" I suppose I like John Donne...because he validates my existence" - Dr. Barbara Pell.
It might be possible that John Donne lived for one reason: so that literary keeners could sit around and unpack his metaphysical conceits. And I am one of them. They don't make any sense half the time - and I love it! Today, I had the pleasure of studying one of my favourite authors in class. When my prof skipped over my favourite poem, I actually cried "No!" - out loud. Yup, its true. Before you get too concerned, we will cover it next class. And if you are dying of curiosity to know what is..."Valediction: Forbidden Mourning". I heart this poem. I can fairly confidently say its one of my favourites of all time...
For your reading pleasure, a portion:
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
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.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
What a beautiful "metaphysical conceit".
I bet you will never look at a protractor the same way again.
The reason I study Literature right there.
