So, you can imagine my shock and surprise upon discovering that one of my favorite poems of the semester, "Batter my heart, three- personed God" was written by the same poet as "The Flea": John Donne.
Based solely on "The Flea," I had expected this man to be a Godless, lust-driven player, certainly not someone who had the capacity to desire God's complete domination of his life as seen in "Batter my heart."
I could interpret this in two ways, I suppose. I could take this as a lesson to not judge a poet based only on one work and accept that my reading isn't the only correct interpretation out there- OR I could take this to mean that even the most "holy" are at their core horny bastards. I haven't decided which just yet.
I think we all wrestle with the wide range of topics and themes in Donne’s work. It is part of his charm, for me. He loves paradoxes, witticism, highly complex and intellectual conceits, and making the reader engage with the unexpected. I always find him to be rewarding.
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