![]() ![]() It comes with very useful annotations and an informative introduction. The best affordable edition of Donne’s poetry is John Donne – The Major Works (Oxford World’s Classics). We can observe all of these features in Donne’s poetry. This last one is where the term ‘metaphysical’ came from: from metaphysics, the branch of philosophy dealing with, among other things, the relationship between mind and matter, or between the physical world and human consciousness. Key characteristics of metaphysical poetry include: complicated mental and emotional experience unusual and sometimes deliberately contrived metaphors and similes and the idea that the physical and spiritual universes are connected. ![]() ![]() In many ways, what is now known as metaphysical poetry began with Donne and his innovative use of imagery, particularly his fondness for extended metaphors and elaborate conceits which draw on what were, at the time, new scientific theories and discoveries. John Donne (1572-1631) is one of the most important poets of the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in English literature. How should we view the poem? Or does it derive its vital energy from offering both the exploration motif and the complaint about women in one poem? Can we overlook the negative twist at the end? That may depend on our view of Donne’s other poems. The earlier sections of the poem, enjoining the listener to go out into the world and make discoveries and see strange sights, is the real core of the poem’s meaning, in Carey’s analysis.Ĭertainly such a reading connects to Donne’s preoccupation with space travel and exploration (something Empson, in his essay ‘Donne the Space-man’, explored the idea of discovery and exploration is also there in ‘ To His Mistress Going to Bed’, with its reference to the woman’s body as ‘my America! my new-found-land’). William Empson, who was heavily influenced by Donne and wrote extensively on his poetry, said of ‘Go and catch a falling star’ that ‘the song had aimed at being gay and flippant but turned out rather heavy and cross’.Ĭonversely, for another great Donne critic, John Carey, ‘Go and catch a falling star’ is more about self-improvement than women, as we can see from that opening stanza: But Ricks’s issue with this poem in particular is not its misogyny (which loses its power to offend by being such a worn-out complaint) but the fact that the poem’s ending seems false to itself: it goes against what the rest of the poem promises. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places " Avestan dadaiti "he puts " Old Persian ada "he made " Hittite dai- "to place " Greek tithenai "to put, set, place " Latin facere "to make, do perform bring about " Lithuanian dėti "to put " Polish dziać się "to be happening " Russian delat' "to do " Old High German tuon, German tun, Old English don "to do.Can we still enjoy a poem that seems to be so down on half the human race? (Or the beautiful section of that half, leastways: poor unattractive women can apparently be trusted to remain true, presumably because Donne’s speaker thinks no one else would want them.) This aspect of Donne’s poem – and the problem is not confined to ‘Go and catch a falling star’ – has exercised critics for a while now.Ĭhristopher Ricks, in his Essays in Appreciation, has a good essay on what Ricks sees as the unhealthy endings to many of Donne’s poems: they seem to become uncharitable as they reach conclusion. It forms all or part of: abdomen abscond affair affect (v.1) "make a mental impression on " affect (v.2) "make a pretense of " affection amplify anathema antithesis apothecary artifact artifice beatific benefice beneficence beneficial benefit bibliothec bodega boutique certify chafe chauffeur comfit condiment confection confetti counterfeit deed deem deface defeasance defeat defect deficient difficulty dignify discomfit do (v.) doom -dom duma edifice edify efface effect efficacious efficient epithet facade face facet facial -facient facile facilitate facsimile fact faction (n.1) "political party " -faction factitious factitive factor factory factotum faculty fashion feasible feat feature feckless fetish -fic fordo forfeit -fy gratify hacienda hypothecate hypothesis incondite indeed infect justify malefactor malfeasance manufacture metathesis misfeasance modify mollify multifarious notify nullify office officinal omnifarious orifice parenthesis perfect petrify pluperfect pontifex prefect prima facie proficient profit prosthesis prothesis purdah putrefy qualify rarefy recondite rectify refectory sacrifice salmagundi samadhi satisfy sconce suffice sufficient surface surfeit synthesis tay ticking (n.) theco- thematic theme thesis verify. *dhē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to set, put." ![]()
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