These are also some beautiful lines in tis text! I understood exactly this in one of the earlier lines. Basically a lot of men do not give women the respect they deserve. They look at themselves above women and see themselves as superiors, but in reality it is women who gave birth to almost everything in life and they raised us and took care of us so basically if it were not for women bringing us into this world we would not have been possible.

Beautiful line! "Your Worth" and "No pen can express" basically saying that no words can possibly describe this persons worth.

Pointing out that God is always first and foremost above everything and everyone. They believed God was definitely the King above all kings in other words.

Loved the power and feminism of this piece, especially since it was written in a male-dominated period. I know many people will find Lanyar's writing a bit extreme and offensive, but for a time period where women often weren't heard, I think the main points are appropriate. For the second piece, it was a bit lengthy, but a beautiful tribute to Cookham. The imagery and personification describing Cookham was beautiful and really brought the place to life. From her writing, I believe Lanyer proves herself to be a great role model for women.

Personification of the flowers, grass, wind, and water, show how sad it was when the women left Cookham.

"like old people with gray hair"

Lots of nature imagery present in this poem. Really sets the scene of Cookham for the reader.

Sovereignty

There's a lot of speculation about Mary Magdalene's character, and people often forget that Jesus appeared to her first after his Resurrection.

If the Queen is in the mirror, it will look like a glorious and beautiful.

She wishes to be graced by the beams (beauty or presence?) of the queen.

It's nice seeing a poem from this time period that focuses on the greatness of women.

Personification

Emotionally beautiful

I didn't do the counting but I guess this is perhaps one of the most repetitive words in this poem. Lanyar uses diction that we usually use to depict women to describe nature.

The trees are not described as tall and strong, but have feminine qualities like protective and motherly.

I think “The Description of Cookham” is so beautifully written! The poem is a farewell to the beloved estate Cookham and its lady, the Countess of Cumberland. The imagery she uses embodies a great sense of femininity. The elements of nature such as flowers and fruits are personified to resemble women. In "Eve's Apologie," Lanyar portrays Eve from a feminine angle, which is quite different from the classical Biblical depiction. In the poem, Eve is like God's gift to Adam, rather than a seductress or sinner. Lanyar suggests that Adam’s inability to stop himself from eating the apple has been wrongly blamed on Eve. It's a very interesting angle and after reading this poem, I'm totally convinced by Lanyar that Eve should not be responsible for the fall of all mankind!

This is a beautiful simile.

I'm surprised to this sudden colloquialism lol

Pilate's wife pleaded with him to have nothing to do with Jesus (Matt 27:19). Apocryphal texts name Pilate's wife Claudia Procla or Procula, and there is a tradition that she may have been a secret follower of Jesus. Pilate and Claudia were killed under Tiberius, and are recognized as saints by some Christian churches.

The most important festival of the Jewish year. Commemorates the night of the tenth plague of Egypt when the firstborn of Israelite slaves who followed divine instructions were "passed over'" and spared from being slain by the Angel of Death.

Originally the lamb eaten on the Jewish Passover.

God of youth, poetry, music, often depicted driving a chariot, identified with the sun.

A Roman name for the Greek goddess Artemis (or Diana), associated with the moon.

Alternate spelling "Silvan." Rural deities akin to satyrs; the term derives from Silvanus, a god of the country who was half man and half goat.

Daughters of Zeus, patron spirits of the arts.

Roman goddess identified with Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.

Juno: Roman Name for the Greek goddess Hera, sister and wife to Jupiter (Zeus).

Echo, a nymph in classical mythology. She was cursed to speak only when spoken to, in repetition of others. Echo's love, Narcissus, spurned her since she only repeated his words. In her grief, Echo wasted away to a shadow, leaving only her voice.

small or slender twigs of trees or shrubs

scanned

inkling

Persons separated, taking leave of each other.

Refers to Lady Anne's marriage to the Earl of Dorset.

Refers to the paternal lineage of Lady Anne Clifford; only surviving child of George, third earl of Cumberland.

Refers to Lady Anne's maternal ancestry; Margaret Clifford was born Lady MargaretRussell, third daughter of Francis, second earl of Bedford.

King of Israel, singer, and psalmist; much of the book of Psalms is attributed to him

Moses; leader of Israel

strains or tunes

Margaret Clifford, Dowager Countess of Cumberland.

Country home where Aemilia Lanyar spent time with dedicatees of poem, Lady Margaret Clifford, Dowager Countess of Cumberland, and her daughter Anne, later Countess of Dorset.

She argues that Adam shares the guilt, as he is shown in the Bible as being stronger than Eve, and so capable of resisting the temptation.

Lanyar defends Eve and women in general by arguing that Eve is wrongly blamed for Original Sin and no blame attached to Adam.

gracious

Aemilia Lanyar was an English poet in the early modern English era. She was the first Englishwoman to assert herself as a professional poet, through a single volume of poems, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611)

I enjoyed the different aspects of feminism presented in this story, and I admire Amelia for writing these aspects in the time that she did. In the beginning when she was praising the queen so much I kept wondering if she was doing that so she could put in stronger aspects of feminism. If the queen was really flattered by her descriptions then they might let the bold statements about feminism slide. I especially loves her poem about Eve and her interpretation of the bible with e feminist view point. I think her rhyme scheme and phrasing is very beautiful at times and it offers powerful and emotionally moving descriptions.

Nothing (or no one) is free from the wheel of fortune. Which is why sometimes people are on top and then they are on the bottom of the wheel. I think at the time ( and present day) people love to think that we deserve what we get through our actions, but the questions that confused people was when good things happened to bad people, so the easiest thing to do was blame fortune.

If this is her wrong, she refuses to repent for it.

There's a connection between her and nature. Once she leave nature suffers.

I love the rhyme scheme at the end of each line here.

Fortune is inconsistent. Here is another story where Fortune is blamed.

I feel like the bird might be a metaphor to women. They come and attend and leave when they are scared they might have offended someone (men).

I love this picture, that every plant and piece of nature is welcoming.

Her breast= her heart. Her kindness (delights) came from her heart.

I like this section a lot. i feel that it was very bold of her as a women to interpret the bible at this time.

I feel that this is saying that her sin is very small compared to what they've done now.

Unjustly

Eve's only fault was that she loved too much.

This points to the double standard to me. Eve ( and women) were punished for her actions, yet men are easily forgiven for Adam's actions.

Eve had harmless intentions and she was deceived, and essentially she was wrongly punished.

I like how in this section she is giving countless religious examples of Christian and Greek mythology of good women and how women were treated more equal before.

So in the time of Christ, women were equally believed like men.

This section is full of such feminism beliefs for the time period. Women want to be treated as equal with men, we don't hate men.

I wonder if she is praising the queen so much because the queen is so well respected despite her gender.

Nature decides she cannot because a academic because she wasn't born the right gender- I'm sure this was a common belief at the time.

nice travels

saying good morning an d telling people not to fear one another

is he saying that it would be a dream if a beautiful women he liked fancied him??

marriage is sacred

saying the combination of blood is similar to a marriage, or is making two people closer than marriage would make them

Revealing that the reason he must leave is due to the fact that one day he will die. The rest of the lines are a bit confusing to me, but it does sound a lot like he is pointing out his fate that he must one day die. So he probably feels it is also best to just leave now that way his significant other can get use to the feeling of him not being around and gone for good. That way when the day comes that he actually dies, it would not hurt too much anymore as that feeling was already there.

"Fitter love for me" would mean someone out there better suited for that individual. A true soulmate.

Saying that the reason he is leaving is not that he is no longer interested in the relationship or tired of it. Also not because he feels there is someone out there possibly more fit for his love as the following lines say "A fitter love for me" also assuring that he still probably has feelings for her and is still in love with that person.

Putting both into one view regardless of their genders and also mentioning that we all "rise' in this world the same way and will one day die or fall too

Way of saying "until your hair begins to turn white" also signifying aging and time passing.

I really enjoyed reading John Dunne's poetry. I knew the main themes were about love and religion, but to understand a lot of the poems, I had to research the symbols and word meanings associated with each poem. It was hard to find the true meaning of the poems if I didn't close-read and analyze them, and even then, the meanings are up to interpretation. My favorite poem was "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," as it really showed how time spent away from someone can help you appreciate them more. The poems weren't clear-cut and dry, but overall, as a poetry fan, they were still enjoyable to read.

The best days are when he knows of God's greatness and fears him.

Signifies the trinity

While their new loves grow, so do their disguises they've created of themselves.

"fetter (a person or a part of the body) with manacles" (cuffs)

"diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry)."

"something regarded as worthless; rubbish."

Even if she tries to escape him, his ghost will come to her bed.

I enjoyed the philosophical ideas brought into this poetry, specifically in The Flea. It brings up some metaphysical questions as to our innate match or soul mate as our blood is held and mixed together within a flea. This wasn't the easiest poetry to understand though. There were several poems that I did not understand at all and some that I thought to be contradictory of a prior poem. However, it is totally possible that I just misunderstood one or the other. I do have a great respect for poets though. Making the syllable count match and rhyming the ending word is very difficult.

What harm is done by my love? None are injured, ships don't sink, tears don't flood grounds, (something that makes me think of groundhog day), blood is not blocked (no heart attacks or strokes), wars are still fought, men still become criminals even though we love.

He can love all types of women: emotional, cold, any and all.

These poems are fascinating and beautiful. I like his use of imagery, paradoxes, ironies, and metaphors in various songs and sonnets. Among them I particularly like "The Relic" and "Death Be Not Proud" (Sonnet 10), in which Donne addresses the theme of death, because how he deals with this theme is quite different in each poem. It's also interesting that he often has different attitudes toward love and uses different metaphors to describe love. For example, in "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," he compares his lover to a compass, and depicts that no matter how far they're from each other, they're always connected through their love.

"If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th’ other do."

Interesting! He compares their love to dying old men, earthquakes, stars, gold, and a compass.

to knock against or about; batter

wickedness; wrong

lack of reverence or proper respect for a god

disgraceful; dishonorable

Sonnet 10 presents an argument against the power of death. The speaker addresses Death as a person, and warns "him" against pride in his power.

The rhyming scheme of Sonnet 10 is of Italian Petrarchan sonnet: ABBAABBACDDCEE. Literary device: Apostrophe (When a speaker speaks directly to someone who is not present or is dead, or speaks to an inanimate object.)

The Holy Sonnets are a series of nineteen poems by the John Donne. The sonnets were first published in 1633—two years after Donne's death. The poems are sonnets and are predominantly in the style and form prescribed by Renaissance Italian poet Petrarch (or Francesco Petrarca) (1304–1374) in which the sonnet consisted of two quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a sestet (a six-line stanza).

Referring to the day of judgement, people need all their body parts to get into heaven/hell, if he has some of her hair they'll need to meet so she'll have all her parts.

Alliteration. Despite bones being visible, the hair is still bright, it gives off its own light.

Refers to grave digging

In London, he would give his heart to such friends as would be glad to have his body as well as his mind. True love relationship is both of the body and the spirit. It is only such relationship that gives satisfaction.

The speaker finds that the heart is obstinate and will remain behind; he asks it to meet him in London after twenty days.

quite soon

If someone is martyred, they are killed or made to suffer greatly because of their religious or political beliefs.

cover

to remove confusion from

A concoction is something that has been made out of several things mixed together.

The lovers are imagining their unborn baby while looking into each other's eyes.

reproduction

literally means standing outside of oneself, or apart from oneself.

I like this one, harsh diction, dark and revengeful tone.

His loss has not formed a hole in his heart yet, but instead, an expansion of love and appreciation for the person.

He no longer loves her and, therefore, does not pity her. He wishes that she should suffer deep anguish and repent.

The speaker says when she would find another man asleep and shrinking away from her, she would be left trembling miserably, like an aspen leaf (i.e., the poor, miserable woman, who trembles with fear like a leaf of the Aspen tree. The leave of the aspen is so thin that it shakes even when there seems to be no wind). She would lie there neglected by her lover.

The speaker tells his lover that when he is killed by her scorn and rejection; his ghost would appear to her in her bedroom. Love turns into hatred?

"to declare earnestly to; inform or tell positively; state with confidence to"

"characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air."

The speaker compares himself and his lover to fish. He tells his love to join him in the river and not be caught by other hooks and nets. Then he goes on to say that love is the bait and fish who aren't caught by it are smarter than him.

A period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray.

Refers to the zodiac sign Capricorn which signifies the new year.

Doubting his very existence as a man, the speaker has no feelings, no sense, no desire to be identified anymore.

The speaker is saying that often, so many times in the past he and his love wept together and almost drowned themselves and the world in their tears. This echoes a similar metaphor in A Valediction of Weeping.

Out of this “absence, darkness, death,” love has recreated the speaker as if he had been born out of nothingness or nonexistent things.

He says he feels as though he is dead and like dying things in winter.

may mean flower bed here

The speaker is comparing his lover to the sun. Both rise when the night is over. He does not want his lover to rise, because it means his time with her is over.

The sun has set and in the darkness of night; the speaker says he can’t rely on the starlight to lead him forward.

An American theatrical form, popular from the early 19th to the early 20th century, that was founded on the comic enactment of racial stereotypes.

" to steady or equip with "

Lovers should not use their savings, their honor, their youth and vitality in sexual indulgence, the pleasure of which is as fleeting as the shadows cast by bubbles.

A container which kept smelly substances that, despite being worthless, were "glorified" by the Alchemist.

Any emotion his lover feels affects him as well.

He mocks the practice of Alchemy, which was already discredited.

Although we can't lengthen or recall time, we are able to make the best of bad situations. So although we seem weak, we can take all our bad circumstances and make ourselves stronger.

An archaic word meaning something false or fraudulent that intrudes

The speaker says those who have explored love to a deeper level than he has may claim to have found the "centric happiness." But though he has had experience and may continue to do so until he is old, he still wouldn’t have solved the "mystery."

He can love any kind of girl. I can't tell if this last line means "I can love them as long as they are true" or "I can love any of them because none of them are true."

Uses a metaphor to compare him and his lover to states and princes. Princes want to own states and rule them.

The action or process of minting coins

To avoid or refrain from doing something

That's the earth.

On different lands (divers = diverse)

Filled with emotion or significance, rich in meaning or implication

Makes, as a mint foundry stamps/makes coins.

This poem is a valediction, meaning that it is an act of saying goodbye to someone.

Rhyme scheme: AABBCC. This poem speaks of how the day does not break, but it is the speaker's heart because he and his love "must part." He asks her to stay or his happiness will perish when his love is still new.

The sun coming up interrupts lovers' nights.

He seems to have come to a resolution. And he wishes to be encircled with his love.

These lines tell us how love cannot be sustained in extremities.

It is brave to love a woman and make it known, because it makes you vulnerable.

The speaker contemplates his earlier decision to confine love to the physical realm. He realizes his mistake as he feels love being overwhelmed by the realm of sensuality and superficiality.

These lines deal with the speaker's realization that love cannot be abstract. It has to take a form, a shape in order to be actualized.

He says since love is essentially the child of the soul, it has to take a form, like a soul does.

The speaker views love as spiritual; he calls it ‘"lovely glorious nothing."

The speaker compares love and his beloved to angels. He says that love is similar to angels. It's formless and shapeless, yet its presence is tangible enough to make us feel its existence.

This stanza ends with a semicolon, indicating that the discovery and the revelation are not all that is involved.

A material supposedly used in classical times to cover windows.

The speaker can only see his lover, and likewise, his lover can only see him. The are at peace with eachother.

Refers to a medieval legend about the individuals who represent the epitome of courage. They included three Jews, identified as Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus; three pagans, identified as Hector, Alexander, and Julius Caesar; and three Christians, identified as Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.

I can't tell if the flea represents the couple's relationship or their bed. Possibly both? Maybe it represents the draining relationship the couple is in.

'twixt is a contraction for betwixt. Betwixt is an archaic term for between.

To serve as the typical or ideal example of

A place where a religious person lives on their own, away from the rest of society.

The speaker announces that Venus, the goddess of secular love, overheard him speaking and declared that she had never before heard anything similar.

Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the list of recognized saints, called the "canon". Originally, a person was recognized as a saint without any formal process.

Fidelity; loyalty

These lines sound like some kind of Beatles song.

The speaker scorns the virtue of fidelity by posing this question.

The speaker begins his song by boasting about and listing all the types of women he is capable of loving.

Plenty of punctuation bring energy and emotion to the speaker's voice.

The bed and the lovers are a microcosm of the universe. The speaker invites the sun to become a part of the whole.

Helplessly in love with his lover, the speaker rather arrogantly belittles the sun by suggesting that his bed is the place to be.

The speaker has a go at the sun for invasion of privacy and declares that love isn't subject to the everyday routines, and is certainly no slave to time.

The tone is sarcastic. Donne gives the adventurer many impossible tasks, and then even if he can do these he can never find a fair woman.

Hyperbole

If you're born to achieve such impossibilities, to see strange things and invisible sights, then ride for ten thousand days and nights until your hair turns white with age.

Teach me how to hear the song of the mermaid; how to not be envious; and what helps to better an honest mind.

The speaker affirms that they totally own a whole new world which they are free to explore.

The speaker suggests that their two loves are not at all imbalanced, their loves are so alike that they can never die.

A main branch of a tree

Showing or suffering from nervousness, fear or lack of confidence

steps

the downfall of studying too much may lead to laziness

I like how he adds in all these comparisons

love this line

he states that these are the three main purposes of studies including studying for the fun of it because it makes you happy, studying for the ornamenting of one's life, and studying to improve one's ability

according to wikipedia: "A masque involved music and dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be designed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron.”

meaning good forms and rules of religion should not be spoiled along with the bad ones. This is why Bacon feels that superstition is more deceiving than atheism and he'd much rather prefer atheism.

he prefers atheism to superstition

Means: Death presses heavily on that man who, being but too well known to others, dies in ignorance of himself. Unfortunately, as sad as this is, I feel like this is very relate able to the real world we live in!

while they are so busy with business, they tend to neglect their own health

men shouldn't listen to how other people think of them because it will affect their behavior and how they will think of themselves.

this actually means when a man feels that he is no longer what he was, he has no reason to live longer

their goal to seek power will in turn lead to losing control of themselves and possibly be their downfall.

single men are wanted by the church because they can be generous with their money whereas a married man will be responsible for providing for his family first

the ending, reduction, or lessening of something

he's saying the greatest achievements have been made by single men and women who weren't restrained by marriage

deceitful and untrustworthy

This is a neat analogy comparing lying to the alloy in a coin in which it makes the metal work better but causes it to lose it's value just as lying does to the truth.

I love this. As she said earlier, there is no pleasure in lying and here she says its not the lie that's the painful part but the part where the lie sinks in your mind and settles there leaving it to seep in your thoughts.