English Literature

Week 15

Please read:

John Donne:

• “Song”, p. 279.
• “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, p. 280-281.
• From Holy Sonnets
  • Sonnet 10, p. 282.
  • Sonnet 14, p. 282.
• Meditation 17, p. 283-4.

George Herbert:

• “Easter Wings”, p. 287.
• “Virtue”, p. 287.

John Milton:

• “On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three”, p. 293.
• “On His Blindness”, p. 293.
• Paradise Lost, Bk. 1 (selection), p. 294-300.

The King James Bible, Gen. 1-3, pp. 302-306.

“Reader’s Note” on translation of the Bible, p. 307.

The Changing English Language, p. 308.

For class this week, consider particularly:

• The book discusses the idea of the metaphysical conceit. The word “conceit” here means nothing like its more common modern usage (though the ideas are not unrelated; it’s more like “concept”).
• How does the metaphysical conceit function (consider especially Donne’s “Valediction”).
• How does the metaphysical conceit differ from other kinds of extended metaphor (for example, those found in Homer or Vergil, if you recall)?

Optional extra reading:

• At the Luminarium site you can find a biography of Donne and a large collection of his works;
• Also at the Luminarium site you can find a biography of George Herbert and a relatively complete collection of his works.
• Check here for “L'Allegro”, and here for “Il Penseroso”, a matched pair of poems on contrary states of mind. These are together linked to the larger Milton Reading Room site at Dartmouth College, which is well worth investigating if you find Milton to your taste.

In view of the approach of Christmas, it may be worth a quick extra glance at John Milton, whose “Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity” is one of his more effective pieces. A blessed Christmas to all.

Please take the unit review quiz for Unit III.