John Donne’s Love Poems Essay

derriere Donne is hotshot of many poets of his time who wrote love poetry. The thing that implants him apart(predicate) from the others is that he manages to successfully subvert the traditional conventions to his own ends. Each of the blue numberss The Flea, The Sunne Rising and A leave-taking Forbidding sadness charges Donnes verbal dexterity, manipulation of the conventional machinate and the use of a cast of textual features.For the secular love poem 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 point to his argument and to symbolise sex/marriage.In the poem Donne conveys gist through the rhyming and structure. In each of the lead stanzas the first six lines hold tether manages of two rhyming couplets that symbolises the couple (the male and female lover). At the end of stanzas there is set of three rhymes that is slightly indented which symbolises the union of the flea wi th the couple.Donne uses hyperbole in line 1, stanza 2 three lives in unmatchable 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 essential argumentative, exaggeration raises a flow and pace throughout his sustained arguments.The use of religious language eg. Cloistered, three live in one flea -holy trinity, sacrilege etc. helps to add 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, send address 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 imagery changes the pace of the argument and makes it more personal.Another secular poem, not unlike the Flea, that Donne subverts is called The Sunne Rising. This poem is a dawn poem and the conventional form for such(prenominal) a poem is that the minstrel or lover is sitting 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 direction 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 leftfield normal according to what the line talks about. If the lover is talking about things outside the room then the lines are indented. If the lover talks about something inside the room then the lines are left as normal. This creates an expectation as to what will happen 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, masculine 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 arrogance use d. 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 further 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 indulging outbursts or saddens and emotion.The ample vowels used eg virtuous mentwere profanation subdue the poem and give it a slower pace. The static opening of the poem displays alliteration using ms, ns and ss. The light vowels eg. men, friends, breath,meet etc. go further in subduing the poem.In this poem Donne uses many similes to make his point. In the first stanza he likens the lovers digression 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 with his relationship in order 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 value 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 circle 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.