John Donne Holy Sonnets Essay -- essays research papers

John Donne     Death is a very complicated vanquish that people view very differently in different situations. In John Donnes Holy Sonnets, he writes about death in conjectures X and xvii. Both meditations use many similar rhetorical devices and appeals, unless the tones of the meditations are very disparate. Donnes different messages in Meditations X and XVII convey tones of defiance and acquiescence towards death, respectively. His apparent change of attitude towards death could be accounted for by his differing life situations while he was writing the meditations mid-life, and near-death.     Meditation X, which Donne wrote in mid-life, has a very defiant and powerful tone. Donne begins the meditation by defying normal views of death, and saying how death, be not proud (Donne). In deprecating death, Donne shows how he does not fear something which mortals usually fear. His reckless satire of death is his appeal to pathos, specificall y the adult male emotion of happiness and decision to live Meditation X is a battle against an inevitable, insidious, and metaphysical force. In Meditation XVII, Donne begins instead by deprecating himself, conceding that he may think himself so much better than he is (Donne). This concession conveys a much more acquiescent and passive tone, appealing instead to the human emotions of melancholy and yearning to understand and accept death. Logos is also manipulated by Donne in...