Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne - School Essays

Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne



"The Indifferent" by John Donne is a relatively simple love poem in
comparison to his other, more complicated works. In this poem, "he presents a
lover who regards constancy as a 'vice' and promiscuity as the path of virtue
and good sense" (Hunt 3). Because of Donne's Christian background, this poem
was obviously meant to be a comical look at values that were opposite the ones
held by Christians. According to Clay Hunt, "['The Indifferent'] is probably
quite an early poem because of the simplicity and obviousness of its literary
methods, its untroubled gaiety, and its pose of libertinism, which all suggest
that Donne wrote [the poem] when he was a young man about town in ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

of the poem, and has therefore been debated among
the critics. While most critics believe that the audience changes from men, to
women, then to a single woman, or something along those lines, Gregory Machacek
believes that the audience remains throughout the poem as "two women who have
discovered that they are both lovers of the speaker and have confronted him
concerning his infidelity" (1). His strongest argument is that when the
speaker says, "I can love her, and her, and you and you," he first points out
two random nearby women for "her, and her", then at the two that he is talking
to for "you and you."
The first stanza begins rather simply. Donne starts every line with
either "I can love" or "Her who." According to Hunt, the tone of the first
stanza goes from "weary and patient entreaty" to "a climax of irritation at the
end" (4) in the lines "I can love her, and her, and you and you / I can love any,
so she be not true." The first eight lines simply list opposite ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login


CITE THIS PAGE:

Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne. (2004, May 30). Retrieved March 29, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critical-Analysis-Of-Indifferent-John-Donne/8664
"Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 30 May. 2004. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critical-Analysis-Of-Indifferent-John-Donne/8664>
"Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne." Essayworld.com. May 30, 2004. Accessed March 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critical-Analysis-Of-Indifferent-John-Donne/8664.
"Critical Analysis Of "The Indifferent" By John Donne." Essayworld.com. May 30, 2004. Accessed March 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Critical-Analysis-Of-Indifferent-John-Donne/8664.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 5/30/2004 09:49:02 AM
Category: Poetry & Poets
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1136
Pages: 5

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Critical Analysis Of "The Indif...
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved