The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Second, lyrics are identifiable by their content. Instead of telling a story, a lyric poet shares a sequence of thoughts or feelings.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Sequential structure. This refers to the organization of the poem as it progresses from beginning to end. Every poem has its own unique topical or imagistic units as it unfolds. The task of explication is to isolate the successive units and give them a name or label.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Aaron The subject
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
This is Milton’s reply to his friend who had criticized him for dreaming away his years “in the arms of a studious retirement.” Milton asserts that he is answerable to God for how he uses his time, and not to his friend.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Devotional poetry takes Christian experience and doctrine as its subject matter.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Third, lyrics are brief and self-contained.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
The more specific genre is that of encomium—a poem written in praise of a general quality or category.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Happily, for each of the poets there exists a variorum edition of their poems that functions as a guide to most published scholarship on them. (A variorum edition is one that summarizes all or nearly all known explications of an author’s texts.) These magical books are the following.
Leland Ryken • The Devotional Poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton
Allusion. An allusion is a reference to past literature or history.