Friday, December 19, 2014
John Donne
Ok everyone! This blog is a focus on the magnificent work of John Donne. Please choose one poem by John Donne that we have not studied. Copy the poem on the blog so we can all refer to it as you discuss your response to it. I am not asking for a formal analysis but you have the freedom to respond as you wish, knowing that you are now more familiar with Donne and his work. Englighten us. No research, please.
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I am planning on doing my blog on John Donne's poem, the sun rising. I thought I would post it real quick to let others know. Stay tuned for more!
ReplyDeleteBusy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long;
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
Throughout the past week I feel like as a class we have learned a lot about John Donne. One thing I discovered specifically, John Donne doesn’t really seem to be fond of the sun. The way I saw it, The poem above, The Sun Rising, Is almost written to insult the sun itself, immediately referring to it as an “old fool”(1). The speaker starts off in the first stanza by questioning the sun, while in the second stanza it can be seen that the speaker is somewhat degrading the sun. The speaker is claiming that he is stronger than the sun. While the sun thinks that it is so “reverend and strong” (11), the speaker claims that the sun really isn't that powerful. All the speaker has to do to deminish the suns hard work with a simple “wink” (13), shutting out the sun all together.
DeleteJohn Donne seems upset that the sun is as powerful as it is. The son is nothing more than a ball of fire, and yet it dictates much of what we do and when we do it, the sun even dictates time. In my own opinion, it appears as if John Donne wants to go against this norm. In the poem, he is trying to tell people that the sun doesn't dictate and control you, after all, people are much stronger than the sun is. While Donne admits that the sun does bring us warmth, he points out that the only other purpose the sun seems to serve is providing light, yet humans can simply shut their eyes to block it out.
I thought this poem was unique, because most, if not all, of the John Donne poems we have read revolved around love. However, upon first glance, it appears that this one does not. Another thing I have learned about John Donne… He always throws in a twist. I have been driving myself crazy trying to find it! I have a few theories, but theories is all they are. I refrained from using any outside sources, so I don’t have any added research or anything to back up my ideas. They’re a bit out there, please don’t laugh!
When I read the first line and saw the work “sun” (1), I remembered how Dr. Pam said in class one time that Donne used the word “sun” while referring to “son”, as in the “Son” of Christ. I thought maybe it would be possible that this could be the case once again and that he could be making a religious reference. However, I think that it is more likely that if “sun”(1) really was a reference to “son”, that it could have been his own son he was referencing to. Every child goes through that phase where they think they are invincible and all-powerful. Maybe Donne had wrote this poem expressing how no one is all that they build themselves up to be. Although, theres a high chance I am wrong about that too. Honestly, I don’t even know if John Donne had a son! I know he had multiple children, but I cannot recall if any specific genders were mentioned. I think I may have over thought this poem a bit.
Felicia,
DeleteThis was an interesting poem to choose. It was definitely intriguing and I enjoyed it. I love how in your blog you mention that you w
Refrained from using any outside sources, which is really a good thing because it allows your own opinions to be shown while avoiding any outside influences. You had some interesting theories here, and while you may have thought they were far fetched, they could have been right. I like how you thought that Donne was kind of criticizing and mocking the sun, calling it an "old fool" like you said. It did seem kind of like that. Your second paragraph held some interesting points too. I think it was a good observation to see that The speaker is saying that while the sun is powerful, with a simple wink, the power it holds is lost by a simple action. The sun during that time was really only believed to bring light and heat, but no one ever really thought that life was so dependent on it during that time. However, once it was discovered that the sun basically is the entire reason that life is existent on earth, it shows that this poem was written a while ago. Your analysis and opinions on this poem were very interesting, and I think that you can take pride in the work that you out forth because while your answers might not be wrong, they were carefully formulated after obvious studying of the subject so good work!
Good idea, Felicia! I'm doing "The Dream."
ReplyDeleteDEAR love, for nothing less than thee
Would I have broke this happy dream;
It was a theme
For reason, much too strong for fantasy.
Therefore thou waked’st me wisely; yet 5
My dream thou brokest not, but continued’st 1 it.
Thou art so true 2 that thoughts of thee suffice
To make dreams truths, and fables histories;
Enter these arms, for since thou thought’st it best,
Not to dream all my dream, let’s act the rest. 10
As lightning, or a taper’s light,
Thine eyes, and not thy noise waked me;
Yet I thought thee
—For thou lovest truth—an angel, at first sight;
But when I saw thou saw’st my heart, 15
And knew’st my thoughts beyond an angel’s art,
When thou knew’st what I dreamt, when thou knew’st 3 when
Excess of joy would wake me, and camest then,
I must confess, it could not choose but be
Profane, to think thee any thing but thee. 20
Coming and staying show’d thee, thee,
But rising makes me doubt, that now
Thou art not thou.
That love is weak where fear’s as 4 strong as he;
’Tis not all spirit, pure and brave, 25
If mixture it of fear, shame, honour have;
Perchance as torches, which must ready be,
Men light and put out, so thou deal’st with me;
Thou camest to kindle, go’st to come; 5 then I
Will dream that hope again, but else would die.
The Good-Morrow - John Donne
ReplyDeleteI wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
"The Good-Morrow" by John Donne is essentially a poem about two lovers who have found each other and feel as if they need no more in life. The speaker of the poem is not identified as male or female, however I perceived him as a male simply because most of the Donne poems we have read have had male speaker's. The male begins to ask the woman in the first stanza what mediocre "country pleasures" (3) they "childishly" (3) enjoyed until they found what they truly "desired" (7). The speaker flatters the woman by saying that he could only "dream" (7) of her "beauty" (6) during the time when they were still satisfied by simple "pleasures" (5). He exhibits their "fear" (9) of not seeing each other when they wake because "love...controls" (10) "other sights" in the second stanza. This leads into, for them, "one little room" (11) is everything because they are with each other while "sea-discoverers" (12) and "maps" (13) must travel everywhere and see everything to be as satisfied as the pair of lovers. In the third stanza the speaker tells of their "world" (14) within each other. For them, their is nothing "better" (17) than the "faces" that "rest" in their "true plain hearts" (16). Therefore, their "love" (21) will preserve them so that neither will "die" (21).
ReplyDeleteThis poem is three stanzas long and each stanza has seven lines. The rhyme scheme is a consistent ababcc throughout each of the stanzas. Most of the lines are pentameter although a few have extra syllables, and the poem is written in an iambic rhythm. The consistency of the poems rhythm and meter contributes to the stability and fluidity of this poem. In contrast to others we have read such as "The Apparition", "The Flea", and "Break of Dawn", "The Good-Morrow" speaks of a love that is stable and seeks nothing because it is already fulfilling. It was because of this that I saw the speaker and the woman as married because their love appeared complete and they sought nothing more from each other. The use of the word "troth" (1) also implies an agreement, or contract, between them that has bound the pair together, most likely in marriage because the word "troth" is similar to betrothed, someone who is promised to marry.
For me, this has become my second favorite Donne poem, falling shortly behind "Batter my heart, three-personed God." I enjoyed how easy going and comfortable it was due to the language and the rhythm of the poem. The speaker did not demand or threaten but spoke tenderly of what he gained through his love. I would classify this as a romantic poem because it centers around the relationship between the speaker and his partner and the peace they have reached through each other. It speaks of the sustainability and the satisfaction their love has provided for them
Ann, I really liked your blog. The poem you chose was actually one I looked at to analyze until I saw that you had it. I have to agree that the speaker is a male. Although we will never truly know because Donne is no longer on Earth to ask, I’m sure there are critics out there who agree with both of us. Your first paragraph really sums up the meaning of the poem just like I would have. Telling about the “country pleasures” (3) and “childish”(3) things really gave an emphasis to the tone and true meaning of the poem. Those “pleasures” (5) really did lead the two lovers into the little room where he didn’t beg her, but instead used a different form of persuasion: flattery. I mean, I believe that this is one of the best ways to get something you want. Although it may not be morally correct and everything, I feel that it is better than say telling your beloved that a ghost is going to come haunt them like in “The Apparition”. I don’t have a lot to comment on about your blog because I agree with what you wrote. I never thought to mention the rhyme scheme and how that could have made it so I liked or disliked a poem. That was a very good thing to mention! I’m glad you found your second favorite Donne poem; I also enjoyed “Batter my heart, three-personed God”. Good job!
DeleteAnn,
DeleteI'm not sure how I feel about the poem you chose. I feel like it is missing something. Everything you described about the poem is on point. However, I feel like Donne was just describing how love should feel rather than how it actually feels. Personally, this love seems stereotypical to me. Almost like Donne was mocking those who pretended that their love was effortless. I think we all know that love is not really like that. Of course we all strive to find love like that, but that's not reality. What Donne is describing in "The Good-morrow" is what is called the "honeymoon stage;" a stage where a couple still feels connected. I'm not saying that as they grow older their love becomes severed. What I'm saying is that love doesn't have to be one or connected. Love changes as people change. So why should we have to love our significant other the same way they love us? We shouldn't expect them to love us the same as we grow older. Love isn't effortless they way Donne describes it here. Sometimes it's hard to love someone for something they did wrong. We just have to remind ourselves the love that we feel for the other. I guess I don't really like this poem because of my opinion on love. But I know you're a very romantic person, especially from the stories you have written and still do write. The way you perceived this poem is very you, and I mean that in a good way. I'm just a little more skeptical of love. Great job!
Ann,
DeleteYour first paragraph describing the poem is spot on in my opinion. I agree with you that it is a male speaker, and your explanation of the poem was great. I too have noticed that many of his works have a male speaker, just as an opinion I find it comfortable to write most of my pieces with a male speaker or protagonist in mind. I don't know if that applies to Donne as well but it is simply a speculation that I've noticed. That little bit on "troth" actually helped me a bit with understanding the poem, thank you. Lastly, I would have to say that this for sure one of Donne's actual love poems, not the "love" poems we have been reading. It doesn't have the same crazy kinds of tones/underline sense of "The Flea", "The Apparition", and "Break of Dawn". Great work this week, Ann, I look forward to the next blog after break.
I'm doing...
ReplyDelete"Air and Angels"
BY JOHN DONNE
Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
Before I knew thy face or name;
So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.
But since my soul, whose child love is,
Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
More subtle than the parent is
Love must not be, but take a body too;
And therefore what thou wert, and who,
I bid Love ask, and now
That it assume thy body, I allow,
And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.
Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
And so more steadily to have gone,
With wares which would sink admiration,
I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
For, nor in nothing, nor in things
Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
Then, as an angel, face, and wings
Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
So thy love may be my love's sphere;
Just such disparity
As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.
I chose to write about "Air and Angels", which is obviously by John Donne. I read it and I thought it was interesting, but that was only after the second time I had read it. It's a bit confusing at first, just like most of Donne's poems, but once I re-read it I understood what it was saying, or at least what I believe it is saying. "Air and Angels" is a love poem, but it is also a religious poem. It is a comparison of the two different types of love, make and female, and love from God and love from his people. Both air and angels are things that cannot be seen, but it is believed that they exist, so this poem talks about the intangibility of love, but the assumed existence of it. The poem begins by saying that the speaker had loved something "Twice or thrice" before they had ever actually met, which is contradictory because how can someone love someone they'd never met. But then it goes on to say that "angels affect us on", meaning that angels still affect people despite the fact that they are in a "shapeless flame".
ReplyDeleteAfter this, the speaker says that love is the child of the soul, and the soul must "take limbs of flesh", and in response to this, so must love. So, because the thing that gives love takes a physical form, so does love, making it a tangible thing. The speaker personifies "love" by saying that the speaker asked him "what thou wert", showing that the speaker does not know the object of this discussion. He is asking what air is, because he cannot truly see it, but because love is more "subtle" than him, it will be able to discern the truth of this unknown figure. Love "fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow", allowing the speaker to see the nature of both in conjunction with each other. To me, this seemed like the love that we have for God and our inability to discern his presence. However, when the faithful puts God's presence in terms of love, they are able to discern it because of the strong presence that He has in our lives through love alone, without adding in any other factors such as grace.
Then, in the next stanza, Donne begins a conceit, comparing love to a boat, with "ballast love" that could "sink admiration". It is a "steady" love, and unable to be overtaken by the sea and its strong currents and waves. It can "sink admiration" because it is so much stronger and heavier, as admiration would be a lighter type of love, not like "ballast". He goes on to say that love cannot be found in nothing or in things, but in angels' "face, and wings of air" that are intangible things. Then, he asks that this can be done because then "thy love may be my love's sphere", which to me was a reference to the sun or moon, an object of admiration and orientation, because the moon revolves around the earth, meaning that the object of desire is in their "orbit" or part of their normal life, never leaving and stable. Or, it could mean the sun, which the earth revolves around, making it the speaker who is caught in the "orbit" of the other. Finally, he says that "this disparity" between angels and air or vast difference between them is just as much as the difference between men and women's love, and in an extension of this, the love between God and his people. I really liked this poem, and I'm excited to hear the opinions of other people to see if they read it the same way I did. Most likely the answer will be no, because Donne is open to interpretation of many branches.
Wow. Hannah, I loved the poem you chose as well as your interpretation of it. I definitely viewed this as a religious poem! You mentioned that both air, possibly a reference to heaven, and angels are something that cannot me seen but they are both believed to be real. They are not physically tangible, and neither is love. I think that really ties in. You did an amazing job putting out your opinions and then thoroughly explaining them. I couldn't help but comment on your blog and congratulate you for another week well done!
DeleteHannah,
DeleteI have to agree that this poem is a bit confusing! Your insight to this beautiful poem definitely helped me out though so thank you! I really liked that you called this poem a mashup of a religious poem and a love poem. I wasn't really sure of that until I read it again. Donne was definitely a poetic genius. I guess I never considered love to be intangible but it really is, and I think that is why it is used so loosely. It becomes hard to believe in something when you cannot physically see it, just like angels. I absolutely loved the conceit that Donne created in this poem. I think it truly explains how love can struggle with the crashing waves but it almost always settles down into safety.
Overall, I thought this poem was a great choice, and you did an awesome job at responding to it!
Hannah,
DeleteLet me just start out by saying that I too saw this piece and was going to do it till I went claim it and saw you doing this piece. I'm so happy you choose it though, even if it meant I had to choose another. Okay to the blog now I guess. I agree with all of your points that you have made in the second paragraph. I don't quite understand the conceit between the boat and love. I thought that the "sink admiration" point you made was that it meant it could sink with enough admirations. But I'm not one to go against and I see your reasoning behind your explanation of the conceit. However, I think your iPad autocorrected a word that you didn't catch, "make and female" in your first paragraph. Just trying to help but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog this week; it gave me a new way of considering the conceit in this piece.
Self-Love by John Donne
ReplyDeleteHE that cannot choose but love,
And strives against it still,
Never shall my fancy move,
For he loves against his will ;
Nor he which is all his own,
And cannot pleasure choose ;
When I am caught he can be gone,
And when he list refuse ;
Nor he that loves none but fair,
For such by all are sought ;
Nor he that can for foul ones care,
For his judgement then is nought ;
Nor he that hath wit, for he
Will make me his jest or slave ;
Nor a fool when others —
He can neither —
Nor he that still his mistress prays,
For she is thrall'd therefore ;
Nor he that pays, not, for he says
Within, she's worth no more.
Is there then no kind of men
Whom I may freely prove?
I will vent that humour then
In mine own self-love.
When I read the assignment for the blog this week, I grew very excited because we were able to respond to one of Donne’s poems without having to answer any specific questions or find a certain meaning. I chose “Self-Love” by John Donne. Upon reading it the first time, I imagined the speaker as a woman, but as I read it through more and more times, I realized that it could also be a man speaking. However, I chose to write about it from a woman speaker’s point of view. Taking a step back before I go into what the poem meant to me, I found this poem very different from other things we have read by Donne. It appeared to me to have a sense of hierarchy because the woman tells of everything she doesn’t like and finally concludes with having to love herself because no one else, in her opinion, was good enough.
DeleteThe poem starts off and continues to tell of the different types of men in the world that she, the speaker, does not want to find herself in love with. Some of these types of men include men who are already in love, men who love only for sexual favors, men who only love beautiful women, and men who can be clever. She tells of how these men are not good enough for her and therefore she has to take their places and love herself. While this poem was very unlike anything we have read in class, it had similar themes of love and sexual relations that made it recognizable as a John Donne poem. I’m not going to say that this poem is my favorite of Donne, but I will say the questioning tone gives the piece something different and enjoyable.
The speaker mentions a mistress in line 17. I’m just kind of confused by this, but I took it as being someone who was stealing the love of one of the men the speaker had an interest in. As the lines continue after lie 17, the speaker tells of how the man pays for the woman. This related back to the idea sexual favors which is a common theme in Donne’s poetry. By paying for the woman to fill his desires, the man proved to the speaker that he believes women are not worth anything else but the money they were given to perform the deeds. The last four lines of the poem are my favorite, “is there then no kind of men/whom I may freely prove?/ I will vent that humour then/in mine own self-love”. They tell of what I said in the paragraph above; the woman cannot find a man to meet her standards so therefore she gets caught up in love for herself. Although I don’t necessarily agree with what happens in the poem or how things are phrased, I think it is very well written and was very fun to read and give my opinion on. John Donne truly is a fantastic writer for everyone even though not everyone likes his work.
Jessica,
DeleteI really liked the poem you chose. I also enjoyed that you took it from a different perspective than what our class has viewed some of his poems. It added something to Donne that extended his many characteristics and qualities. I loved your blog and perspective, really. So I'm going to quickly explain from another view since I can do that with Donne's work.
The speaker is God, and he is creating the world. He is making man, and over time he is wondering what men would be best for His world. God chooses love over anything else because He has that kind of power unlike many other people on His special planet. By the end I felt like God didn't give up, but Donne made Him seem like "this is how it's going to be," implying that God decided to give us a free will to choose what kind of "man" we wanted to be. However, we still have to know his name and love Him in return for his gifts to us. I love your version of the poem, and could not change anything in it. Here is something that I would have made it mean since I love making his poetry pertain to God in some way. It makes me feel like Donne is human rather than being so "priest-like," saying that the church's way is the only way. Donne really knows how to captivate me. Great job!
John Donne's work is truly beautiful. I found that I love his work even though I have a difficult time understanding it at times. To me, that is what makes it so amazing. "The Dream" is a work of his that we have not covered in class. From the opening to the ending, it had my attention. I love that his work sucks me in like a black hole filled with words and meaning. It is amazing that someone is able to do such a thing from so long ago. This poem does not take place within a dream, rather it discusses how he never really woke up from one.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza describes the dream. The "theme" (3) is of reality. Everything has a "reason" (4) that overpowers any kind of imagination. I see this speaker as a male, therefore when he tells this specific person that they woke him up from his all to realistic dream they did it "wisely" (5). This makes me think that the speaker is addressing God. God woke him up from a mechanical life into this beautiful world that surrounded him. He began to really things. His dream is his life, but he never wakes up from life. Rather, he is rejuvenated by God's power. His hopes became real and silly stories became "histories" (8). He allows God to protect him to bring him a better life.
The second stanza is when the speaker begins to question God. He is scared that this power might try to over take his person. He did not want this God to know his "heart" (15) or his "thoughts" (16). Those were his belongings; something that only he can own. Why does God have this power to see inside of his deepest, most secret parts. He allowed it to push him away from this great power, and return to his life where everything had a reason — instead of trusting God's supernatural strength.
The last stanza is where the speaker lets it all out. He knows God is all powerful, but if God allows room for him to grow in his faith and beliefs how is he supposed to trust God? God has to control him, does he not? The speaker is confused as to why God wants him to follow Him if He does not have a certain structure for him to follow. His "fear" is stronger than his "love" (24). What does God want from him? This mystery is dragging him away from the colorful world back to the black and white world of men, and the speaker permits it to happen because he is scared of what might happen. The last line, "Will dream that hope again, but else would die" (30), proves the terror in the speaker's heart. He is desperate to dream of a better being beyond earth, but he thinks that everything will end for him if he risked it all. Maybe it would. I do not know the answer. I wish I did because I can relate to the speaker's feeling. I will admit that I am scared of God, and maybe my terror is greater than my love. I still love God, for I do believe he exists. I am just scared of what might happen. I am scared of the future. I should be. It is like walking blind through a butcher shop. That is a bit extreme, but that is sort of what it feels like (to me at least). I am worried at what will happen when God finally takes me. No one knows what happens! It is insane! This is what Donne does to me. He drives me crazy! I begin to think about all the possibilities that I do not know about, and the speaker feels the same way. I oddly feel more connected to God when I read this kind of poetry. It is empowering to think that somewhere out there someone is waiting for me to come home. He will always want me even when I am sinning. "The Dream" is not a dream; it is an insane reality that I want and crave. I want to question God because it makes me feel closer. Donne is really a mastermind when it comes to poetry, and muddling my thoughts.
Kaitlin, I was scrolling through poems by John Donne and wanted something that seemed to be different than the things we read in class. I saw the title “The Dream” and knew I found the poem I wanted to do. Something told me to go look on the blog though and to my unlucky fortune, I saw that you posted about doing it. Oh well, I liked your blog and wouldn’t really have done anything different with it. Your sentence, “I love that his work sucks me in like a black hole to be filled with words and meaning”. I don’t know if I feel that strongly for Donne’s poetry, but I do have a few things in my life that have that effect on me. I’m glad you found one in his poetry. I really enjoy how at the end of your first paragraph you lead into analyzing the poem rather than just starting your second paragraph like “bam, this is why I think what I think”. I also saw how the second stanza questions God and his strength and power. This of course ties into the whole metaphysical aspect of Donne’s poetry and I like that you brought it in. I also really liked how you used the poem to question yourself rather than just saying what you thought the speaker was trying to say. Maybe John Donne driving you crazy is a good thing, I can’t see how it could be bad. “The Dream” is not a dream; it is an insane reality that I want and crave”; was my absolute favorite line in your post, I could not have thought of it myself. Excellent job!
DeleteKaitlin,
DeleteThis was a very interesting poem, and I'm very glad that you picked it! Your analysis was well done and really let me think about the poem from a better perspective, and to really understand. I loved your last paragraph. Donne is driving you crazy too? It's not a bad thing at all, and I think it actually shows just how into his poetry you are. He is definitely very good at "muddling" thoughts and ideas, just as you said. However, sometimes I feel like after the fog has cleared and my head is no longer jumbled with the craziness of Donne's thought process that I can actually see things clearer. This was a good analysis of the poem and I think that your description of the speaker's relationship with God was excellent.
Good work!
Kaitlin,
DeleteI think the poem you chose summarizes a journey that we will all eventually experience with our faith. The poem itself is a journey. I loved how beautiful your first analytical paragraph was and then how, like the poem, it digressed into a more desperate fear. The speaker is feeling unsure of his faith because the idea of God is so overwhelming and, like I said before, we can all really relate to that at some point in our lives. I Have discovered that I am a real sucker for Donne's more religious poems and this one was so good. I appriciated that you used some in text citations and you had a nice length analysis that offered a good amount of insight into the poems meaning as well as your opinion. Good job this week!
Go and Catch a Falling Star
ReplyDeleteby John Donne
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet;
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
I can honestly say that I love this blog's topic. I really like the different poems we all chose, and I think it allows us to perhaps see the type of poetry everyone enjoys. Over the past two weeks we have studied several of John Donne's poems, and I have enjoyed reading and analyzing each of them. This week I decided to discuss his poem "Go and Catch a Falling Star." This poem follows the rhyme scheme of ababccddd for each stanza. I think that the abruptness of this poem really help capture the meaning of it.
DeleteThe speaker in this poem is most likely addressing another man, encouraging him to keep a woman who is both fair and true. The speaker is suggesting that it is difficult to find a woman with both qualities. According to the speaker, a woman may be true at first and even while she is corresponding with a man, but she will usually turn out to be impure or unfaithful. This is quite sexist in my mind, as Donne is implying that only half of the world is true to their partners. But, it seems that the speaker has been betrayed by a woman that he clearly loved. In the first stanza, the speaker is telling the addressed man to do some impossible things, setting the pessimistic tone for the rest of the poem.
When I first read this poem, I was almost angry at Donne. I mean, how could he simply generalize the female population as being untrue? I decided, well hoped, that I was misunderstanding the poem as a whole. Then, something clicked inside of me. Looking at the title and the verses together make "Go and Catch a Falling Star" a pessimistic love poem. I don't think Donne is necessarily saying that all women will eventually become unfaithful. Instead, I think he was trying to emphasize the fact that true and fair women are becoming a rare appearance in a world where cheating, casual relationships, mistresses, and friends with benefits are common. A falling star or shooting star are typically hard to see in the sky. Donne compares these unusual yet beautiful happenings to the strong women who remain faithful and true to the one reciprocating those same feelings and actions. I also think that Donne was encouraging men to find these women. Just as a shooting star doesn't occur everyday, a true woman isn't going to land in a man's path. But since the speaker was rejected by his love, he makes it seem as though these women may not exist. Because of his broken heart, he cannot fathom the possibility of the listener finding a true and fair woman that is not actually a false woman. Surprisingly enough I actually quite this vulnerable speaker to add to the raw beauty of the poem.
I really like Donne's poem, "Go and Catch a Falling Star." My ideas and perspective on it may not be correct, but that was what I felt after reading it a few times. My thoughts may be manipulated from what I have been writing for my poetry paper, but I think that is the best part of poetry--your emotions and background affect how you read into a poem.
Hi Natalie! As soon as I saw what poem you picked, I knew I would be commenting on it. I don't know if you know this or not, but "Catch a Falling Star" is a popular Dean Martin song! I do know, however, that you know I am Italian, and this is an Italian song. My grandmother used to sing it all the time to me when I was little. She's in the hospital now, so it cheered me up a little bit to see your poem choice!
DeleteI also should mention that the meanings in the song and this poem are completely different.
However, I really enjoyed your blog! You provided excellent insights, beautifully structured. Your third paragraph is my favorite, and I agree with every word of it. Great job with your post this week, and I love your choice of poem!
Natalie,
DeleteFirst off, great poem choice! The connection you made in the third paragraph enlightened me as to the deeper meaning that the title gave this poem. I also loved how you expressed that you did not immediately understand this poem. I think we were almost expecting something mesogynistic because we have learned that Donne can occasionally be so. In a way he is offending women as a whole, but the fact that he refers to the few good women as stars out ways that because I think we all realize that he is right, especially in this day and age. It is sad to say that devotion tends to be running low and divorce rate high. Maybe during Donne's time he was seeing a similar kind of unfaithfulness and just wanted to protect his friend from that. Anyway, your analysis in the second paragraph was both brief and insightful - I think you have gotten very good at analyzing poetry and I think Donne helped you with that because I know you like him. Good job, and I liked this blog subject too!
The Blossom~John Donne
ReplyDeleteLITTLE think'st thou, poor flower,
Whom I've watch'd six or seven days,
And seen thy birth, and seen what every hour
Gave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise,
And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough,
Little think'st thou,
That it will freeze anon, and that I shall
To-morrow find thee fallen, or not at all.
Little think'st thou, poor heart,
That labourest yet to nestle thee,
And think'st by hovering here to get a part
In a forbidden or forbidding tree,
And hopest her stiffness by long siege to bow,
Little think'st thou
That thou to-morrow, ere the sun doth wake,
Must with the sun and me a journey take.
But thou, which lovest to be
Subtle to plague thyself, wilt say,
Alas ! if you must go, what's that to me?
Here lies my business, and here I will stay
You go to friends, whose love and means present
Various content
To your eyes, ears, and taste, and every part ;
If then your body go, what need your heart?
Well then, stay here ; but know,
When thou hast stay'd and done thy most,
A naked thinking heart, that makes no show,
Is to a woman but a kind of ghost.
How shall she know my heart ; or having none,
Know thee for one?
Practice may make her know some other part ;
But take my word, she doth not know a heart.
Meet me in London, then,
Twenty days hence, and thou shalt see
Me fresher and more fat, by being with men,
Than if I had stay'd still with her and thee.
For God's sake, if you can, be you so too ;
I will give you
There to another friend, whom we shall find
As glad to have my body as my mind.
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DeleteI don't know why I choose this piece it just seemed to speak to me for some strange reason. Some general information about this piece of Donne's it is set in five stanzas of eight lines each. These lines are comprised of mostly iambic tri-, tetra-, and pentameter rhyming in a pattern of "ababccdd". "The Blossom" is also one of Donne's poems noted for its Carpe Diem meaning of seize the day.
DeleteUpon my first reading of this poem however isn't being addressed to a sentient, or the speaker's conscience. Instead it is being addressed to a small flower outside the speaker's dwelling. Which I find a little different in comparison to a few of the other poems we have read of his. He normally finds a way to address "someone" in his piece either indirectly, directly, or however he chooses. For example, in the flea the was talking to a woman but using only the flea as a topic of "conversation". Another idea is that of the "The Three Personed God", in which I saw the speaker having an indirect conversation with God. This piece however does not show that for me, I see the speaker telling his problems this little blossoming flower. Sort of how when are desperate to talk to someone we will talk to our conscience, to a pet, or to an object. Like he was confessing that he should've done more in a relationship, but he didn't. The the speaker was telling all of this to the plant as someone who has gone through the same situation.
On my second reading however I saw the speaker putting his relationship in the body of the plant. The speaker made the plant symbolic by having the plant represent him in a relationship. In the first stanza the speaker is just starting a relationship, which is seen as the flowers "birth"(3). This simply means they are just starting to grow as more than friends/acquaintances. But in stanza two he can't find any common ground between the, like she was this dark "forbidding"(12) tree. Into which we finally see that the couple has an argument of some sort. To me personally it seems as it the speaker is worried that the other person is either cheating, or using him to make someone else jealous. Then the speaker finally has enough of whatever they can call their relationship, so the speaker leaves to go on a "journey"(16). The speaker tells the other person that they could stay there for all he cared but he was leaving. In saying that "Practice may make her know some other part [of his body] ;/But take my word, she [does] not know a heart"(31-32), which could be saying that the speaker sees her as a harlot, or that she was only interested in sex rather than him. In the end the flower dies with the relationship as the speaker leaves for "London"(33), and a new/better life. He tells the other person this in case they change there views on the speaker, or want a second chance.
After my countless number of times reading this poem I feel that this was at one point a situation in Donne's life. From the poems that we have it seems to be a reoccurring pattern that he wrote only about the things he had experienced. During our biographies of him I found that he apparently around the age of eighteen to twenty-two, was quite the partier. Perhaps he based this poem off one of those times when he was with someone in a relationship, or in simply a sexual relationship where he wanted something more. No one is guaranteed to know, but that's one of the things I like about Donne. Every time you think you figured it out there was a new story/possibility with every time you read the piece.
Devyn,
DeleteThis poem is so beautiful! It was nice to read your different reactions to the poem. That is something I really love about John Donne's work--every read brings about new ideas and perspectives for every person. When I began reading the poem I also assumed he was speaking directly to the plant. After finishing the poem, I also think that he started to talk to the plant but then just starting aloud to himself about a relationship that has not gone as planned. It was almost as if he was comparing his relationship to the plant: after it grows it begins to die. Perhaps his relationship with this woman flourished but they slowly started to go their separate ways.
It is a good possibility that this poem is based off of something Donne experienced. Personally I think experience makes for the best poems, and Donne is no exception. No matter what Donne intended for this poem, it sure is a great choice and I'm glad that you picked it. Great work!