Maiden_Marina
01-07-2007, 01:11 AM
Hey!
I'm new here
and since I have to write a term paper on the different concepts of love in John Donne's poetry, it would be great if you helped me!
In how many categories, do you think, can Donne's "Songs and Sonnets" be divided?
As far as I have read there are at least three categories:
1. Revenge poems in which he takes revenge on the typical Petrarchian lady that refuses to do physical love with the speaker of the poems. To him she is "false" and "untrue" and she is mocked throughout the entire poem.
2. Depiction of the lovers' microcosm: in these poems Donne depicts situations in which the two lovers create their own reality far away from the real world. They've just experienced love and are overwhelmed by their feelings.
3. The experience of spiritual love: in these poems Donne describes love as something supernatural, spiritual and as the union of the lovers' souls that goes far beyond the merely physical act of love.
What I'd like to know is: Are there any other subcategories to these? Do you know of other divisions of his love poetry?
And to what categorie do the poems that merely deal with physical lust belong? Are they revenge poems as well ? Or had we better name the first category "Cynical poetry" for mocking the lady for her Petrarchian behaviour as well as focusing soley on the physical act of love are both cynical approaches to human love?
Would be great if you helped me!!! Thanx in advance!!!
* Marina *
(sorry for my faults, I'm German and English is not my mother tongue :o)
I'm new here
and since I have to write a term paper on the different concepts of love in John Donne's poetry, it would be great if you helped me!
In how many categories, do you think, can Donne's "Songs and Sonnets" be divided?
As far as I have read there are at least three categories:
1. Revenge poems in which he takes revenge on the typical Petrarchian lady that refuses to do physical love with the speaker of the poems. To him she is "false" and "untrue" and she is mocked throughout the entire poem.
2. Depiction of the lovers' microcosm: in these poems Donne depicts situations in which the two lovers create their own reality far away from the real world. They've just experienced love and are overwhelmed by their feelings.
3. The experience of spiritual love: in these poems Donne describes love as something supernatural, spiritual and as the union of the lovers' souls that goes far beyond the merely physical act of love.
What I'd like to know is: Are there any other subcategories to these? Do you know of other divisions of his love poetry?
And to what categorie do the poems that merely deal with physical lust belong? Are they revenge poems as well ? Or had we better name the first category "Cynical poetry" for mocking the lady for her Petrarchian behaviour as well as focusing soley on the physical act of love are both cynical approaches to human love?
Would be great if you helped me!!! Thanx in advance!!!
* Marina *
(sorry for my faults, I'm German and English is not my mother tongue :o)