If we are to analyze a poem, after having an introduction to the age- what is the metaphysical period- what are the main characteristics of the age- what kind of poetry did John Donne write? What are the characteristics of his poetry?
Then you have to apply what you know on the poem.
This age has religious themes- strange , unpoetic , scientific and impolite images.
John Donne passed two stages. In the first stage he wrote secular and metaphysical. In the second stage he wrote religious poetry.
The title in “ Death Not be Proud” is not a normal title. It is challenging and strange a little bit. Death is one of the themes in the metaphysical poetry. It has a religious connotation. They were possessed with the idea of death.
So, it is religious and metaphysical. It is a metaphysical poem. This is one of the holy sonnets that Jon Donne wrote. There is this submission to the idea of death, but he is trying to defeat death. In the last line, he said, death will be dying and man will live eternally. Man is challenging death. Death is only a servant- slave of Fate. Death will be the victim- the tool of his master- Fate. Death is obeying his master and fulfilling his duty. So death serves Fate. This scary idea threatens people’s life, happiness. Fear of death has been defeated by this way of writing.
One characteristic of metaphysical poetry is that it is argumentative. It is an argumentative idea. He says that Fate is the master and death is only the servant. Death is not powerful because it is only obeying the orders and instructions given by Fate- the real power. This image is usually used by the metaphysical writers, when it comes to death. Death is a short slap. Death is being belittling. After sleep, we come back to the eternal life- life after- this shows that Donne is a believer. These are His beliefs in the life after. That is why as a good believer, death is not the ultimate end of man. It is only a stage. It is only crossing a boarder from the life now to the life after. Death is the cause of human misery. It is always threatening our happiness. But here, in this poem, he is looking at , dealing with death from a different angle where he is belittling death. In an argumentative way, he is confessing. In the last line he is very relaxing. One of his argumentative ways that he uses to convince the reader is to speak of death as a slave. The other way is speaking about death as sleep. It is a recurrent image in the metaphysical in general and John Donne.
“Death Be Not Proud” is one of Jon Donne’s songs from Songs and Sonnets. John Donne’s poetry is marked by interest and religion. This poem is a pure argumentative poem.
It is a metaphysical poem written by one of the most outstanding writers or poets .
He is different from John Donne. He graduated from Cambridge. He was tortured with the idea of not having a purpose in life. He wanted to have a clear purpose. He was not satisfied with the word- to gain money only. He is a religious person. Religion is there in their life at the back of their minds and hearts. It is the urge to change their life.
George Herbert ultimately came to devote his life to God. He thought that it would give to his life meaning and value. One of the main ideas, philosophy is self-centeredness= ego. It is behind all the sins that we commit. One of the sins that George Herbert committed in his life is switching his religion. It was to gain a job.
George Herbert sense of this self- centeredness is behind all sins that had been committed in his life. He is trying to find a solution. The solution for him is to dismiss this “ I” and to think of God- to devote this self to God. He started by thinking in his purpose in life and he ended up by dismissing or accusing self- centeredness of all sins committed by him. This has been clearly expressed in his poetry.
He wrote three poems entitled” Love”
LOve bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lack’d any thing.
A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkinde, ungratefull? Ah my deare,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?
My deare, then I will serve.
You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
This poem tells us what kind of poetry is written by George Herbert in devotion to God. He decided to devote his life to God. He wrote religious poetry in a way. He wrote it in a conversational style- a conversation between a Father and a Son. It deals with love idea. Love here is the love of God. It is not male-female love as it is with John Donne. It is the relation between man and his Creator- his Maker.
He is writing religious poetry in a very polite way. He uses the language of a child in the presence of his Father. He used to say that poetry- or man should talk to God in a polite way, similar to a language used by a child speaking to his father.
The speaker here in this conversational and argumentative style, we find this polite relationship between man and God. It starts with an invitation- a welcome given by God to man which is very shocking for the speaker. He is shocked with this invitation. It is a very nice, loving, simple way dealing with this man. God is very loving when He realized the shocking reaction of Man. He speaks to him nicely- he gets closer to him holding his hand. It is a love relationship- it is God to Man.
On the other side, the speaker is so polite. He expressed shame, decent with this invitation. He thinks that he does not deserve it. He had committed lots of sins.
We have a Biblical story- the Last Supper- Jesus the Christ and his disciples. Jesus- according to the Christian belief- is the Son of God- a second God- he invited his disciples for supper- meat, wine- .
What are metaphysical characteristics that we can trace in this poem?
• It is religious
• Argumentative – it starts with a simple situation in which it is impossible for man to join God’s kingdom and ends up with sitting with him tasting meat.
• It is a strange situation- the whole poem is an image of an invitation. For him, it was impossible to be achieved. It is achieved. He is proud. The whole poem is dealing with this strange image of man joining God’s. We have a setting of God in his place and some one that is being invited.
• The language is simple, easy, and polite. This is George Herbert’s main characteristic. He recommended the language of a child speaking to his father. It is truly applied to the love theme.
BY GEORGE HERBERT 1593–1633
The Altar
A broken ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch'd the same
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.
It is always studied in the metaphysical poetry because of its shape. It is one of the shape poems. It is in the shape of “ I” there is the direct meaning. There is another “I” = the ego.
It is the shape of the altarالمذبح فى الكنيسة- a concrete stone in the church. In the altar, they sacrifice not only sheep and goat, they sacrifice themselves there. We have to devote ourselves to God to get rid of the “I” self centeredness. This is Herbert’s main theme.
The Altar is speaking about devoting this “I’ “Me” “ the Self” to God. The place where we devote or sacrifice ourselves is the altar.
The shape poem is not Herbert’s motivation. It is one of the techniques in poetry. The subject matter is stressing the shape of the poem. The shape of the poem carries parts of the meaning. Here, part of the meaning is a reference to self sacrifice and devotion to God.
He is speaking about his complete readiness to devote himself to God.
The altar is weak and broken. This piece of stone is being broken. It is not good for sacrifice. He is not speaking of a real altar. He is speaking metaphorically. He is referring to a broken heart. What made break a heart? Sins make break heart. A heart that is broken by sins is not suitable for sacrifice. A broken heart is not a suitable place to worship God. How to have a heart that is well built and good enough to worship God? -To have a heart clear of sins?
Cemented = put together. The glue to stick- put this heart together is tears that express his regret. These tears are asking for forgiveness.
The image is that of a broken heart that has been broken by sins that he has committed. It is not suitable to be devoted to God.
We have the altar and a broken heart. What is there in the altar is applicable to the heart. If the altar is broken, so we cannot make sacrifice there. It will be cemented. If the heart is broken, full of sins, it can be devoted to God. It is busy with something else. As we are cementing the altar, this piece of stone, we have to cement the heart. We should have some glue that cemented the stone and some glue that cemented the heart. This glue is nothing but tears in the expression of sense of guilt and asking for forgiveness.
This is the main image. He is very smart in doing so.
This activity taken place in altar – a stone- one piece- one entity- it is hard, strong enough to take this harsh activity of sacrifice.
The only one who can fix the altar is the one who made it. The heart can only be fixed by God. So, he is asking for forgiveness, for understanding. He is showing regret.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone
If a heart is such like a stone it means that it is full of cruelty, harshness, no mercy, full of sins.
This stone= the altar in the church where people go to sacrifice- to worship God
This stone= hard heart- ready to praise God.
He is a religious man.
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
He speaks of a heart and an altar that is broken. It needs to be repaired. He is speaking of a heart that is a stone- it is a heart that is suitable to worship God- to be devoted to God- to sacrifice itself to God.
This hard stone, one entity, never broken- not being broken by sins is the only one that is ready or suitable to pray for God.
He puts a hypothesis. A broken heart is not suitable. A suitable heart is that like an altar- one entity.
This is argumentative. He puts hypothesis. He starts discussing it. If the hear is broken, it needs some tears. If it is cemented, then it is weak. The best heart is the hard one that is similar to the altar- a stone. It is strong enough, one entity, never broken.
The whole image is that of a heart similar to an altar.
Scarface is the centre.
He ended up saying that a heart is an altar
In what sense the heart is an altar?
The heart is a place of sacrifice. All the characteristics of an altar should be there in the heart- it should be strong, not broken. It should be one entity, strong, never broken. If it is to be broken, it should be cemented.
The language is smooth, very easy, simple.
This shape never disturbs the easiness of reading.
There is one controlling image which is a conceit. It starts at the beginning of the poem, develops till the end of the poem. Here, we have a very clear conceit of a heart likened to an altar.
The main theme is of a heart. This idea is being communicated to us through this shape f an altar to think, go immediately to the idea of sacrifice. This sacrifice can be taken place in our heart. We can take the altar everywhere we go. Unless it is strong enough, it will not be suitable to worship God.
• How much is Andrew Marvell a metaphysical poet?
• How can we describe Andrew Marvell as a metaphysical poet?
• How much is Andrew Marvell’s character and poetry is metaphysical?
• How much he is similar and different to his age?
We have to start answering these questions by sitting the characteristics of the metaphysical poetry- of the age.
It is an age of questioning; an age of religion, there is a lot of Biblical stories and references, quotations. We find poets speaking about relations with God. In all metaphysical poets, we find this relation. We find this religious sense in all poets in different levels. George Herbert presents child-father relationship. In John Donne, it is male-female relationship.
It is an age of political clashes and an age of science, a lot of scientific findings.
These religious, political, scientific issues, we find images that are very strange concerning nature, geography, science. We find all scientific findings. Facts are there. They present these images in a very unusual way. They have unusual images, unusual ways of tackling things, unusual language which is sometimes impolite.
We have all the ingredients, characteristics of the metaphysical; science, politics, religion, social references.
We cannot understand metaphysical poetry without knowing about the whole period, the map, the general face. In this age, their education, their relation to the bible, to the church, to science in general is there. Different sciences are there; geography, medicine, geometry are there. Science and religion are there in the hearts of their poems.
He speaks of himself as a piece of map- science is there- astronomy- speaking of the two lovers as the two legs of a compass.
This makes their literature astonishment, very strange to the extent that we are forced to go and find out how their poetry was written, in which age. It was not a personal issue. It was scientific and religious issue.
We can describe Andrew Marvell’s poetry as being political. It was not for politics’ sake, but for the unity of his nation. He was very keen on avoiding criticism. He uses metaphorical language which he developed into symbols. It is through disguise, covering his real identity to enjoy some freedom
Andrew Marvell is not only using metaphor, but he is choosing themes and subject matter that enable him to achieve a kind of detachment from the real subject.
In this poem, it is a dialogue between body and soul- two parts of the human body.
At that time, politics was a taboo محرمات being sensors of the society- writers- they developed a responsibility towards the society. He was one of these sensors. He was careful to write about issues of interest to all people. he was unable to do so because of these political taboos. So, he was to wear a mask and to speak about a clash between the two parts of the body which is only a metaphor of the two parties in the country. What is said about these two parts of the body will be said about the two parties in the country. A soul cannot survive away of this cage- the body. The body cannot live without the soul.
The dialogue is very interesting.
The soul is the heart of the body. He is using scientific facts, anatomy, and psychology.
This comparison is there in Andrew Marvel’s poetry- in metaphysical poetry- because they are using scientific facts. He is speaking about physical and psychological diseases that might affect the soul.
His poetry is only a reflection of his age and his character. Of his character, because he was able to write on serious political issues of that age without exposing his belonging- to which part he is siding. He is wearing masks. Instead of speaking about the political parties, he is speaking about alternatives, a picture of reality- the relation between body and soul.
He is mirroring the reality of his age. He is dealing with political issues in a smart way which is initiative. It was a mask. He is reflecting the theme he is using. The Dialogue between body and soul is not but the two parties clashing in reality of the English nation. It gives an exact honest picture of the clash of England at that time. The survival of the country could only be achieved by the coexistence of its two parties- as the body cannot survive without the coexistence of its two parts- the body and the soul.
The soul is lost in the wilderness. It has no place to rest on. It is like a ghost that roams the place. This is a separation in the nation. He is very smart when he chose this image. He was keen and exact when he starts writing this poem- making this dialogue.
The poem is full of scientific details. It is sometimes supernatural as it is metaphysical.
A Dialogue between the Soul and Body
Soul
O Who shall, from this Dungeon, raise
A Soul inslav'd so many wayes?
With bolts of Bones, that fetter'd stands
In Feet ; and manacled in Hands.
Here blinded with an Eye ; and there
Deaf with the drumming of an Ear.
A Soul hung up, as 'twere, in Chains
Of Nerves, and Arteries, and Veins.
Tortur'd, besides each other part,
In a vain Head, and double Heart.
First, he gives the chance for the soul to speak.
O= an expression of pain of suffering.
The first image that is given within this umbrella image is that of a slave. The soul speaks of itself as being a slave.
Dungeon= a jail زنزانة –underground prison. It is dark, stiff.
This soul complains from being in slavery. It is being imprisoned. The bones are being used as a means to tight him. He is describing the whole bodies as bars of the prison. The skeleton, muscles, arties are being described as a cage- as bars of a prison. It is like a metal pin that is surrounding hands and feet.
He is giving us a complete pictorial image of the soul imprisoned in the body.
The soul is blinded. It is being trapped from the outer world. He cannot contact with the outside. He has eyes and ears but still blind and deaf.
It is reference to the blindness of people at that time. They do not see reality, they do not hear advices. Being deaf and blind means that they are indifferent to the dangers that threatens their life- to the dangers in which they are entrapped.
The blindness and the deafness of the soul is a reference to the blindness and deafness of the British people to the dangers that surround them, threaten their life.
The soul is speaking about its position. It is hung up which means that it is not at rest. It is part of the spirituality, supernatural dealing with the issue of spirit. It is hung up there. The hung up of the soul is a way of being tortured. It never enjoys any rest. At the same time, it is a reference to the position of the body, to the entity of the body. To keep the body straight, the soul is strained to make the body survive.
Of Nerves, and Arteries, and Veins.
It is anatomy of the body.
The soul is being hung up with arteries, veins and nerves. It is tortured, in pain.
In a vain Head = they are stupid. They do not know what is good and what is bad. They are not logic, not wise. They cannot find out the danger. They are busy with life. They are indifferent to the dangers that are threatening their life.
double Heart= the heart being made of two parts- pure anatomy.
Here, he is speaking metaphorically. He is using all the knowledge that he had about science, anatomy, religion.
Political parties is hypocrisy, double = saying something and doing something else. It is politics which divided the country into two. Political parties are not but a picture of hypocrisy.
Body
O who shall me deliver whole,
From bonds of this Tyrannic Soul?
Which, stretcht upright, impales me so,
That mine own Precipice I go;
And warms and moves this needless Frame:
(A Fever could but do the same.)
And, wanting where its spight to try,
Has made me live to let me dye.
A Body that could never rest,
Since this ill Spirit it possest.
the soul is describing the body as being dungeon and the body is describing the soul as being tyrannic. The soul is speaking about itself as being hung up. The idea of being hung up is still there. The hanging up in the first speech by the soul is torturing the soul because it needs to enjoy rest. Here, in the body speech, the hanging up of the soul is straining- torturing the body because with this hanging up the body is stretched up with the soul. The same thing is touching both of the two parties in a different way. The same idea is mentioned, the same suffering is there. The outcome , the way of suffering is different. The body says that it is a needless frame to the soul. The soul is controlling, tyrannic. There is no use of the body to be there. Without the soul, the body cannot move. The soul is said to be a source of warm. One of the signs f being dead is coldness. The soul being there is the cause of life. Leaving the body is the sign of being dead. The body could never rest since it possesses this ill spirit= the soul. Speaking of the body, it is not true. Speaking of the nation, it is true. The nation has been split into two by the two parties.
Soul
What Magic could me thus confine
Within anothers Grief to pine?
Where whatsoever it complain,
I feel, that cannot feel, the pain.
And all my Care its self employes,
That to preserve, which me destroys:
Constrain'd not only to indure
Diseases, but, whats worse, the Cure:
And ready oft the Port to gain,
Am Shipwrackt into Health again.
Here, he is speaking of some psychological problems that cause the sickness that may trouble the body. It happens in the soul but it tortures the body. It is magic to be able to resist confine. The trouble of the soul influences the body. The sickness of the body may trouble the soul. What so ever the body complains, the soul feels.
When it comes to the speaking of the nation’s suffering, political problems that the nation may come through are of some influence on both of the two parties. The body may be destroyed with the sickness of the soul. It is not only to be patient with diseases but what is worse is to cure it.
The body describes itself as being shipwreck- sinking. This is the nation, the country that is sinking. The body is responsible for this shipwreck. If the body is sick and it is about to sink, due to some psychological problems, the soul is responsible to save it. The rescue part is taken by the soul.
Body
But Physick yet could never reach
The Maladies Thou me dost teach;
Whom first the Cramp of Hope does Tear:
And then the Palsie Shakes of Fear.
The Pestilence of Love does heat :
Or Hatred's hidden Ulcer eat.
Joy's chearful Madness does perplex:
Or Sorrow's other Madness vex.
Which Knowledge forces me to know;
And Memory will not foregoe.tarts with “
What but a Soul could have the wit
To build me up for Sin so fit?
So Architects do square and hew,
Green Trees that in the Forest grew.
The last speech is given by the body.
The first two speeches starts with “ O”= suffering. The other two speeches start with
“ but” it is a kind of argument.
There is a list of sicknesses that are caused by the soul. It is caused by spiritual ambition.
The Maladies= the medicine that has been examined on the body.
Medicine can never cure diseases caused by the soul.
Cramp of Hope does Tea= the pain of hope
If the soul is suffering the cramp of hope, the body will suffer. We feel pressure on the body, we feel this heart beat.
The body shakes with fear. Love is heating the bodies.
Joy's cheerful Madness does perplex:
Or Sorrow's other Madness vex.
These are number of feelings, emotions that influence the body. The result is on the body. The soul has made the body fit to such suffering.
What but a Soul could have the wit
To build me up for Sin so fit?
So Architects do square and hew,
Green Trees that in the Forest grew.
We have the image of the architect- with the image of the shipwreck in the speech of the soul- it shows the role that is supposed to be played by both of the body and the soul which enhances the idea of inseparable parts= cannot be separated- the relation between the two. They are dependent. They cannot live as independent.