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Conflict and Contact: From John Donne’s “Dialogue of One” to T. S. Eliot’s Monologue

Year 2021, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 1 - 12, 24.09.2021
https://doi.org/10.18026/cbayarsos.589648

Abstract

This paper aims to read Donne’s certain love poems in conjunction with Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. Eliot believes English poetry composed in the 17th century resonates with that of the 20th century. Therefore, this article explores the similarities and differences between the metaphysical poetry and the modernist poetry. This discussion is predicated upon the notion of wholeness in Donne and the idea of fragmentation in Eliot. The exploration of the themes of completion and disintegration initially focuses on the concept of ecstasy, analyses how the boundary between the self and the other dissolves and how the conventional dichotomy between the body and the spirit is challenged. This article also deals with the notion of irony in terms of fragmentation and compares the use of irony in Eliot’s poem with the employment of metaphysical conceits based on binary oppositions in Donne’s poems. This study further concentrates on both poets with regards to the sensuousness of language. It finally contrasts the unified sensibility of the seventeenth-century poet with the dissociated sensibility of the twentieth-century poet. This paper concludes Donne’s “dialogue of one” rests upon conflict and contact whereas Eliot’s monologue does not lead to contact.

References

  • Altieri, Charles. “Eliot’s Impact on Twentieth-Century Anglo-American Poetry”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Bell, Ilona. “Gender Matters: The Women in Donne’s poems”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Bennett, Joan. “The Love Poetry of John Donne”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Bloom, Harold. “Introduction”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • Brooks, Cleanth. “The Language of Paradox”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Byatt, A. S. “Feeling Thought: Donne and the Embodied Mind”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Donne, John. “The Canonization”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Twickenham Garden”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Meditation XVII”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Ecstasy”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Air and Angels”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Good-Morrow”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Love’s Growth”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Sun-Rising”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “A Valediction: Of Weeping”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “Elegy XIX”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “Farewell to Love”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • Donoghue, Denis. “Beginning”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • "ecstasy, n.2." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 9 July 2019.
  • Eliot, T. S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. II. New York: W.W. Norton and Camp., 2000.
  • ---. The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry. Ed. Ronald Schuchard. Florida, Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1994.
  • ---. The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition: The Perfect Critic, 1919-1926. Ed. Anthony Cuda and Ronald Schuchard. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press; London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2014.
  • Gardner, Helen. “The Religious Poetry of John Donne”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Gierson, Herbert. “Donne and Metaphysical Poetry. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • "graft, n.1." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 5 July 2019.
  • Guibbory, Achsah. “Erotic Poetry”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Haskin, Dayton. “Donne’s Afterlife”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Hunt, Clay. “Elegy 19: “To His Mistress Going to Bed””. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Leishman, J. B. “Dissociation of Sensibility”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Low, Anthony. “Richard Crashaw”. The Cambridge Companion to English Poetry: Donne to Marvell. Ed. Thomas N. Corns. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2006.
  • Mays, J. C. C. “Early Poems: From ‘Prufrock’ to ‘Gerontion’”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Mazzeo, J. A. “A Critique of Some Modern Theories of Metaphysical Poetry”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Oser, Lee. “Prucfock’s Guilty Pleasures”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • "propagate, v.1." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 20 June 2019.
  • Shusterman, Richard. “Eliot as Philosopher”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Stewart, Susan. “Vertigo: The Legacy of Baroque Ecstasy”. Poetry and the Fate of the Senses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
  • Targoff, Ramie. “Facing Death”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Çatışma ve Temas: John Donne’ın “Dialogue of One’ından T. S. Eliot’ın Monoloğuna

Year 2021, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 1 - 12, 24.09.2021
https://doi.org/10.18026/cbayarsos.589648

Abstract

Bu çalışma Donne’ın aşk şiirleri ile Eliot’ın “J. Alfred Prufrock’un Aşk Şarkısı” adlı şiirini birlikte okumayı amaçlamaktadır. Eliot, on yedinci yüzyılda yazılmış İngiliz şiirinin, yirminci yüzyılda yazılmış şiiri yankıladığını düşünmektedir. Bu yüzden bu çalışma Eliot’ın modernist şiiri ile Donne’ın metafizik şiiri arasındaki benzerlikleri ve farklılıkları araştırmayı hedefler. Bu araştırma Donne’ın şiirlerindeki bütünlük fikri ile Eliot’ın şiirindeki parçalanmışlık kavramı üzerine kuruludur. Bütünlük ve bölünmüşlük temalarının incelendiği bu yazı öncelikle esrime mefhumuna odaklanır, kendi ve öteki arasındaki sınırın nasıl aşındığını ve beden ve ruh arasındaki geleneksel karşıtlığın nasıl alt üst edildiğini çözümler. Bunun yanı sıra, bu çalışma ironiyi ele alır ve Eliot’ın şiirindeki ironi kullanımı ile metafizik şiirdeki ikili karşıtlıklar üzerine kurulu mecazları karşılaştırır. Bu yazı ayrıca her iki şaire de dil ve duygu meselesi açısından yaklaşır. Bunlara ek olarak, on yedinci yüzyıl şairinin bütünleşik duyarlılığı ile yirminci yüzyıl şairinin ayrışmış duyarlılığını karşılaştırır. Donne’ın birlik üzerine kurulu diyaloğunun bir çatışmaya ve temasa yol açtığını, Eliot’ın monoloğunun ise bir temasa meydan vermediğini görürüz.

References

  • Altieri, Charles. “Eliot’s Impact on Twentieth-Century Anglo-American Poetry”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Bell, Ilona. “Gender Matters: The Women in Donne’s poems”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Bennett, Joan. “The Love Poetry of John Donne”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Bloom, Harold. “Introduction”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • Brooks, Cleanth. “The Language of Paradox”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Byatt, A. S. “Feeling Thought: Donne and the Embodied Mind”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Donne, John. “The Canonization”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Twickenham Garden”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Meditation XVII”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Ecstasy”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Air and Angels”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Good-Morrow”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “Love’s Growth”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ---. “The Sun-Rising”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “A Valediction: Of Weeping”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “Elegy XIX”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • ----. “Farewell to Love”. The Complete Poems of John Donne. Ed. Robin Robbins. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
  • Donoghue, Denis. “Beginning”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • "ecstasy, n.2." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 9 July 2019.
  • Eliot, T. S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. II. New York: W.W. Norton and Camp., 2000.
  • ---. The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry. Ed. Ronald Schuchard. Florida, Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1994.
  • ---. The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition: The Perfect Critic, 1919-1926. Ed. Anthony Cuda and Ronald Schuchard. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press; London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2014.
  • Gardner, Helen. “The Religious Poetry of John Donne”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Gierson, Herbert. “Donne and Metaphysical Poetry. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • "graft, n.1." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 5 July 2019.
  • Guibbory, Achsah. “Erotic Poetry”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Haskin, Dayton. “Donne’s Afterlife”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Hunt, Clay. “Elegy 19: “To His Mistress Going to Bed””. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Leishman, J. B. “Dissociation of Sensibility”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Low, Anthony. “Richard Crashaw”. The Cambridge Companion to English Poetry: Donne to Marvell. Ed. Thomas N. Corns. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2006.
  • Mays, J. C. C. “Early Poems: From ‘Prufrock’ to ‘Gerontion’”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Mazzeo, J. A. “A Critique of Some Modern Theories of Metaphysical Poetry”. A Norton Critical Edition: John Donne’s Poetry. Ed. By A. L. Clements. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1966.
  • Oser, Lee. “Prucfock’s Guilty Pleasures”. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: T. S. Eliot. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.
  • "propagate, v.1." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2019, www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 20 June 2019.
  • Shusterman, Richard. “Eliot as Philosopher”. The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Ed. A. David Moody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Stewart, Susan. “Vertigo: The Legacy of Baroque Ecstasy”. Poetry and the Fate of the Senses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
  • Targoff, Ramie. “Facing Death”. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne. Ed. Achsah Guibbory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
There are 37 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Beşeri Bilimler Sayısı
Authors

Gökhan Albayrak 0000-0003-2703-4326

Publication Date September 24, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 19 Issue: 3

Cite

APA Albayrak, G. (2021). Conflict and Contact: From John Donne’s “Dialogue of One” to T. S. Eliot’s Monologue. Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 19(3), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.18026/cbayarsos.589648