First Post! On the nature of poetry!

25/1/2012

8 Comments

 
Consider this:

‘Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar’ (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

How does this quote about the nature of poetry resonate with Donne’s metaphysical poetry?

GHE
8 Comments
Ben Foley
25/1/2012 06:14:33 am

Donne once stated that "Poetry is a counterfeit creation, and makes things that are not, as though they were", which, in conjunction with Shelley's idea that poetry possesses the ability to make 'familiar object's be as if they were not familiar', proposes the unrivalled ability Donne's metaphysical poetry has when exploring the philosophies of love on a cosmic level.

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Mr Henderson
25/1/2012 06:35:39 am

Very good observation Ben. Put both comments together and what can we apply to the metaphayiscals? Remember that Shelley is a Romantic and they believed that Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth. What are we learning about the literalness and re-presentation of reality in metaphysical poetry?

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Rachel
29/1/2012 05:05:13 pm

As I write poetry myself I have a different way of looking at poetry. I believe that it is purely a way to express a personal thought, feeling or experience. Although some might say that it is an intellectual exercise, it is very difficult to write about something you have no idea about, and therfore poets draw upon a collection of experiences and feelings in able to write.

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GHE
30/1/2012 08:46:39 pm

Does Donne share your view of poetry? In what ways does he extend your idea of it being something more than an intellectual exercise?

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Rachel
31/1/2012 03:24:57 am

He articulates that people are not 'free' until they are truely in love, and to have feelings as strong as this about love he must have experience on the matter. He also tells his Mistress that to 'teach' her,he is 'naked first' demonstrating that his has knowledge from experince about physical love.

Rachel
31/1/2012 03:26:45 am

So many typing mistakes in that...

Nivine
30/1/2012 02:25:56 am

This quote supports Donne's metaphysical poetry as he "makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar", for example - when he says "Until I labour, I in labour lie", is he talking about the nature of childbirth or is he critising and making it insignificant? There is evidence in Donne's poems that his metaphors have more than one meaning, therefore supporting the idea that he makes things seem as if they were not.

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GHE
30/1/2012 08:48:03 pm

Thanks for this comment. 'He makes things seem as if they were not.' Why? What is he trying to do?

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