Writing Plan and Record: Shelby Dana

Thursday, January 14, 2015 - 11:39 am.

There are a few ways of analysis that came to mind as I reread The Valediction: Forbidding Mourning and The Extasie.  Clearly, the genre of lyric poetry needs to be mentioned.  What these poems lack in length, they make up for in emotion (hallmarks of a lyric poem.)  Since both fall into this category, that could be a good place to start comparing their similarities and explore why Donne chooses to create some key differences as well.  Language is also a big player here and contributes greatly to the tone.  I could choose to go off of the metaphysical ideas that we discussed in class and highlight the use in each poem.  In The Extasie, I could discuss the reason why Donne creates a sexual undertone in order to help readers understand the intimacy of the speaker's non-physical relationship with his beloved.

11:50 am

The Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
After listening to Richard Burton read this work, I was able to better understand the rhyme patterns in the poem.  I really liked how Burton didn't read it and pause after each line, like most readers, but he carried ideas all the way through and then gave pause (if that make sense.)  To me, the poem had a fairly steady rhythm throughout that matches the consistent rhyme scheme.  The iambs are consistent as well here and, since the poem is meant to be comforting, Donne avoids any jarring discrepancies.

The Extasie
Since this poem is not separated by stanzas of four lines, it seemed to me that Donne grouped ideas in lines of two when I listened to Burton's reading. Though the rhyme scheme is ABAB, the main concepts of the phrases can be understood in groups of two.  Again, this poem is very similar to the first in reference to its aural qualities.  The meter is steady and gives a pleasing lilt to the words.  In this reading, it was easy for me to pick out the change in direction of the poem when Donne says "But O alas, so long, so farre Our bodies why doe wee forbeare?" and begins talking about the physical aspect of intimacy.

12:40 am

The brainstorm and initial evidence of the draft:

January 19th, 7:42pm

So I actually finished up my paper last Saturday night and forgot to blog about it.  It ended up being around 900 words and took about an hour and a half or so to write.  I didn't think it was as bad as I expected, mostly because I was able to think of the ideas as I read and annotated the poem.  After that, it was just carrying it along. It wasn't exactly the most fun experience of my life, but it's progress!