Lecture notes
John Donne- The Canonization
- Institution
- CCEA
This is a comprehensive analysis of John Donne's poem 'The Cannonization.' It provides information on the context, form and structure and language and imagery of the
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THE CANNONIZATIONSUBJECT OF THE POEM
- Stanza 1: Argues against the disapproval of he and his mistresses’ love
- Stanza 2: Asks what harm their love is doing
- Stanza 3: Suggests they are better off for their love ( marks a pivotal shift in the poem)
- Stanza 4: Even if the world never accepts their love, because of the power of their love they
will be canonized and immortalised in poetry
- Stanza 5: The poet looks into the future where he and his lover will be prayed to as saints of
love
- There is a shift in tone- defensive to celebratory
FORM AND STRUCTURE
- The poem is made up of alternating lines of 8 and 10 syllables (iambic pentameter
alternating with alternating tetrameter
- The poem has an uneven rhythm but a regular rhyme scheme
- The alternating rhythm, continuous use of enjambment and the position of the caesuras
evoke the rhythms of the natural speaking voice
- The stanzaic form allows the poem to follow a dialectical structure
- The poem has an inventively witty structure- the first and last line of each stanza ends with
the word “love”- the use of the repetition has a subliminal effect as it emphasises their love
and creates structural unity in the poem
- The elongated nature of the poem suggests that, although the speaker appears blasé and
nonchalant about the criticism of his relationship, he is offended by the criticism
- The poem is an apostrophe to an unidentified objector to the speaker’s relationship.
(unusual- not apostrophe to mistress) The poem can be read as an extended defence and
justification of the poet’s relationship
LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY
Title
- The poem can be read as a religious conceit (canonization is the process by which a person
receives Sainthood). The religious nature of the poem reflects the deeply religious and highly
spiritual age to which Donne belonged. The 17th Century reader would have easily
recognised the various religious references
- The poem is a defence- at this point in his life, John Donne found himself having to defend
his illicit marriage to Anne Donne
- Through the religious conceit, the poem subverts the Petrarchan A common feature of
Petrarchanism was to view love as a kind of religion
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