Donne use of
Wit
There is no
satisfactory definition of wit. As per dictionary, wit means a keen perception
and cleverly suitable expression of amusing words or ideas or of those
connections between which give rise to amusement and pleasure. There are two
type of wit. Superior wit lies in the use of conceits and assembly of ideas
which seems dissimilar and incongruous. Inferior wit lies in the use of
paradox, pun and word-play.
Donne is
labelled as the monarch of wit. Donne wit lay in the discovery of hidden
resemblance in dissimilar things. Donne s’ wit is peculiar and deliberate. His
wit has intellectual vigour. His flow of wit is natural and an expression of
knowledge. T.S Eliot is of the view that Donne s’ wit is the fusion of
opposite- blend of thoughts and feelings. His wit is unique and is a class in
itself. There is a world of difference between the wit of Pope and Shakespeare
and the wit of metaphysical poets. Donne s’ wit is the compound of many similes
extracted from many objects and sources. His wit is supreme and outstanding. He
is fond of logical sequence and far-fetched analysis.
Donne s’ wit
has many moods-from gay to serious and from happy to pessimistic. Sometimes he
is flippant and irreverent. In the poem The Flea, he calls flea a marriage bed
and a marriage temple. In many of his poems, he scolds the traditional vows of
lovers and the Petrarchan conventions. Sometimes there is self-mockery and the
poet plunges from sublime to the ludicrous.
The secret
of Donne wit lies in its mental strength and intellectual power. The poet ha a
rational outlook of life one critic observes and says that it is, “the outward
projection of his sense of many sidedness of things, of his many fold
possibility and ultimately recognition of multiplicity of experience.”
The poet has
ironic wit. Irony is a literary device which projects reverse meanings than the
intended one. The objective of irony is
satire without injuring anyone s’ feelings. Donne s’ irony in the love poems be
summed up as, “What fools these mortals be.”
His
analogies and comparisons are outstanding and witty. In Poem, “Love s’ War” he compares the
qualities of a good lover and a good soldier. Both face the same things and
situations. Both awake all over the night and face harsh enmity. Exaggeration
is another necessary item of Donne s’ wit. This exaggeration appears to be
outrageous in its high spiritedness. He yokes two heterogeneous ideas together.
To some critics,
Donne wit is one of the means of escape, an escape from boredom and depression
which constantly afflicted him during the period of creative activity. Through wit he avoids both self-pity and Hamlet
like frustration. Donne is a king of wit.
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