1. The Flea by John Donne Introduction to British Literature May 12-13, 2015

2. John Donne born into one of the most notable English Catholic families of t he age. In 1592, he was again in London to be admitted into Lincoln's Inn where he met Thomas and John Egerton. Falling in love with Ann More, the niece of Lady Egerton. Ann was not yet sixteen, whom he married in the end. Being a gre at scandal, it stopped all his career. Under pressure from Jam es, Donne relinquished his desire for secular office and dedic ated himself to taking holy orders. On 23rd January 1615 he was ordained deacon and priest at St. Paul's Cathedral. On 31st March Donne died. Shortly after he was buried in St. Paul's.

3. Metaphysical Poetry Metaphysical poetry of the 17th c. is cha racterized by a strong dependence on irony and paradox and by the use of the conceit as well as such figures as catachresi s and oxymoron. Its strategy of address is ty pically dramatic rather than narrative or de scriptive. In its earlier manifestations (e. g. the Songs and Sonnets of Donne), metaph ysical poetry was further distinguished by hig hly original attitudes toward sexual love.

4. Conceit An unusually far-fetched or elaborate meta phor or simile presenting a surprisingly apt parallel between two apparently dissimilar things or feelings: Conceits often employ the devices of hype rbole, paradox, and oxymoron.