Alex Jackson- English Homework- Mr Penelhum How does Donne explore love in The Sun Rising.

The Flea and Go and catch a falling star? Donne takes an unusual and, for the time, controversial approach to love poetry with the use of strange metaphors and images, and a cheeky sense of humour mixed in. In The Sun Rising Donne takes a humorous approach to what is normally a strong image associated with love literature. He sarcastically says Thy beams so reverend, and strong, why shouldst thou think? in reference to the sun, which shows his willingness, as a poet, to try and be different from the rest of the poets around at the time. This trait of a metaphysical poet is present throughout his work. In elaboration to merely poking fun at the traditional love imagery, Donne goes as far as to call the sun a busy old fool as if he is somehow out of date. I think the poem comes across as very cocky, sometimes unnecessarily. For example, when he says go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride, call country ants to harvest offices this is one of those times. Similarly Shes all states, and all princes I gives the same impression of arrogance, however is this not what Donne is trying to do? Despite the use of conceit that metaphysical poets are so famous for, I believe The Sun Rising also has some beautiful images presented within it, even if they are overshadowed by other more prominent ones. One such image is in reference to the suns beams: I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink. Here, he describes such a simple, natural human action and implies that it shuts off the entire rays of the sun. Whilst in real life it may shut off the rays to an individual, from the perspective of the persona in the poem, he knows that if the suns rays went away, he can stay in bed with his lover for longer. He also takes a similar line in The Flea: in this flea our two bloods mingled be. This disgruntling image of a connection between the two of them works nicely despite the thought of being mingled in the blood of a flea. This is the poem where Donne has employed the most significant use of conceit, however this poem is also fairly outrageous in its bluntness and content in addition to its unusual technique. Donne is directly addressing the issue of sex before marriage, a concept which, at the time, would have been unacceptable to the majority of society. He tries to convince her that in fact, it is not a sin: Just so much honour, when thou yieldst to me and he doesnt beat around the bush when doing so. The way Donne uses the flea as a metaphor for them falling in love, is similar to how cupid is described to have people love each other. When cupid shoots his arrow at two people, it is said they will fall instantly in love and Donne seems to use the same process here: It suckd me first and now sucks the. Comparing the flea to cupid is a clever concept if a little unhygienic. It is equally possible that there is a reference to Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet: Though parents

Alex Jackson- English Homework- Mr Penelhum grudge. I think the most interesting part of this poem is when thou yieldst to me. It implies that he will get what he wants rather than giving her a choice in the matter. Either this means he is confident that she already wants to have sex with him or that what he has already said in the rest of the poem has convinced her to. Go and catch is my favourite of the three poems. Its rhythm, created by the rhyme and structure, gives it an arrogance and certainty which is not present to the same degree in the other poems It also makes the searching it describes seem like an endless and repetitive process. Go and catch a falling star is another reference to traditional love poetry images but in typical Donne fashion, it is used as a negative. It is impossible to catch a falling star, as it is to do the things that follow it and Donne says that No where, lives a woman true and fair. The bitterness in this poem is brought out through the structure of the short lines and words at the end of each stanza, especially the last. He says that even if the reader does find a woman he thinks to be true and fair, that she will no longer be by the time he reaches her. This pessimistic view on life is also somewhat casual, not a hardcore assault on the female race. We know this because he doesnt use directly insulting language, nor does he become angry at any point. He simply believes what he believes and tells the reader that they are wasting their time trying to find someone true and fair. The Donne who writes this poem comes across as far wiser and experienced than the cheeky, youthful one we see in the other poems. Perhaps this ones subject matter is such that you only learn with age? Donne is well and truly a metaphysical poet and although some of the images he creates are unusual and seemingly unromantic, he succeeds to an extent in challenging the boundaries of love literature at the time and putting his point across effectively. Although I am unsure how many women he might actually successfully engage with through The Flea.