DONNE CRITICS

Question 1

Amanda Boyd

Answer 1

The Dynamics of male/female relationships in John Donne’s love poetry:
Argues that Donne presents a complex and innovative portrayal of male-female relationships that both reflects and challenges the times’ patriarchal norms
- Intimate mutual relationships rather than petrarchan idealisation from afar
- Misogyny reflecting social norms and appreciation of women’s intellectual and spiritual qualities

Question 2

Achsah Guibbory

Answer 2

• “persistent misogyny, indeed a revulsion at the female body”
• Considers Donne’s descriptions of female bodies as confirming misogyny

Question 3

Chahat Rampal

Answer 3

“Donne’s poetry is about sexual ecstasy; physicality is how one achieves the divine.”
“He merged love and physicality with the divine, which is actually true, pure love.”

Question 4

Dr David Naugle

Answer 4

“For the enormously complex and vexed John Donne,…life was love – the love of women in his early life; then the love of his wife (Anne More), and finally the love of God”

Question 5

Joan Bennet

Answer 5

His poetry was “the work of one who has tasted every fruit in love’s orchard. . .” - Donne sought to comprehend love in every possible aspect

Question 6

Andreasan: The three influences of Donne

Answer 6

• Ovid, satrical Roman writer exploring love
• Petrarch, a more serious explorer of love
• Christian Platonism, transcendent love

Question 7

Steve Davies

Answer 7

“[Donne’s poetry] is less an expression of love than a record of rape. “

Question 8

TS Eliot

Answer 8

“Impossible to isolate his ecstasy, his sensuality, and his cynicism.”