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Poesie amorose. Poesie teologiche

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Virginia Woolf ha notato come la qualità che più avvince in Donne non sia tanto il significato, pur carica com'è di significato la sua poesia, quanto l'esposione con la quale egli rompe nel discorso. «Ogni prefazione, ogni parlamento è consumato, egli piomba nella poesia per la via piú breve», come un amante salta dalla finestra in una stanza, chiudendo fuori tutto il resto: epoca, luogo, universo. Ci arresta con un gesto «Stand still... Ferma... comanda. E fermarci dobbiamo». Il ciclo dei suoi poemi d'amore per Anne More ci ricorda quello, di poco piú tardo, delle scene familiari di Rembrandt e Saskia. Conosciamo ogni mobile delle loro stanze, ogni riflesso delle loro finestre, ogni bagliore dei calici in cui brindano, ogni piega dei cortinaggi del loro letto, ma del mondo esterno non si curano di dirci nulla.

123 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

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About the author

John Donne

881 books704 followers
John Donne was an English poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially as compared to that of his contemporaries.

Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and, in 1621, was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
Profile Image for Steven Godin.
2,784 reviews3,422 followers
December 20, 2020

Stay, oh sweet, and do not rise,
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay, or else my joys will die,
And perish in their infancie.
Profile Image for GoldGato.
1,305 reviews38 followers
December 15, 2022
John Donne was one of the great 17th-century poets, known for his metaphysical poetry. I first became aware of him after hearing Richard Burton recite a set of Donne poems, full of Burton’s sonorous tones and Donne’s strange openings. Donne lived a libertine lifestyle until he married and fathered a brood of twelve children. His love poems flowed from his more stable life and when his wife died in childbirth, so did his passion. This book has collected his poems of love, Donne at his most lyrical.

If I could only choose one love poem from this book, it would be this one.

THE BAIT
Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait:
That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,
Alas, is wiser far than I.


This book is a lovely publication. A blue silk bookmark is included, along with a bio and an explanation of Donne’s importance. The poems tapped into John Donne’s reservoir of feelings, and they remain a high mark of poetical excellence. It’s a book to keep by one’s bedside for a late-night poem.

Book Season = Year Round (mermaids singing)

Profile Image for Luna Miguel.
Author 22 books4,813 followers
April 18, 2021
Ese poema en el que explica el ciclo del amor a través de las sombras de dos cuerpos que pasean me ha dado gasolina, felicidad y tranquilidad para mucho tiempo, espero. Lo leí en la edición de Vaso Roto con una introducción muy bella de Jordi Doce.
Profile Image for Amy.
113 reviews14 followers
August 31, 2007
This is one of the handful of poetry books that I own. To be honest, if I understood more of Donne's context, I would most likely rate it higher. When understood, I found his poems to be very romantic and honest. If translated into my dumb language, some themes would be:

Hey Baby, Why Wait Until Marriage?
Let's Face It, There Will Always Be Other Hoes.
I Must Have Felt A False Love Yesterday
Because I Love You Even More Today.
Women Are Lying Whores.
I Can't Give You My Heart Because You Already
Own It.
Profile Image for Vocky.
176 reviews
April 30, 2022
John Donne can GET SOOOMME! genuinely obsessed. Always recommending. Catapulting up my list of fav poets
Profile Image for Freya Abbas.
Author 8 books16 followers
June 6, 2025
Some of these were beautiful, although I prefer Philip Sydney’s sonnets (and of course Shakespeare’s sonnets lol). I adored “The Sun Rising” and “A Valediction of Weeping.” Also I think “The Flea” is the most down bad poem in the history of English literature. Donne was actually down horrendous.
Profile Image for Miroku Nemeth.
355 reviews71 followers
September 3, 2011
Those who know Donne, know how passionate his poetry is, whether writing of romantic or spiritual love. A contemporary of Shakespeare, for many modern readers the rich complexity of his English may be a problem, but, like with the words of the Bard of Avon, taking the time to decipher and meditate upon Donne's lines of poetry is well worth the time. I honestly prefer a collection like this many times over to Shakespeare's sonnets; the words of Donne just seem more transparently deeply felt than the master wordsmith Shakespeare, whose true feelings and emotions seem buried beneath innumerable ingenius personas.

A sample
Elegy X: The Dream

IMAGE of her whom I love, more than she,
Whose fair impression in my faithful heart
Makes me her medal, and makes her love me,
As kings do coins, to which their stamps impart
The value ; go, and take my heart from hence,
Which now is grown too great and good for me.
Honours oppress weak spirits, and our sense
Strong objects dull ; the more, the less we see.
When you are gone, and reason gone with you,
Then fantasy is queen and soul, and all ;
She can present joys meaner than you do,
Convenient, and more proportional.
So, if I dream I have you, I have you,
For all our joys are but fantastical ;
And so I 'scape the pain, for pain is true ;
And sleep, which locks up sense, doth lock out all.
After a such fruition I shall wake,
And, but the waking, nothing shall repent ;
And shall to love more thankful sonnets make,
Than if more honour, tears, and pains were spent.
But, dearest heart and dearer image, stay ;
Alas ! true joys at best are dream enough ;
Though you stay here, you pass too fast away,
For even at first life's taper is a snuff.
Fill'd with her love, may I be rather grown
Mad with much heart, than idiot with none.
Profile Image for Lydia St Giles.
46 reviews3 followers
June 27, 2016
Donne was a worldly character, very far from the image of the dweller in a garret. He volunteered to fight and sailed with Essex to take part in the sack of Cadiz. A Catholic at a time when this made public office difficult, he succeeded in getting elected as an MP. His early university studies could not, because of his faith, lead to his obtaining a degree yet, later in life, Donne’s success at the court of James I led to his being awarded a doctorate in divinity.
The “Poems of Love” come from a man who married secretly and was dismissed from his job as a result. There is romance and sensuality, coupled with cynicism about fidelity and despair at the prospect of death separating the lovers. However, “Holy Sonnets” take up more than fifty pages of this book, so the word love is used in its widest sense.
What is striking is the language used.. The English of the late 16th and early 17th centuries gives a strong flavour to the many poems in this (beautifully produced) volume. Changes in the spoken language mean that the modern reader will not see a rhyme where the writer intended, as in:
“Come live with mee and bee my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove”.
This is one of several poems which the British reader will be familiar with in a modernised version. I’ve enjoyed the immersion into the language which Donne used.


Profile Image for Tracy.
79 reviews5 followers
May 9, 2008
This was my first copy of John Donne's poetry. I picked my copy up in Berkeley in the 1980's because I'd heard A Valediction Forbidding Mourning and recognized it as one of the greatest poems ever written.

I would read these on my own, now and again, and it led me to more and more of his works. It led me to more and more poetry.

Perhaps this should be considered a threshold book?

Hee hee hee...
Profile Image for Josh Hornbeck.
97 reviews5 followers
October 7, 2014
"The Love Poems of John Donne" ranges from transcendent observations about love that continue to have resonance, to the petulant ramblings of a stalker-y emo kid in Freshman English who has a better vocabulary than the professor. The transcendent poems are worth the work it takes to really dive deeply into Donne's language, but the petulant ones are insufferable.
Profile Image for Saara.
135 reviews60 followers
June 19, 2013
"’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee."


Oh, how I love Donne. I'm such a sucker for the romance. :) Review to come...
Profile Image for Jennifer.
16 reviews4 followers
October 17, 2008
Back in 1998 I was a hopeless romantic. Hence, I read and memorized a lot of Donne's poems.
Profile Image for Lori.
698 reviews13 followers
September 23, 2014
One of my favorite collections of love poetry, this is a staple in my library that I like to re-read on occasion.
Profile Image for Zahra Barlas.
42 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2013
Impossible to not fall in love with Donne's love sonnets.
Profile Image for heidi.
974 reviews11 followers
December 28, 2020
Heavy stuff, this. Prior to picking up this book I have enjoyed some John Donne poems… but unfortunately this particular collection is too esoteric for me. There are a few gems here but not enough to make me fall in love.

I will stick with run-of-the-mill dead poets such as Shakespeare and Burns for a while and, hopefully, pick up Donne again in my golden years when I have enough wisdom to appreciate him.
184 reviews2 followers
June 22, 2022
Stunningly elegant and witty conversational-style poetry--written as though at times you're chatting with Donne. Very graphic in places. Critics called this "metaphysical" poetry writing. Funny and very kinky, especially for 1590. I wonder if Shakespeare read these poems--probably.
Profile Image for Nightingale.
18 reviews38 followers
October 5, 2019
​SELF-LOVE

He that cannot choose but love,
And strives against it still,
Never shall my fancy move,
For he loves against his will,

Nor he which is all his own,
And cannot pleasure choose;
When I am caught he can be gone,
and when he list refuse;

Nor he that loves none but fair,
For such by all are sought;

Nor he that can for foul ones care,
For his judgement then is naught;
Nor he that hath wit, for he
Will make me his jest or slave;

Nor a fool when others...
He can neither...

Nor he that still his mistress prays,
For she is thralled therefore;

Nor he that pays, not for he says
whithin, she's worth no more

Is there then no kind of men
Whom I may freely prove?
I will vent that humour then
In mine own self-love.
943 reviews11 followers
March 2, 2013
Too much of its time for me to really enjoy. Donne eroticizes women, he places them on pedestals and chastises them for their inconstancy, but he doesn't seem to have talked to them much. The language and structure feels a little archaic, as do many of the references--I probably would have benefitted from a text with more annotations.

There are little bursts of humor that surprise you...and play better than the torment. My favorites here included A Fever, The Funeral and A Jet Ring Set.
Profile Image for Michael Arnold.
Author 2 books25 followers
September 5, 2015
This is a very beautiful book, and I always like John Donne. I found myself feeling less involved and interested in the later, more religious poems - the early love poems (though) made buying this book really worth it.
Profile Image for Starbubbles.
1,641 reviews128 followers
August 31, 2016
I don't know, I just don't think that I get poetry. Or maybe I don't get love. Or maybe I just don't get love poetry. Or maybe love = bleh at the moment factored into this the most. I just didn't feel it or comprehend stuff...
Whatever, I gave up on this.
Profile Image for Michelle.
1,592 reviews11 followers
December 27, 2015
I especially enjoyed the historical parts that went with the poems. That helped me to better understand them.
Profile Image for Andy Hickman.
7,396 reviews51 followers
April 19, 2024
“The Love Poems of John Donne” by Charles Fowkes

Always a delight to return to the poems of Donne. Excellent introduction by Fowkes.
“I that live in the country without stupefying, am not in darkness, but in shadow, which is not light, but a pallid, waterish and diluted one.” (Fowkes quoting Donne)

Poems include:
“Go and Catch a Falling Star” - Anthropomorphic metaphors

“The Sun Rising” - Opens with “Busy old fool, unruly son…” ABBA CDCD EE. Deflating the overrated, elevating the worthy. This guy feels the world in a sensational perspective.

“The Canonization”: Great poem! This is another 5 star rating for his poems, such as Batter My Heart, Three-Person’d God; A Valediction; The Ecstasy. “Call us what you will, we are made such by love..”

“Air and Angels” - “Twice or thrice had I loved thee / Before I knew thy face or name ..” Beautiful

“Break of Day” - Rhyming couplets. Good poem about not being so busy that you miss daily ‘life’.

“The Flea” - Another poem of lovers’ plea. “… our two bloods mingled be;” “.. with one blood made of two,” Emily Bronte MUST have been influenced by Donne!

“The Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy’s Day” - Reminded me of allusions to pagan mythology, “But I am by her death, (which word wrongs her) / Of the first nothing, the Elixer grown;”
“.. oft a flood / Have wee two wept, and so / Drownd the whole world, us two..” I love how this guy thinks, how he feels.

“The Bait” - “Come live with me and be my love..” “… of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lives, and silver hooks.”

“The Apparition” - Vivid descriptions. Intense.

“The Broken Heart” - (Again) Wow! This is my kind of poetry!

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” - “So let us melt …” Farewell at the death of a soul-mate. Surely this had been read by Emily Bronte and influenced her poetic expressions and novel ‘Wuthering Heights’, e.g. “Our two souls therefore, which are one..”

“The Ecstasy” - Again, like ‘Valediction’, this poem must have influenced Emily Bronte.

“The Funeral” - Yet again… surely Emily Bronte savoured this poem (as evident in her fictional character, Heathcliff, and in her poem ‘Honour’s Martyr’. Awesome!)
“Whate’er she meant by it bury it with me / For since I am Love’s martyr, it might breed idolatry…” “That since you would save none of me, I bury some of you.”
OMG how cool is that writing!

“The Relic” - How can this not be an influence for ‘Wuthering Heights’? Look at this poem! It opens with:
“When my grave is broke up again
Some second guest to entertain,
(For graves have learn'd that woman head,
To be to more than one a bed)
And he that digs it, spies
A bracelet of bright hair about the bone,
Will he not let'us alone,
And think that there a loving couple lies,
Who thought that this device might be some way
To make their souls, at the last busy day,
Meet at this grave, and make a little stay?”

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” - Wow. Tender, honest, spiritual, marital. Also titled Elegy XIX. “Ill spirits walk in white, / we easily know, / By this these Angels from an evil sprite..”
Profile Image for MT.
201 reviews
March 30, 2021
“Se até agora ainda não possuo todo o teu amor,
Querida, nunca o terei de todo.
Não posso soltar mais um suspiro, comover-me,
Nem suplicar a mais outra lágrima que corra;
E todo o meu tesouro, que deveria comprar-te —
Suspiros, lágrimas, juras e cartas — já gastei.
Porém, nada mais me poderá ser devido,
Além do proposto no negócio acordado:
Se então a tua dádiva de amor foi parcial,
Que parte a mim, parte a outros, caberia,
Querida, nunca te possuirei totalmente.

Mas, se então me deste tudo,
Tudo seria apenas o tudo que ao tempo tinhas;
E se em teu coração, desde então, existe ou venha
A existir novo amor gerado por outros homens,
Cujos haveres estejam intactos e possam, em lágrimas,
Em suspiros, em juras e cartas, exceder a minha oferta,
Este novo amor pode suscitar novos receios,
Dado que um tal amor não foi jurado por ti.
Mas se foi, sendo as tuas dádivas gerais,
O terreno — o teu coração —, é meu, e o que quer
Que nele cresça, querida, pertence-me totalmente.

Porém, também não o quereria todo ainda,
Porque quem tudo tem nada mais pode possuir
E visto que o meu amor deve aceitar cada dia
Um novo aumento, deverias reservar-me novas recompensas.
Não podes dar-me o teu coração todos os dias,
Porque se pudesses, é porque nunca mo tinhas dado.
E tais são os enigmas do amor: ainda que teu coração parta,
Fica em casa; e ao perdê-lo, tu salvaste-o.
Mas nós encontraremos um caminho mais nobre
Que a troca de corações: poderemos uni-los, e assim
Seremos um, e o todo de cada um.”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews

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