Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
- Donne, John
- John Donne's early life
- John Donne - from Catholic to Protestant
- John Donne's marriage and its aftermath
- John Donne - The Reverend Dean
- Herbert, George
- Crashaw, Richard
- Vaughan, Henry
- Marvell, Andrew
- King, Henry
- Lovelace, Richard
- Cowley, Abraham
- Philips, Katherine
- Cleveland, John
- Social / political context
- Religious / philosophical context
- Literary context: ideas and innovations
- Aire and Angels
- A Hymn to God the Father
- A Hymn to God, my God, in my Sicknesse
- A Nocturnall upon St. Lucies day
- At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
- A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Synopsis of Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Commentary on Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Language and tone in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Structure and versification in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Imagery and symbolism in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Themes in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- A Valediction: of Weeping
- Batter my heart
- Death be not Proud
- Elegie XIX: Going to Bed
- Elegie XVI: On his Mistris
- Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward
- Lovers' Infiniteness
- Oh my blacke Soule!
- Satyre III: 'On Religion'
- Show me Deare Christ
- Since She Whom I Lov'd
- Song: Goe, and catche a falling starre
- The Anniversarie
- The Dreame
- The Extasie
- The Flea
- The Good-morrow
- The Sunne Rising
- This is my playes last scene
- Twicknam Garden
- What if this present
- Affliction I
- Easter Wings
- Jordan I
- Jordan II
- Love II
- Prayer I
- The Church-floore
- The Collar
- Hymn in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- Hymn to St Teresa
- St Mary Magdalene, or the Weeper
- To the Countesse of Denbigh
- Ascension - Hymn
- The Night
- The Retreate
- The Water-fall
- A Dialogue between Soul and Body
- On a Drop of Dew
- The Coronet
- The Definition of Love
- The Garden
- The Mower Against Gardens
- The Mower to the Glo-Worms
- The Mower's Song
- The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun
- The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers
- To his Coy Mistress
- Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax
Imagery and symbolism in Nocturnall
The main strand of imagery is to do with alchemy, a forerunner of modern chemistry. Literally, the object of alchemy was to discover a way of changing base metal into gold. There was a growing awareness in Donne's day that this not possible but alchemy had made a number of scientific discoveries and invented various instruments and procedures:
- quintessence' (l.15)
- ‘love's limbecke' (l.21), an instrument used in distillation
- ‘Elixir' (l.29)
- ‘properties' (l.34).
The conceit is that Donne's sense of non-being or nothingness is being chemically analysed.
‘I am by her death ... Of the first nothing, the Elixir grown' (ll.28-29). The ‘first nothing' refers back to Genesis 1:2, before the creation of the world. The hyperbole lies in the idea that this absolute nothingness has been distilled even further!
- Look at the alchemical images in lines 12-18; 21-22
- What do you think is their meaning?
- What is ‘an ordinary nothing' (l.35)?
- How could such a nothing have ‘shadow, a light, and body'?
The passage of the seasons
The other central image is the passage of the seasons.
- Although this is deep winter, spring and summer are mentioned, brought back by the sun, at least ‘the lesser Sunne', his beloved being ‘my Sunne' (l.37)
- So we have the lovers' world again, the microcosm, which seemed outside any seasonal change in Lovers' Infinitenesse, and ironically still lies outside any change: ‘nor will my Sunne renew'
- The line ‘Drownd the whole world, us two' (l.24) echoes the imagery in Donne's A Valediction: of Weeping
- Ordinary lovers are bidden anticipate ‘new lust' and told to ‘Enjoy your summer all'
- ‘the Goat' refers to the astrological sign, whilst the goat as an animal was symbolic of a lustful nature
- By contrast, he will return to the Saint's Day, as his beloved and the saint become one person in the last two lines
- Just as for a Saint's Day there is meant to be some service or ‘Vigill' in commemoration, so this time will be the ‘Eve' or day before his own death.
- Look up ‘hydroptique' (l.6)
- What sort of an image is it?
- What is an ‘Epitaph' (l.9)?
- In what sense does it apply to the poet?
- Do you notice any other significant images?
- English Standard Version
- King James Version
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