A Study Of John Donne's Poetry In Light Of The Deviation Theory

John Donne was an important figure among English metaphysical poets.His poetry creation broke the traditional mode of poetry writing in English Renaissance period.It deviated from convention in terms of form and content.He boldly used poetic imagery,and the style was unique.The poems are full of mysterious and exaggerated images,showing unique poetic forms and changing rhythms and metre,revealing complex and profound poetic themes.Deviation is the violation of norms and breaks the conventional rule of language.It plays an important role in understanding and interpreting poetic language and can produce a stylistic effect,so that readers are attracted by this deviation which is different from the convention,and their perception and awareness of the surrounding world is refreshed.This thesis will analyze Donne's poetry from a completely new perspective using the deviation theory.It intends to explore the unconventional modes of writing in Donne's poetry using three aspects of graphological deviation,semantic deviation and phonological deviation in Leech's deviation theory.The thesis is presented in three chapters.Chapter One examines the graphological deviation represented in Donne's poetry.Donne employs very unique written forms in his works.First,Donne's poems have varied stanzaic forms,which are very different from the conventional ones like Shakespeare and Spenser's creation in the 17^th century.Second,Donne's poems have irregular punctuation.Third,his poems deviate from conventional indentations.Chapter Two aims to explore the semantic deviation mainly in using images in Donne's poetry.In fact,Donne's poetry is full of unimaginable elements.In reading his poetry,readers may feel very hard to understand the numerous seeming strange images and think it absurd.This chapter is devoted to analyze these strange images and conceits in four parts:use of astronomical images,application of geometrical images,employment of numerological images and utilization of fantastic conceits.Chapter Three focuses on the phonological deviation Donne's poetry presents.Donne deliberately deviates from harmonious rhyme and pronunciation to express his emotion.Phonological deviation is frequently shown in Donne's poetry in the following three aspects:novel use of plosive sound,unusual diphthong and long vowels and new arrangement of metre.The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis.Through analysis of poetry,one can discover how Donne deviates from convention in all aspects,creating a moving artistic effect and presenting potential or undetectable view of love,death and religion.This can help deepen the understanding of Donne's poetry.