Geoffrey Chaucer- 14 th Century Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
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POETRY-1 (ENG403) LECTURE – 22
JOHN DONNE (1572-1631) • Decline of Elizabethan Age • End of Elizabethan Era • Political Upheavals • Religious Disturbance • Materialistic Social Attitude
REVIEW OF EARLIER POEMS • Geoffrey Chaucer- 14th Century • Prologue to the Canterbury Tales • Edmund Spenser- Elizabethan poet • The Faerie Queene • John Milton- Puritan • Paradise Lost
THE METAPHYSICAL SCHOOL • John Donne- representative metaphysical poet • Love songs, hymns, elegies, holy sonnets • George Herbert • Richard Crashaw • Henry Vaughan
CHARACTERISTICS OF METAPHYSICAL POETRY • Dazzling wordplay • Explicitly sexual • Paradox • Subtle argumentation • Surprising contrasts • Intricate psychological analysis
CHARACTERISTICS OF METAPHYSICAL POETRY • Striking imagery • Far fetched ideas. • Full of logic & reasoning. • Heterogeneous ideas are combined. • Theme like love is experimented like science
JOHN DONNE (1) • Born in London in 1572 • Most outstanding metaphysical poet. He is poet, theologian and lawyer. • Roman Catholic family. • His father/warden/Ironmogers’ company • Went to Oxford at the age of 11 • Went to Trinity College Cambridge1587-1589. • Took no degree from both.
JOHN DONNE (2) • Went to attend Lincoln’s Inn in 1592. • He entered Anglican Communion in 1593. Travelled to foreign countries in 1595-96. • Appointed secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton • keeper of the great seal in 1598 • Dismissed from this job in 1601 • Secret marriage to Anne More • Anne More-Egerton’s niece
JOHN DONNE (3) • Imprisoned for a short time • Worked as a lawyer for the next few years. • Found refuge with Sir Francis Wooley • Mrs Donne’s cousine at Pryford • Lived at Camberwell for a short time. • Lived at Mitcham from 1605-1607 • Employed with Sir Thomas Morton in 1605 • Reconciled with his father-in-law in 1608
JOHN DONNE (4) • Poetic accomplishments • Divine poems (1607) • Biathanatos (1608) • Published posthumously (1644) • Suicide is not sinful • Did M.A from Oxford in 1610. • Resided at the Drury House in 1610.
JOHN DONNE (5) • Wrote Elegy: • An Anatomy of the World (1611) • Of the Progress of the Soul (1612) • Death of 15 years old Elizabeth Drury • Gained Sir Robert Drury’s favour. • Travelled with him on the continent • Wrote Epithalamion in 1613 • Marriage of Rochester and the Countess
JOHN DONNE (6) • Priest of Anglian Church in 1615 • Appointed royal chaplain • Famous as a Preacher; delivering sermons • Brilliant & eloquent • His wife died in 1617 • Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1621 • Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocations in 1621 • Held the living of St. Dunstan’s in the West from 1624-1631.
PROSE WORKS • Juvenilia, or Certaine Pradoxes and Problemes • Catalogus Librorum Aulicorum • Biathanatos • Pseudo-Martyr • Conclave Ignati • Essays in Divinity • Three Sermons, Four Sermons, Five Sermons, Fifty Sermons, and Letters to Several Persons of Honour. • Essays: satirical
DONNE’S POETRY • Secular & Religious Subjects • Contrast to the Petrarchan love-doctrine of his time. • He wrote: • Songs • Sonnets • Divine poems • Elegies • Satires • Verse letters • Historical epistles etc.
DONNE’S SERMONS • 160 Sermons • Memorable • Biblical passages • Theme of divine love • Decay & resurrection of the body
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS POETRY • His poetical works: • Unsurpassable • Tedious/weird • Wire-drawn in their logic • Typical of cross-grained • Mathematical imaginary • Unconventional analogies and comparisons
IMAGERY • The images: • Circles • Maps • Engravings • Elephants • Flea • Whales • New discoveries etc.
JOHN DONNE (7) • Immaculate rhythm • Lacks smoothness & dignity. • Obsessed with the idea of death. • Donne preached “Death’s Duel” • his own funeral sermon, • Died in London on March 31, 1631.
LOVE SONGS & HOLY SONNETS • Love Songs • Go and Catch a Falling Star • Love’s Alchemy • Holy Sonnets • Sonnet 1 • Thou Hast made me, Shall thy work decay? • Sonnet 10 • Death Be Not Proud
ELEMENTS OF HUMANISM • Hunger for knowledge • Thirst for unraveling the mystery of Existence • The search of truth • Attitude to Love • Treatment of Love is unconventional • Differed from Elizabethan love poetry • Rejects the lofty cult of women • No deity/goddess
INTELLECTUAL GENIUS OF DONNE • Challenged the conventions • True love: merger of souls • Two bodies, one soul • Alchemy • Materialism
REVIEW OF LECTURE 22 • John Donne • Metaphysical Poetry • Biography • Works • Poetry • Prose • Sermons • Elements of Humanism • Donne’s Individuality