John Donne
John Donne is the classic representative of metaphysical poetry. His instinct compelled him to bring the whole of experience into his verse and to choose the most direct and natural form of expression by his learned and fantastic mind.
Most of his work is amongst my fav, but I love his poem " The Flea"
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
With a serious overtone (and very funny undertone), Donne uses a skilled combination of tone, connotative words and double meaning, imagery, figurative language and musical devices to take the reader into the conversation of the two lovers, where, horrifyingly, the argument posed is so clever that a girl might almost be convinced to let the speaker have his way.