Handy revision guide for John Donne's Love's Exchange Poem in his Selected Poems Book, useful for any exam board studying John Donne, with insightful and detailed notes on all of the learning objectives {AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4 and AO5}
A-Level Literature: Revision Guide for Love’s Exchange
AO1: BIG IDEA(s) of the poem?
● Donne personifies love, and we see the speaker speaking to this personified love to reach the metaphysical
values in a more understandable way. The importance of love is key to this poem, as Donne explores the slight
negative aspects of love, but decides that the positives are too important to dismiss, and therefore emphasizes the
importance of love.
AO2: Top 5 form/structure/language methods used to communicate meaning to the reader?
1. Importance of Love
“non obstante on nature’s law”- uses lawyerly language to emphasize the necessity and the significance of love,
expresses that however dangerous love is, it isn’t standing in the way of the law
“Love’s minion”- capitalized to highlight its importance, the use of noun “minion” suggests that love is more powerful than
the King and rules everyone, quite a derogatory term could suggest that the power of love is quite patronising
2. Nature of Love
“thy first motions trust”- expressing that he doesn’t trust the actions that love makes him do, which also ties into the
importance of love as it overrides his mental state
“enraged with me”- suggests that love is annoyed with him {perhaps because he isn’t understanding the importance of
love, or he isn’t conforming to the conventional actions of love}
“this face…this face”- the echo of Faustus emphasizing that he has found absolute beauty
3. The Title, Form, Tone and Structure
“Love’s Exchange”- literal money exchange, bargain
Form- first person monologue, directly addressing this newly personified love
Tone- quite a firm tone, showing certainty of love’s importance
Structure- 6 stanzas of 7 lines, and regular rhyme scheme {with rhyming couplets} conveying a continuity and certainty
that love will always be very important
4. Negative parts of Love
“any devil else but you”- referring the love as the Devil, connotations of deadly and evil
“Mines in the earth”- referring to Hell
“Love’s warfare”- military language, suggesting that love is the enemy
AO3: RELEVANT contextual considerations?
● Doctor Faustus
● Donne as a lawyer
AO5: Possible interpretations and/or useful critical quotations?
● C.S Lewis- “Love is a god” definitely applicable to this poem as Donne praises love to an almost Godly level, as it
rules everyone, so he gives it the characteristics of a Godly figure
Possible THEMES?
● Love~the importance of
it
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