John Donne (1572-1631) wrote many Petrarchan love poems, poems in which the lover is unrequited and frustrated, though he rarely used the sonnet form to do so; in most of his poems with Petrarchan speakers, he reworks the tradition through playful or serious innovations.  Donne also wrote distinctly anti-Petrarchan and anti-Platonic poetry, much of which is Ovidian in character.  With these facts in mind, consider the three works assigned for today.

I.   "The Indifferent"
This is a poem clearly influenced by the Ovidian approach to love.  Be prepared to discuss how the wit of the poem operates.  Discussion leaders on this work:  Calandra, Jo, Dave

II.  "The Blossom"
This poem is a variation on another important poetic genre dating back to classical literature, one that we will see again later in the course: the "carpe diem" poem.  The Latin phrase means "seize the day," and the poem is usually addressed to a young woman, attempting to seduce her by urging her to enjoy life and love while she is still young and beautiful.  In Donne's poem, however, the woman is not the addressee; and that's the twist.

Questions:
1.  To whom or what is the first stanza addressed, and what point is the speaker trying to make?  Given the "carpe diem" tradition, what does the reader tend to assume in reading this stanza?
2.  The rest of the poem (stanzas 2-5) involves a sort of dialogue between the speaker and an addressee in a situation analogous to that of the addressee in stanza one.  Who is the addressee in the body of the poem?  Explain the analogy between stanza one and stanza two and how it undermines the reader's traditional expectations for a carpe diem poem.
3.  What thought processes does the speaker attribute to his heart?  Paraphrase the argument attributed to the addressee in stanza three.
5.  In stanzas 4-5, the speaker makes some rather cynical responses to the addressee's arguments.  Paraphrase the speaker's response.
6.  In stanza two, the lady to whom the addressee is devoted is referred to as "a forbidden or forbidding tree" and as a "Sun."  What do these terms tell us about her relationship with the speaker?
7.  What does the speaker mean in lines 27-28? ("A naked thinking heart, that makes no show, / Is to a woman but a kind of ghost")?
8.  What is the tone of lines 31-32? ("Practice may make her know some other part, / But take my word, she doth not know a heart.")
9.  In stanza 5, the speaker proposes a possible cure for the frustrations of unrequited love.  What does the cure involve?

III.  "Elegy 19: To His Mistress Going to Bed"
This poem is an Ovidian elegy (review info on elegy in the Study Guide for February 14).
Questions:
1.  How does this elegy by Donne compare to Marlowe's translations of Ovid's elegies?  How does Donne's poem reflect Ovid's influence?
2.  This Elegy might be cited as an example of Anti-Platonism, as it stresses the importance of the body and of physical expression of love. The speaker of this poem emphasizes physical sexuality; but he twists the language of Neo-Platonism itself to make his point! Be prepared to discuss how he does so.  (For a review of Neo-Platonism, reread Castiglione and/or Spenser, and the Study Guide from February 5th).
3.  How do political and religious images and metaphors work in this poem?  (Consider them not merely in general terms, but in light of the specific political and religious issues current at the time the poem was written -- i.e., in the 1580's or 90's, near the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign).
4.  Watch for the puns, many of which are lewd.  How do they affect the overall tone and effect of the poem?