Question

From which volume of jhon Donne a lecture upon the shadow taken? ​

Answer 1

J

John Donne

A Lecture upon the Shadow by John Donne

‘A Lecture upon the Shadow’ by John Donne depicts a deteriorating relationship. It at first appeared to be blossoming but has since fallen apart.

This poem is part of Songs and Sonnets, a collection of poems published two years after John Donne’s death. Songs and Sonnets includes 55 poems, which are not strictly “songs” or “sonnets”, that were not conceived as a compilation including ‘A Lecture upon the Shadow.’ They were written between 1590 and 1617 and later edited and grouped in different editions of Donne’s Poems. Consequently, the poems are all part of a love lyric but don’t always portray a single approach to love. Songs and Sonnets also includes poems like The Flea, The Good Morrow, and The Sun Rising, among others.

The poem narrates how a relationship that appeared to be blossoming has later deteriorated. Thus, love is one of the main themes of A Lecture upon the Shadow. John Donne is known for portraying intense emotions through conceits. A conceit is a metaphor that compares two dissimilar things in an unusual way. Particularly, in A Lecture upon the Shadow, the lyrical voice compares the different stages of a relationship to the course of a day and the movement of the sun.