The Apparition Analysis

When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead,
And that thou think'st thee free
From all solicitation from me,
Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,
And thee, feigned vestal, in worse arms shall see;
Then thy sick taper will begin to wink,
And he, whose thou art then, being tired before,
Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think
Thou call'st for more,
And in false sleep will from thee shrink,
And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected thou
Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie
A verier ghost than I.
What I will say I will not tell thee now,
Lest that preserve thee; and since my love is spent,
I'd rather thou shouldst painfully repent
Than by my threat'nings rest still innocent.

.: Poetry Packet Analysis :.

The speaker and the woman were previously married. A solicitation is more business like and usually has to do with finance. The speaker blames the woman for his murder, however it could be a metaphorical death in which her scorn pushed him to despair. Donne uses “solicitation” rather than proposal in order to avoid any matrimonial denotations and to suggest an impersonal, businesslike relationship. The speaker says his love is “spent”, furthering the solicitation tone and assuring the reader that he really does hate this woman. Donne gives the Renaissance cliché of a woman killing her lover by refusing to satisfy his desires a twist by having said lover come back from the dead to take revenge. She will try to wake her new bedmate because she sees a ghost, but he’ll think it’s for more sex and pretend to be asleep. He new lover does not have the qualities of the dead one, according to the speaker. The speaker wants her to painfully repent for cheating on him and breaking his poor little heart.

| Posted on 2008-04-29 | by a guest