John Donne 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”?

“Air and Angels”

1. The poem addresses the question of how love at first sight is possible. How does Donne explain this phenomenon in his case?

2. Why can't purely spiritual love exist? Why is the physical body of the beloved necessary?

3. Then, it turns out that the physical beauty is too overwhelming. What metaphor does Donne use to illustrate that? What is “pinnace” and why is it overturned?

4. The poet struggles between two extremes, realizing that his love can't be solely spiritual or physical. What is the way out of his dilemma?

5. Donne refers to the old belief (dating back to Thomas Aquinas) about the nature of angels. What are angels like and how is this comparison relevant to his love?

6. What is your reading of the final lines? Does Donne claim women are inferior or merely different from men?

“Batter My Heart”

1. What does the word “batter” imply?

2. What figure of speech is used in line 3 “That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me” and also in the final couplet?

3. Why does the poet compare himself to a “usurped town”? Why is he unable to admit God within?

4. What is the role of reason in the process of conversion, as depicted in this sonnet?

5. Who is “the enemy” from line 10?

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