John Donne

Felecia Brady

March 21, 2013

AP English IV

Ms. Saunders’ Class

John Donne

John Donne was a very interesting writer of his time period. His writing and poetry was exquisite and very much related to his life and life style. He is a metaphysical writer, which is often referred to as writing in the seventeenth-century that is intelligent and philosophy based, but is completely eccentric. At the beginning of his career, he wrote about popular discussions that were being made, such as the legal system, during the time he was writing. He did this a lot throughout his life and his writing usually was directly related to the poems that he was writing. John Donne’s poetry shows how he views different aspects of the world, including love, death, and his religious outlook on things.

Love was a very popular aspect of John Donne’s poetry. His view of love was unique when compared to other writers of his time. The view of love in his poetry was much different than other writers of his time because most other writers were interested in courtly love (Naugle). Obviously, after reading Donne’s love poems, it is clear that he did not really have the true belief in courtly love. In the poem, “The Flea”, he introduces some very strange thoughts to his readers. This poem is about is perhaps a very sly way to try and seduce a woman of his choosing and it sounds very ridiculous. Firstly, the poem is based a flea that has apparently bitten two lovers and once the flea bites both of them, their blood then becomes combined (Baker). The strange part about this statement that is being made is that Donne’s believes that because man and woman mixed their blood together, it means much more than what it can be perceived to be. He then uses this as leverage to try and convince this woman that they should make love, since they have already been combined and mixed together in the flea ("John Donne: Poems Summary and Analysis"). This is a very awkward way to look at the situation. Another poem...