A-Level English: John Donne Poems
"Summaries are about the author's arguments and details; - correct answer...They are
not the place for personal opinions or judgments.
A summary can be completed in writing, - correct answer...but also orally, dramatically,
aftistically, visually, physically and musically
Deleting - correct A Jet Ring Sent - correct answer-Directly adresses the adressee
-As love has broken the symbolism of the ring and the reflection of love from that using
metaphors to compare
-The value of love as well as the value of the speaker
-Marriage has false meaning linked with the marriage idea differently in the anniversary
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning - correct answerSummary: A speaker prepares for
separation from his lover, telling her they must part calmly and peacefully. He reassures
her their love is so spiritually great that they will not really be separated, except
physically; they remain united, like the legs of a compass, they seem separate but are
part of one soul.
Key image: The lovers as like a compass, physically separate but also united and
creating a perfect circle of unity.
Key context: science, Galileo's creation of the compass in 1609, Petrarchan love poetry,
Donne's travels (e.g to France in 1611).
Air and Angels - correct answerSummary: The speaker explores two different kinds of
love, the spiritual and the physical, and concludes that neither sort of love is complete
without the other. He compares that love must be spiritual, but also manifest in the
physical; a man needs a woman to manifest the physical aspect of his love, just as
angels need air to manifest in.
Key image: Male / spiritual love as like a pure angel, which needs a female / less pure
physical love to manifest itself in.
Key context: Beliefs regarding angels (e.g Thomas Aquinas)
Elegy: His Picture - correct answerThe speaker presents his mistress with a miniature
portrait of himself before he goes on a voyage.
- imagery of change and decay
- imagery of war
- antithesis
Elegy: To His Mistress Going To Bed - correct answerSummary: In this erotic poem, the
speaker aims to seduce a woman into sleeping with him by telling her to remove her
, clothes. In the final lines of the poem he adds an almost comical twist by revealing that
he has already undressed himself, and thus she should join him because she doesn't
need to be wearing clothes when he is naked.
Key image: The lover as the New World and the speaker as the adventurer discovering
and conquering her.
Key context: Age of Discovery, America, 'Mahomet's paradise', expanding imperialism
The Anniversary - correct answerSummary: On a couple's first anniversary, the speaker
asserts that their love is pure, and their spiritual bond is immortal and transcends death
despite the inevitable passage of time. He imagines them elevated to regal status, and
at the end of the poem looks forwards to their long reign together.
Key image: The speaker and his lover as perfect, unique Princes, reigning on Earth
before they are elevated to heaven with other lovers.
Key context: Renaissance princes and city states, Christian views on the soul, Catullus
(Roman poet who Donne mimics in the line 'let us love nobly and live')
The Apparition - correct answerSummary: A a jilted lover who believes he will be killed
by his love's rejection, says that when he is dead, he says he will return to haunt the
woman as a ghost. However he will not tell her what his ghost-self will whisper to her,
so that she will feel anxious about the future. He urges her to repent now rather than
face his wrath later.
Key image: The woman, who is pale and shivering, as more like a ghost than the actual
ghost himself.
Key context: Aspen = shivering tree, quicksilver = mercury
The Canonisation - correct answerSummary: The speaker suggests that he and his
lover are holy figures and deserve to be elevated to sainthood. In the first two stanzas
he admonishes a listener who criticises his love, saying that it causes no harm. Then he
describes how unique and spiritual their relationship is, to the point where they become
divine and people on earth attempt to mimic and worship them.
Key image: The speaker and his lover dying for love and becoming saints, with poetry
acting as a tomb to memorialise and celebrate them.
Key context: Catholic saint worship, the Court (which Donne references and dismisses)
The Flea - correct answerSummary: The speaker compares sexual intercourse with his
lover to a flea sucking both of their bloods to convince her to sleep with him. In the
second stanza he tells her not to kill the flea, as by doing so she'll also kill herself and
him, who are united in the flea's blood. In the third stanza he reacts to the killing of the
"Summaries are about the author's arguments and details; - correct answer...They are
not the place for personal opinions or judgments.
A summary can be completed in writing, - correct answer...but also orally, dramatically,
aftistically, visually, physically and musically
Deleting - correct A Jet Ring Sent - correct answer-Directly adresses the adressee
-As love has broken the symbolism of the ring and the reflection of love from that using
metaphors to compare
-The value of love as well as the value of the speaker
-Marriage has false meaning linked with the marriage idea differently in the anniversary
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning - correct answerSummary: A speaker prepares for
separation from his lover, telling her they must part calmly and peacefully. He reassures
her their love is so spiritually great that they will not really be separated, except
physically; they remain united, like the legs of a compass, they seem separate but are
part of one soul.
Key image: The lovers as like a compass, physically separate but also united and
creating a perfect circle of unity.
Key context: science, Galileo's creation of the compass in 1609, Petrarchan love poetry,
Donne's travels (e.g to France in 1611).
Air and Angels - correct answerSummary: The speaker explores two different kinds of
love, the spiritual and the physical, and concludes that neither sort of love is complete
without the other. He compares that love must be spiritual, but also manifest in the
physical; a man needs a woman to manifest the physical aspect of his love, just as
angels need air to manifest in.
Key image: Male / spiritual love as like a pure angel, which needs a female / less pure
physical love to manifest itself in.
Key context: Beliefs regarding angels (e.g Thomas Aquinas)
Elegy: His Picture - correct answerThe speaker presents his mistress with a miniature
portrait of himself before he goes on a voyage.
- imagery of change and decay
- imagery of war
- antithesis
Elegy: To His Mistress Going To Bed - correct answerSummary: In this erotic poem, the
speaker aims to seduce a woman into sleeping with him by telling her to remove her
, clothes. In the final lines of the poem he adds an almost comical twist by revealing that
he has already undressed himself, and thus she should join him because she doesn't
need to be wearing clothes when he is naked.
Key image: The lover as the New World and the speaker as the adventurer discovering
and conquering her.
Key context: Age of Discovery, America, 'Mahomet's paradise', expanding imperialism
The Anniversary - correct answerSummary: On a couple's first anniversary, the speaker
asserts that their love is pure, and their spiritual bond is immortal and transcends death
despite the inevitable passage of time. He imagines them elevated to regal status, and
at the end of the poem looks forwards to their long reign together.
Key image: The speaker and his lover as perfect, unique Princes, reigning on Earth
before they are elevated to heaven with other lovers.
Key context: Renaissance princes and city states, Christian views on the soul, Catullus
(Roman poet who Donne mimics in the line 'let us love nobly and live')
The Apparition - correct answerSummary: A a jilted lover who believes he will be killed
by his love's rejection, says that when he is dead, he says he will return to haunt the
woman as a ghost. However he will not tell her what his ghost-self will whisper to her,
so that she will feel anxious about the future. He urges her to repent now rather than
face his wrath later.
Key image: The woman, who is pale and shivering, as more like a ghost than the actual
ghost himself.
Key context: Aspen = shivering tree, quicksilver = mercury
The Canonisation - correct answerSummary: The speaker suggests that he and his
lover are holy figures and deserve to be elevated to sainthood. In the first two stanzas
he admonishes a listener who criticises his love, saying that it causes no harm. Then he
describes how unique and spiritual their relationship is, to the point where they become
divine and people on earth attempt to mimic and worship them.
Key image: The speaker and his lover dying for love and becoming saints, with poetry
acting as a tomb to memorialise and celebrate them.
Key context: Catholic saint worship, the Court (which Donne references and dismisses)
The Flea - correct answerSummary: The speaker compares sexual intercourse with his
lover to a flea sucking both of their bloods to convince her to sleep with him. In the
second stanza he tells her not to kill the flea, as by doing so she'll also kill herself and
him, who are united in the flea's blood. In the third stanza he reacts to the killing of the
