What is a conceit in literature, especially poetry? A conceit can be defined as an elaborate and fanciful metaphor or analogy, or a witty and ingenious comparison between two things which do not naturally belong to each other. Comparing a woman to a red rose is not really a conceit, […]
What do you get your beloved for your one-year anniversary? John Donne wrote this poem, ‘The Anniversary’, to his beloved. As well as being a fine love poem, ‘The Anniversary’ is also an example of metaphysical poetry, so it’s worth summarising the content of the poem. And the best way […]
Selected by Dr Oliver Tearle What is ‘metaphysical poetry’, and who were the metaphysical poets? The term, which was popularised by Samuel Johnson in the eighteenth century, is often used to describe the work of poets including John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell, although Johnson originally applied it to […]
By Dr Oliver Tearle ‘The Garden’ is one of Andrew Marvell’s most famous poems, and takes the form of a meditation in a garden; this setting has led critics to interpret the poem as a response to the original biblical garden, Eden, while other commentators have understood the poem as […]
A commentary on a classic Donne poem by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love’: such an opening line demonstrates with refreshing directness John Donne’s genius for grabbing our attention right from the first line of a poem. ‘The Canonization’ is a difficult poem, […]