John Donne

Biography:
1572-1631. Born into a devout Catholic family. Distantly related to Sir Thomas More. Converted to the English church sometime in the 1590s. Participated in campaign against Cadiz and Azores in 1596-7 (Earl of Essex). Was secretary to Sir THomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Sal. But he secretly arried Ann More, Egerton's niece, in 1601, and lived insecurely in the country.  Twelve children by her.

Donne eventually sought patrons for his works, writing things like Pseudo-Martyr for James I in 1610, Ignatius His Conclave in 1611 against Jesuits, the first two Anniversaries in 1611 and 12 for his patron Sir Robert Drury's dead daughter, and so on. Eventually, in 1615, Donne consented to take the King's offer to begin an ecclesiastical career - court preacher, reader in divinity at Lincoln's Inn, and dean of St. Paul's.

He often circulated his poems in manuscript. In 1633, Songs and Sonnets was published, and went through a second edition in 1635.

"The Flea"
aabbccddd, 3 iambic tetrameter nonets. A poem that compares the mingling of blood in the flea to a sexual act, as the speaker tries to convince his lover to give in. The flea itself stands as an indistinct third personage - for the resulting child? For "the marraige bed and marriage temple?" For the occurrence of sex itself? It is vaguely trinitarian. In the third stanza, the flea is killed, and the speaker changes tack to show how small a thing was killed, comparing once more its smallness to the honor that would be lost.

"The Good-Morrow"
ababccc, 3 iambic pentameter septets. The time before their meeting is treated as a dream of sleep and simple pleasures. Then he gives good morow, and plays with the figure and function of mapping in the remainder of the poem. The lover makes their room a whole entire world, and each other mapped mirrors or hemispheres of each other. The figure is somewhat unusual, but the point is that the two are able to be so perfectly mapped together or mixed that a balance exists, such that neither would die.

"Song: Go and catch a falling star"
irregular nonet, ababccddd. Starts with a series of impossible or unknowable things, like "who cleft the Devil's foot," before making the bold claim to "find / What wind / Serves to advance an honest mind." The second stanza expands the charge, only related by proximity, until he claims that none can find "a woman true, and fair." (Can only ugly women be true? Are true women rather like Laura, unfair?) The speaker in the last stanza makes rather a mockery of himself, first urging a doubter to find her, and then refusing to go see even if she is close, alleging that she would be false before he arrived. It's a rather coy and original appropriation of the misogynist voice.

"The Undertaking"
quatrains of abab rhyme in iambic tetrameter. The poem starts with the speaker claiming that he has done a braver deed than all the worthies (including, presumably, King Arthur). A yet braver thing is to not impart it. He implies that imparting it is futile, since the material has been lost, rather like the futility of "the skill of specular stone." What is to impart? That it is best to love someone for their inward qualities, rather than outward adornment. If one finds "Virtue attired in woman...  / And dare love that, and say so too, / And forget the He and She;" well, great! I'm mystified by the last line - is it meant to forget common formal address? Is it wiping away gender altogether? That's the leap I want to make, but it might be a misunderstanding, almost as big as the profane men who would misunderstand this sort of love.