Donne Essay, Research Paper

Ideas are clearly the imaginative core of John Donne s poetry. This is

vividly evident through the study of Donne s poetry, and in particular his

works; “The Relique”, “The Sunne Rising” and “A Valediction: forbidding

mourning”.

Donne utilizes a focus concept throughout his array of poetic works, and

maintains his audiences attention through the exploration of those concepts.

Various thematic settings are applied to convey the intended thought, and

provide a base on which Donne builds his exploration of ideas. With a vast

array of imagery and conceits combined, Donne manages to produce

imaginative exploration of his intended concepts.

Through the study of “The Relique”, it is clearly evident that Donne’s

use of imagery is essential to the audiences understanding of the ideas

portrayed. Throughout this poem Donne explores his ideas using the

hypothetical image of his grave being reopened by future generations. He

questions what will be thought of his character when his casket is opened and

“A bracelet of bright haire about the bone” is discovered. He feels very strongly

about the purity of the love that he shares, and portrays this using detailed

imagery to construct this hypothetical situation.

Donne s use of conceits also largely adds to the clarify that ideas are the

imaginative nucleus of his poet works. This is clearly evident after an

analytical view of the work “A Valediction: forbidding mourning”. The

thematic setting and central focus of the poem is that of love surpassing

physical boundaries. The conceit Donne manipulates in order to express this is

the famous compass; “If they be two, they are two so/ As stiffe twin compasses

are two” , through which he is writing about the two souls. This conceit is set to

convey the idea of love surpassing physical boundaries. Therefore it is seen that

ideas are the imaginative core of Donne s poetry.

“The Sunne Rising” also utilizes conceits to express the ideas that are the

imaginative core of his poetry. As opposed to the conceit that “A Valediction:

forbidding mourning” represents, “The Sunne Rising” is a self centered conceit.

Placing the author and his lover not only as the center of each others lives but

as the center of the universe. When the two lovers are disturbed by the sun

shining through their window in the early hours of the day. In the opening

phrase the author draws his audiences attention to his own celestial supremacy

with; “Busie old foole, unruly Sunne”. Yet, within the last stanza, the author

adopts a serious tone, quoting that “She is all States, and all Princes, I/ Nothing

else is” while still belittling the sun and ordering it to “Shine here to us, and

thou art everywhere/ This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere”. This

conceit proves itself effective by placing the two new found lovers at the center

of the universe, it shows how strong and issue love is for them, which in turn is

the central focus of this poem. This again supports the statement that ideas are

the imaginative core of Donnes poetry.

Through an extensive study of John Donnes poetry and, in particular,

extensive study of “The Relique”, “The Sunne Rising” and “A Valediction:

forbidding mourning”, it is evident that the author employs a vast array of

techniques to convey various complex ideas through his poetry. It is clear that

the imaginative core of Donnes poetry lies in the in-depth exploration of

complex conceptions, which, integrated with his use of conceit and extensive

imagery, produces these poetic masterpieces. Ideas are definitely the

imaginative core of John Donne’s Poetry.