Deconstructive Analysis of Metaphysical Conceits in John Donne’s Select Poems

Abstract

John Donne is acknowledged for his mastery of metaphysical conceits. A metaphysical conceit is a complicated and highly astonishing literary device that creates a far-fetched and odd comparison between a nonphysical feature of a person and a physical entity in the world. It is an extended simile and metaphor to catch the interest and attention of the readers towards the text. Deconstruction is a term coined by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida that refers to an approach to reading a text. One of the philosophical principles of deconstruction is to disperse thoughts of binary oppositions, to break down the old style of a hierarchical model, and rejects the inflexibility of metaphysics. Deconstruction is the process of reversing the hierarchies in order to uncover the whole ideological process of making hierarchies. It believes that a text has multiple meanings. In John Donne’s poetic work, this is the only practical and technical way by which his poetry can be understood, as the relations between ‘ideas’ and ‘words’ are almost constantly complex and manifold. The paper is an attempt on Donne’s metaphysical conceits in his select poems to explore internal contradictions, inconsistencies, and multiple layers of meaning through a deconstructive lens.