How does John Donne establish a distinctive voice in the expression of his concern?
...remities of his faith, it can lead to a reading which explores his inner issues, hence a psychoanalytical reading. Throughout the poem, Donne refers to the sins he has committed against God and that he should be punished harshly for them. “Burn off my rust and deformity” shows how Donne believes strictly that he should be punished for his sins; he feels that he is unworthy of God’s love until he has been punished. From a psychoanalytical reading, it is obvious that Donne has some inner issues related explicitly to his faith and more importantly; where he stands before God’s eyes. The emotions that he portrays from a psychoanalytical point of view are very extreme and add to the argument that through his extreme usage of emotions, techniques and conceits, Donne creates a distinctive voice in the expression of his concern, psychoanalytical being one of that voices that interpreted from his concern. However, although “GF 1613” has a few viewpoints to be taken; religious, psychoanalytical, Marxist, Donne’s real expression of concern is an atheist reading. “GF 1613” is a poem full of language techniques and clever conceits, it is no doubt that John Donne’s intention in creating this poem was for the responder to appreciate his poetic skills and aptitude for writing. Throughout the poem, there is an abundance of techniques, including metaphors, smiles, rhymes, analogies and many others for the responder to realize and value. One of Donne’s metaphors include “let man’s soul be a sphere” meaning let man’s soul be a planet, and this leads on to the analogy of “subject to foreign motion, lose their own” which means the foreign motions affect the planet’s path, referring to influences which affect man’s growth. This is an example of Donne’s clever analogies which no doubt was used in order for the responder to appreciate. It is clear that throughout “GF 1613” John Donne’s concern was to get the responder to understand his language techniques and appreciate them. Even though other readings spark off from this poem, the real expression of concern was an atheist reading, a reading which focuses not on the religious side of the poem, but rather on the literature side. In “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, John Donne uses a very distinct voice which allows his expression of concern to be interpreted in different ways including Feminist, Cynical and Romantic. If a feminist were to read Donne’s poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, there will be plenty of evidence within the text to show that Donne is a chauvinist. At the very beginning of the poem, there is a quote “as virtuous men passe mildly away” which has no reference to women at all, this is an implication that there are no virtuous women. This leads on to show that Donne believes women should stay in the house, minding their own business while the men go outside and do the real work. This is shown by yet again the same quote “as virtuous men passe mildly away”, it makes it seem like women will always be in the same spot, never leaving while men come and go. This is supported by the circle/compass conceit at the near-end of the poem where Donne uses the analogy of a compass representing him and his lover (the man being the leg of compass travelling around making the circle while the woman is the supporting leg). This symbolizes the fact that the woman, being the supporting leg has to stay put while the man goes around drawing the circle, hence doing the work. This clever conceit shows the extremity of John Donne’s analogies and how it creates his distinct voice, allowing many interpretations to be created. Another interpretation that can be taken from this poem is a cynical point of view. Donne shows throughout his poem, his arrogance portrays his self-importance. Through his quotes, he makes it as though their love is above everybody’s love, “dull sublunary lover’s love. He condescends the other lover’s by implying that the rest of them need physical attributes in their love in order to maintain the relationship while he and his lover need not the physical touch, their love is based mainly on the spiritual and emotional sense. However, by saying that he and his lover does not need physical attributes in their relationship, he is proving to the r...