Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poem is narrated by a first-person-narrator.
Form and Meter
The poem consists of 5 stanzas of differing length, with no consequent rhyme scheme.
Metaphors and Similes
Metaphors:
l. 1: "widow'd poetry"
The speaker compares the significance of John Donne's death for poetry to the death of a spouse.
l. 4: "unkneaded dough-bak'd prose"
The speaker compares the quality of the remaining writers' prose to badly baked bred.
l. 14-15: "the flame of thy brave soul"
the passion
l. 25 & 26-27: "pedantic weeds" & "the lazy seeds of servile imitation"
The speaker compares the (lacking) writings of other writers to unwanted weeds in a garden.
l. 42: "thy burnish'd gold"
Donne's writing
l. 95 & 96: "Here lies a king" & "The universal monarchy of wit"
The speaker compares literature to a monarchy and Donne as its king.
Similes:
l. 5: "as th' unscissor'd churchman"
l. 7: "dry as the sand"
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration:
l. 5-6: "the flower of fading"
Irony
There are no instances of irony in the poem.
Genre
The poem is an elegy.
Setting
The poem takes place right after John Donne's death (which was in 1631), and takes place presumably in England (where he lived).
Tone
The tone of the poem is dark and mourning. The speaker is desperate and desolate.
Protagonist and Antagonist
While there is no apparent protagonist, the speakers sees the rest of the literary community (and general public) as the antagonists, who fail to rise to the level of Donne's writing, cannot honor the examples he set and did not admire his writing the same way the speaker did. A secondary antagonist appears to be Death, who took Donne.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between the speaker, who idolized Donne and the rest of the literary community, that did not in this capacity and will now diminish the quality of literature.
Another conflict is between the speaker and Death, for having claimed Donne's life.
Climax
There is no climax in the poem.
Foreshadowing
There are no instances of foreshadowing in the poem.
Understatement
There are no instances of understatement in the poem.
Allusions
l. 22: "the Delphic quire"
l. 23: "thy Prometheam breath"
l. 32: "with Anacreon's ecstasy"
l. 40: "Old Orpheus"
l. 98: "Apollo's first"
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Synecdoche:
l. 3: "thy hearse"
his funeral
Metonymy:
l. 6: "his hour"
his life
Personification
There are no instances of personification in the poem.
Hyperbole
l. 16: "burnt our earth and made our darkness bright"
l. 28-29: "thou didst pay the debts of our penurious bankrpt age"
l. 76: "The death of all the arts"
l. 88: "All thy perfections"
Onomatopoeia
There are no instances of onomatopoeia in the poem.
