A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Donne
- First Published: 1633
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Folkloric or magical people, Love or romance, Seventeenth century, Holidays, Rites or ceremonies, Winter, Zombies or living dead
The Poem
“A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day” is characteristic of John Donne’s art: It is compressed verse full of tightly woven images and concepts, it is rapid, and its metrics and shape are atypical of traditional verse. The rhythmic diversity suggests speech and debate. The act of reading the poem is rather like that of deciphering a cryptogram or solving a puzzle while riding over a bumpy road. In sum, it is difficult to imagine anyone but Donne writing this poem.
It begins with a time reference, namely to the shortest day of the year—the winter solstice...
[The entire page is 1545 words long]
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