Week 8 (I think?): Donne

What I found most interesting about Donne was the vast difference between his early poetry and later poetry. The early poems focus on attaining a pure, true love (lust included) while the later focus on his relationship with God. Although these two subjects seem to be very separate, I think the progression of them and the way Donne writes them connects these two periods very well. His style of writing doesn't change, just the topic he is writing about. In fact, I think that his unique way of looking at a subject is what marks Donne as such a great poet.

I think that it is very telling that Donne first writes about sex and romance, but in a spiritual way then his writing progresses to religion and God. His private writings are all self deprecating, almost as if these writings are a direct response to his younger writings. In this way they are connected.

I really liked Donne's poetry more so than any of the other poets we've read so far. He is funny, clever, and actually genuine in his writing it seems. I don't think he was writing just for the sake of writing a love sonnet or because that was what was "cool" at the time, or even writing about God because he wanted to preach. I got a sense that he was really writing from his heart. That gains him a lot of respect as a poet in my opinion. Go Donne!