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... ower of the sun, once more insulting the sun by telling the it that he could destroy the sun merely by closing his eyes, so there's no need for the sun to feel at all 'reverend and strong. ' However, he refuses to do this, as by closing his eyes will block out the sight of his lover. From Line 15 onwards, Donne uses metaphysical conceit - something extremely typical of him, where he draws upon a vast range of knowledge to express his thought. Donne describes their relationship as 'both th' Indias' - which also at first glance appears confusing, on further analysis reveals not only the spices of East India, but the vast riches of the West Indies - signifying their all-encompassing, priceless wealth.
However, in the last two lines of the first stanza, Donne alters his perception of the world and his attitude to the sun: "Ask for the kings whom thou saw " st yesterday, And thou shalt hear, all here in one bed lay. " Now, instead of asking the sun to leave him and his lover so they can be uninfluenced by time and to remain uninterrupted by the outside, social world, here the poet claims that the social sphere is in his bed. He claims that love has made his bed a treasure chest - as all the kings and the riches of the world are encompassed in that bed, and therefore embodied in themselves. However, a sense of ownership is present in the following lines of the third stanza, with: "She's all states, and all princes I: " This suggests that although she is all the states in the world, he is all the princes - and inevitably rules over them and her. He then reduces the world to nothing by comparing them to his love - all the wealth is a fraudulent alchemy, whilst all the honour is the world is mimicked. Donne claims that the sun is only half as happy as his relationship, and as the sun is frail and old and should not over stretch itself working, Donne believes the sun's job is complete.
Considering the sun's work is to warm the world, and he has established already that him and his lover are the world, then he does not need to do anymore. Donne, who firstly told the sun to go away and wake up the rest of the world, through his logic of argument as decided that they are the world instead, and the sun is no longer needed. Donne, like Marvell, also uses reasoning and logic to convey his argument. In addition, 'The Sun Rising' is quite a complex poem, which is reflected in the irregular line length, the 'knotty' imagery and lines which are initially difficult to follow - which in turn reflect the experiences of life as it is lived (which Donne was interested to capture). Another complex poem within the metaphysical school if Love, by George Herbert. Here, Herbert writes an allegory a narrative in which the characters and events are coherent on the first level of understanding but have a correspondence at a deeper level.
The poem is religious, which is not unusual for Herbert who specialised in religious poetry. The first stanza of Love, on the surface, describes a character willing to make the writer his guest, although the author feels guilty to do so. However, the character named Love observes the writers guilt and beckons him in further. Here, Love is portrayed as a kind, sweet and gentle character.
The personification of Love here goes further Love here is an active character, which embodies all the qualities of love itself. Love bade me welcome... quick-eyed Love... sweetly questioning... The gentle tone in which Love is described is a device used by Herbert to sense that this is indeed an allegory and becomes clear that this is in fact a discussion of the nature of God and the nature of human beings. Throughout the first stanza there are religious references such as dust and sin a reference to God making Adam and the concept of Original Sin.
Herbert is aware of the sin that humankind has, and feels guilty of welcoming Love, or God. Herbert gives us a gentle and loving God not the jealous God that is reminiscent in the Old Testament. In the second stanza Herbert takes the relationship between God and mankind a stage further. On the surface Herbert is a character who feels unworthy to be Loves guest. He feels ungrateful, and unable to even look at Love due to his feelings of worthless compared to him.
However, Love gently reminds Herbert that it was him that made his eyes Who made the eyes but I? and attempts to convince Herbert that he is worthy to be his guest. However, the deeper meaning explains how although man feels unworthy to look upon God with its sin, God made man, and as being part of Gods creation we are part of God. He is also emphasising the forgiving nature of man, even though it is fallen. This stanza contains a strong emphasis on dialogue, as this makes the characters easier to imagine and sets the scene. The rhyme scheme continues from the first (being a, b, a, b, c, c) which conveys a gentle tone as there are no anomalies to draw attention to a particular phrase.
There is also the continuation of the God being portrayed as a loving God, and continues the argument that Herbert made in the first stanza that God is inviting him to share his love and worship, and Herbert feels unworthy to do so. The third stanza brings in more religious references. Herbert argues with God, as although God created him, it was him that sinned, and had his eyes marred. Therefore, he wishes to let his sin go where it deserves (possibly to hell). However, God retaliates with: And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
This is in relation to Christ as Christ redeemed mankind of original sin and therefore God is willing to invite him into a union fully with him. God then gives the imperative must, and orders him to sit and taste my meat. On the surface, this is a narrative about someone unwilling to participate in a banquet, which has connotations of the last supper, and the Christian practises in the Eucharist denominations. The poem concludes with: So I did sit and eat. Which demonstrates Herbert's acceptance of what God believes. The theme throughout the poem is that God is accepting of flawed humanity.
The underlying meaning in this poem is drawn out by the various religious references and drawing on the cultural capital of the time when it was written. Although more confusing in present times due to less people having a through knowledge of the Bible, in the strongly religious times when Herbert was alive the meaning and references in the poem would have been very clear. Here, the use of the first person pronoun I throughout the poem is used to represent the whole on mankind, and not just a single person. However, by referring to mankind as I makes the poem more intimate and illustrates everybody's own personal relationship with God. The themes which link all these poems together is primarily one of love Marvell wishes to take his and his mistress love to a deeper level, Donne wishes the sun to depart to make time irrelevant to him and his love, and Herbert writes about mankind and his relationship with love. All the poems capture a dramatic distinct voice, often by using direct address (Truth, Lord Love), shock tactics (Then worms shall try that long-preserved virginity To His Coy Mistress) and rough idiom (Busy old fool The Sun Rising).
Where the poets differed in their view of the world, they were linked together by their poetic style and method. Firstly, their arguments are original they use logical reasoning, which draws upon philosophy and religion to clarify their arguments, but manage to marry intellect and passion by combining a dramatic argument with a situation of intense human experience because intensity of emotion is not a place where rational reasoning and logical argument usually reside. This is what makes the metaphysical school of poets so unique, and is also a factor of their wit and humour. All the poems have argument consisting of the main body of he poem, whereas the intense imagery and emotion is conveyed through the language that is used. Language in all the poems is simple and usually direct, and the verse is occasionally rough, like speech, rather than written in a concise, smooth manner, resulting in a dominance of thought over form. All the metaphysical poets have drawn on the same key features of not only using logic and reasoning to explain intense emotions, but also draw upon specialized areas such as law, religion, and philosophy to describe their love, often in conceits an unusual tactic to adopt, which produces a witty and humourous style to many pieces of work in this particular school of poets.
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Research essay sample on The Metaphysical Poets Marvell Donne And Herbert
