"This Thy Valentine":A Study Of John Donne's Epithalamia

John Donne is a representative poet of the English metaphysical poetry of the 17 th century.In the past few centuries,critical research on Donne's poetry mainly focused on his love poems,religious poems,and Satires.These types of poetry have been adequately studied in terms of subject research and text analysis.As an important part of Donne's poetry,his epithalamia lack a certain amount of attention from critics.Even in the few studies that focus on epithalamia,most of them are textual analysis of just one of the poems,lacking a complete and systematic study of Donne's epithalamia.This paper attempts to approach John Donne's three epithalamia from the perspectives of theme,imagery and style.To begin with,John Donne's Epithalamia express the theme that people can obtain immortality,harmony and vitality through marriage.On the one hand,Donne argues that women can obtain their own integrity through marriage,which is the common theme of traditional marriage songs.On the other hand,Donne claims that marriage should be based on mutual love and achieve the unity of the soul and flesh.He explained that ordinary citizens or aristocracies have the privacy and personality of marriage,which conveys Donne's views and attitudes on marriage.In addition,Donne respects women and emphasizes that women should have equal social status with men in marriage,which is Donne's innovation.Furthermore,the use of imagery in John Donne's Epithalamia.John Donne uses abundant imageries in the three epithalamia.The imagery of death and rebirth expresses Donne's longing for immortality in marriage;the imagery of the animal and the cosmic conveys Donne's pursuit of harmony between man and nature and the universe;the image of the fire and the sun shows Donne's praise of female vitality.The imagery in John Donne's Epithalamia is both traditional and innovative.Through these imageries,he expresses his lofty and profound emotional pursuit,and completely forms his artistic atmosphere full of philosophy.Finally,the unique style in John Donne's Epithalamia.John Donne combinestradition and innovation to create a unique poetry with his own characteristics.John Donne's Epithalamia draws on the style of Spencer and the traditional epithalamia of the Renaissance,but he is not limited to the traditional framework,instead he uses the tradition creatively.On the basis of inheriting tradition,he paid more attention to individual spirit,changed the single formulaic female image,broke through the inherent impression of men and women in traditional wedding poems,and formed his unique writing style.In summary,this paper attempts to find the unique charm of John Donne's Epithalamia from the three perspectives of theme,imagery and style.Abundant attention is paid to John Donne's love poems at home and abroad,and his style is often bold and unique,so people regard him as an innovative poet.However,if a poet wants to innovate,then he must have a comprehensive understanding of tradition.Through the research of this paper,we can find that John Donne in his Epithalamia is a poet who creatively uses tradition,so he is a poet who is both traditional and innovative.