Best and Worst Poems

Brad
Liked…
I have chosen the poem The Flea as my favorite poem by John Donne. I chose this poem because not only does the poem have good rhythm and flow well. The poem also presents good imagery to the reader, especially when the reader can view the video attached on our website. Another reason The Flea is my favorite poem is because it is a pretty easy poem to follow and read, considering how difficult other poems by Donne can be to read.

Disliked…
Even though John Donne is revered as a great poet not all of his works are liked by all. I found one of his poems that I did not like, with that poem being The Damp. I did not like this poem because i thought the poem was made confusing from when the transition between the first and second stanza changed tone, almost as if Donne changed the subject. However, this could just be that I am not used to reading this type of English. I like the poems that stay in order and flow well with equal stanza length.

Crispus
Liked…
Death do not be proud was my best poem. It is a sonnet having 14 lines. The first eight lines are called an octave bearing the burden, question or doubt in the poem. The last six lines are called sestet, which resolves the problem or answers the questions. I like the personification gives to death. There is a rhyme scene in the last words of every line and a perfect use imagery, symbolism and metaphor that help you make mental pictures. It is also a relatively simple and direct poem to understand compared to other works by Donne.

Disliked…
Even though John Donne is revered as a great poet not all of his works are liked by all. I found one of his poems that I did not like, with that poem being The Damp. I did not like this poem because i thought the poem was made confusing from when the transition between the first and second stanza changed tone, almost as if Donne changed the subject. However, this could just be that I am not used to reading this type of English. I like the poems that stay in order and flow well with equal stanza length.

Becca
Liked…
My favorite of John Donne’s poems is also The Flea. The title itself creates a fun idea, a mere flea deserving its own poem devoted purely to its existence. But rather being about the hard life of a little bug, Donne uses the flea to represent some of his emotions regarding love and interaction with a woman. This poem uses some good metaphors and similes, as well as good symbols to create a clever idea by personifying the flea, and how as it sucks the blood from the man and then from the woman, this blood intermingles together to create what they could not have otherwise outside of the flea’s body. Within each of the three stanzas, there are consistent rhymes, mostly lasting three to four lines each. It has an easy flow, is easy to understand, and isn’t half boring.

Disliked…
My least favorite poem from John Donne, or at least one of my least favorites, was The Expiration. It was a short poem, and is fairly easy to understand and follow through, though some lines can be a little confusing as to what exactly he may be talking about. Many of his poems seem to be talking a lot about similar things; he talks about love’s betrayal and death, and the pain of a last kiss or of an infidel woman. I just seems like in this poem is nothing much new or different from his other various poems. The repetition of the words death, dead, and killing appear frequently in this poem, as well, and just seems to be a bit overkill.