Donne and Metaphysical Poetry
Concrete
Imagery Rough Rhythms Colloquial Diction
Strained
Openings Dramatic Structure Obscure Imagery
Use of
Paradox Cynical Tone Abrupt Shifts (at end)
Circles:
The world, the sun, the head, eyes, tears, bubbles
Mingling
of the sacred and the profane: body and soul, matter and spirit, physical
love and divine love, microcosm and macrocosm, decay and generation,
religion and “the new philosophy” (from the Ptolemaic world to the
Newtonian machine).
Metaphysical
Conceit: An extended comparison or
analogy between dissimilar objects or ideas--a sudden, fanciful, “strained”
parallel.