1. POETRY-1 (ENG403)
LECTURE – 26

2. RECAP OF LECTURE 25 Love Songs Holy Sonnets
Go and Catch a Falling Star
Love’s Alchemy
The Sun Rising
A Valediction: Of Weeping
Holy Sonnets

3. SONNET Derived from Italian “Sonetto” Meaning “little song”
A poem that is written in a specific format
Consists of 14 Lines
Rhyme Scheme
Iambic Pentameter
4 Quatrains

4. TYPES OF SONNETS Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet
a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-c-d, e-e
Shakespearean Sonnet (English)
a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g
Spenserian Sonnet
a-b-a-b, b-c-b-c, c-d-c-d, e-e

5. PARTS OF A SONNET Octave (Lines 1-8) Sestet (Lines 9-14)
Problem, conflict, question
Sestet (Lines 9-14)
Resolution, conclusion

6. DONNE’S POETRY
Love poetry
Holy Sonnets

7. JOHN DONNE Religious Poetry- Divine Poems Holy Sonnets- 19
Love Poetry- 1590
Religious Poetry
Published(1633)
Love Songs and Sonnets

8. HOLY SONNETS Dramatic Argumentative Tone
May or may not be biographical
Contemplation on religious conviction
Themes
Divine Judgment
Divine Love
modest penance

9. COMPARISON OF LOVE SONGS & HOLY SONNETS
Fervor
Emotions
Wit
Compassion
Holy Sonnets
Personal
Passionate
Forceful
Assertive
Fearful/apprehensive

10. SETTING & CHARACTER IN HOLY SONNET
Not a specific place
A moment
Significant to the speaker
Character
God
Angels
Christ
Death
His own soul

11. THEMES OF HOLY SONNETS
Religious in Nature
Sin
Grace
Salvation

12. REVIEW OF LECTURE 25 Thou Hast Made Me
I am a Little World Made Cunningly
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree
Death, Be Not Proud

13. HOLY SONNET 9 “If poisonous minerals, and if that tree”
Tree- The Tree of Knowledge in Heaven

14. If poisonous minerals, and if that tree
Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous?
And mercy being easy and glorious
To God, in his stern wrath why threatens he?
But who am I, that dare dispute with thee,
O God? Oh! of thine only worthy blood,
And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drown in it my sins' black memory.
That thou remember them, some claim as debt;
I think it mercy if thou wilt forget.

15. If poisonous minerals, and if that tree
14 Lines
Mixture: Petrarchan & Shakespearean Sonnet
3 Quatrains & a Couplet
Rhyme Scheme: abba abba acca dd
Addresses God
Tree- forbidden tree in Heaven

16. Tree- tree of knowledge in Heaven Lecherous- lust
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us, If lecherous goats, if serpents envious Cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?
Tree- tree of knowledge in Heaven
Lecherous- lust

17. Stern- uncompromising Wrath- anger
Why should intent or reason, born in me, Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous? And mercy being easy and glorious To God, in his stern wrath why threatens he?
Heinous- terrible
Stern- uncompromising
Wrath- anger

18. But who am I, that dare dispute with thee, O God. Oh
But who am I, that dare dispute with thee, O God? Oh! of thine only worthy blood, And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood, And drown in it my sins' black memory.
Black- bad
Lethean flood- request for forgiveness,
in mythology, the river Lethe caused total forgetfulness.
sin's black memory- the speaker's sins have left a bad mark on God's memory.

19. That thou remember them, some claim as debt; I think it mercy if thou wilt forget.
Debt- liability

20. HOLY SONNET 10 "Death be not proud, though some have called thee”
Addresses death

21. Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die

22. DEATH BE NOT PROUD, THOUGH SOME HAVE CALLED THEE
14 Lines
Mixture: Petrarchan & Shakespearean Sonnet
3 Quatrains & a Couplet
Rhyme Scheme: abba abba cddc ee

23. Personification of Death
Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Personification of Death

24. Comparison of death to sleep
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Comparison of death to sleep

25. Its dependence on others Comparison with tranquilizer & magic
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
Its dependence on others
Comparison with tranquilizer & magic

26. One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die
Death as mortal being

27. REVIEW OF LECTURE 26 If poisonous minerals, and if that tree
Death, Be Not Proud