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JOHN DONNE donne, The conventions include: an idealised mistress who is…
JOHN DONNE 
CONTEXT
The reformation: religious revolution in the 16th century that initiated cultural, intellectual and political upheaval establishing protestant churches after the questioning of the pope's authority.
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The Bible is the divinely inspired word of God and final authority on all matters of faith (God reveals his plan of salvation)
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PERSONAL LIFE
Donne's Christian faith and way of thinking shaped his poems, he was shaped by the reformation. Religion played a passionate and tumultuous role in Donne's life
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Donne became an Anglican priest in 1615 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity from Cambridge, as well as becoming a Royal Chaplain. He became a Dean at St. Paul's and wrote many religious sermons (sacred verses)
He was born in London 1572 to prosperous Roman Catholic family (there was anti-Catholic sentiment in English and the practice was illegal)
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In 1588, the Spanish Arada attempted to overthrow an army in Brittan; Donne fought as one of the favorite's of Queen Elizabeth against the Spanish. He eloped with his bosses niece and was imprisoned by the girl's father. Donne lived in poverty when he wrote some of his most beautiful poems, said to be about his wife
He and his wife had 12 children (2 still born, 3 died before 10). Donne was despairing, he noted the death would mean less mouths to feed. His wife died in 1617 and he moured her loss with the 17th sonnet
POETIC STYLE/CONVENTIONS
PETRACHAN
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Donne subverts the conventions, the apparition is the outlier, he has a reciprocal strong relationship, hyperbolizes the love (arrogance in this) --> he doesn't use the sonnets for the love poetry (dramatic monologue) only for the Holy sonnets --> meditations on God (has a strong relationship with god and is soothed by that but he is still in conflict
with himself The dramatic qualities of his poetry was important
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METAPHYSICAL POETRY: philosophical speculations beyond the sensory e.g., God and human nature
Intricate arguments: using the arguments to persuade. They are built up on logical structure (his dialectic e.g., the use of 'But if' and 'As' and 'And Yet'). Nothing is wasted in the poem or is there for ornamentation. Donne thus challenges our intellect.
Use of paradox: statements appearing to be contradictory to reveal new and important truth e.g., the Christian idea of we gain our life by losing it
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Tension between strict, regular meter's and natural rhythms of speech: poems move between stress- based on iambic rhythm and more spontaneous feel. All his poems retain a sense of a speaking voice and use regular metrical forms
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Metaphysical conceit: establishing the relationship between 2 things for the sake of comparison, but for a conceit the comparison has to be strange or outrageous.
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questioning the nature, broke away from the typical Elizabethan love poems. Interrogating certain issues.
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metaphysical wit: clever and intelligence (natural); usual view on the world hence the title of the play is Wit --> challenging a statement (logical argument and then a reversal of the argument)- Clever structure/reversal arguement
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
use of imagery from a wide range of academic sources: vigorous undecorated language is used for emotional impact from colloquial directness
TYPES OF POEMS
satire
dealt with common Elizabethan topics e.g., corruption in the legal system
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Songs and sonnets
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They have 14 lines and a set rhyme scheme which varies according to the specific form, there were Petrarchan and Shakespearean
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Sound:
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purpose use of sounds (pthosives and softer sounds) to create meaning exposes the feel of the poem and tone. Open notes
Style: changes his personal pronouns (insecure in his relgiion (maybe doesn't want to put his own views in) and changes tenses to dramatically shift the meaning of the poem
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Sonnets:
Sonnets have 14 lines. There are 2 parts, the octet (8 lines- eighth) and the sestet (6 lines- volta shows a shift in time). In the octet they present the argument. In the sestet is where you get the reversal of the tone. The structural tone is important .
The conventions include: an idealised mistress who is often absent or otherwise unavailable, who is chaste (but may also be emotionally distant/cruel), poet is of a lesser status or worth than the mistress, the mistresses beauty is often catalogued in a blazon
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