British Literature

First off, I really enjoyed reading John Donne's work. I remember reading a lot of poems by him in my AP English class in high school, so I liked that it was at least somewhat familiar to me.

What I find the most interesting about his work is how drastically it changes over the years. He makes one huge change, and that comes in the subject matter. In both poems we read this week, he's clearly a romantic, always writing about his latest exploit as if this current fling is the single love of his life. I think these poems make his life style clear to us, especially because many poets of his time lived similarly, moving from woman to woman and constantly writing poetry about it as though each woman were of any significance.

The interesting thing, is that years later, as if out of nowhere, Donne starts writing strictly religious poetry, such as his Holy Sonnets (I think that's what they're called). They reflect his same style, almost writing about religion as though it were one of his exploits. He uses that same sensitivity, that same romantic styled love to reflect his relationship with God. I remember in one in particular where he describes God's love as being similar to rape. Interesting metaphor, I must say...

Anyway, I just thought it was really interesting how much his subject matter changes, so I thought I'd make note of that.