Metaphysical poets study questions
John Donne “The Sun Rising”
1. Why does the speaker scold the sun and call it “busy old fool”?
2. Line 4 in a humorous way reverses the natural order of things. In the natural world, it is the sun which regulates the changes of seasons. But what happens in the lovers' world as described by Donne?
3. What other jobs does the speaker find for the sun? Why are the speaker and his lover exempt from them?
4. In the second stanza, the speaker brags about how he can eclipse the sun. How can he do it and why won't he do it?
5. What paradoxical thing are the lover's eyes capable of?
6. What precious things is she compared to in ll. 17 - 20?
7. What power dynamic in this relationship is implied by the fact that in l. 18 the lover is “all states” and the speaker “all princes”?
8. The sun is old and the speaker suggests his duties should be made lighter - how?
9. The final line implies the model of the universe the speaker uses is still the old Ptolemaic one. How do we know this?
“The Flea”
1. What is the thing that the addressee denies to the speaker? Why is the flea the appropriate symbol of it?
2. The speaker argues that killing the flea would be three sins in one: murder, suicide and sacrilege - why?
3. The addressee kills the flea and says she does not feel any weaker. How does the speaker turn this around as an argument in his favour?
4. What does this poem and “The Sun Rising” have in common? Think about the scale of things described.
“Valediction, Forbidding Mourning”
1. Why is the death of virtuous men an appropriate image to illustrate the parting of the lovers?
2. The poem is based on the opposition between “ordinary” love and the sublime relationship between the speaker and his lover. “Trepidation of the spheres” is another image from Ptolemaic astronomy. What does it have to do with the love the speaker in Donne's poem feels?
3. What are “sublunary” lovers and why is their love inferior to the speaker's?
4. What does gold represent in the image of two lovers parting?
5. What are twin compasses? Who in this relationship is “the fixed foot” and who “the moving one”?
George Herbert “The Collar”
1. The collar means different things and is worn on different occasions. Who wears the collar and how do all these things influence the overall message of the poem?
2. “I will abroad!” What does the speaker want to escape from and where to?
3. “Shall I be still in suit?” What does the “suit” mean?
4. What is it that has stopped the speaker so far from getting out? Are the restrictions physical or psychological?
5. Why is the speaker frustrated with his life and what does he intend to do about it?
6. What is the meaning of the final two lines of the poem?
“Easter Wings”
1. This is one of Herbert's so-called shape poems, where the shape of the poem reflects its meaning. But it does something more than just represent the title graphically. Compare the first and the second halves of both stanzas - how do the shrinking and growing lines correspond to what is said in them?
2. Why is Easter mentioned in the title of the poem?
Andrew Marvell “To His Coy Mistress”
The poem begins with a supposition, “what-if” kind of sentence. What is this hypothetical situation the poet imagines?
Certain sound effects in the first part of the poem slow the reader down, while in the second part the poem speeds up. Can you tell why?
By referring to “the conversion of the Jews” Marvell alludes to a certain belief popular in his times. When, according to seventeenth-century people, was this event going to happen?
Why does the poet call his love “vegetable”?
What poetic tradition does the poet refer to by saying how much time he would like to spend on praising the individual parts of the lover's body?
After the warm fantasy of the first part the poet confronts it with reality. How does he describe it?
The poem is constructed like a logical argument: the first premise, the second premise and after the word “therefore” the conclusion. Can you spot the subtle logical fallacy in the reasoning?
Robert Herrick “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
1. The second line is the translation of a famous Latin maxim - which one?
2. Another Latin poem that Herrick echoes is Horace's ode “Eheu fugaces” (which could be summed up as “all things must decay”). What images used in the poem illustrate this?
3. What does “gathering rosebuds” stand for? What is the parallel between the Virgins addressed in the poem and the flowers?
4. What mythological reference does Herrick make by referring to the sun as a racing chariot?