What is your estimate of Donne as a satirist?

Comment on the satirical note in Donne’s poetry, illustrating from his poems.

Or

Discuss Donne as a satirist illustrating your answers from the poems you have read.

Ans. Donne’s originality as a satirist, his themes and method are well apparent in his five satires.  In there works there is realism   and sometimes moral earnestness.  There is also a tendency to indulge in wit for its own sake,    and use f of a dramatic tone.

Besides the satires, a satiric note is to be found in several of Donne’s other poems. He often satirizes contemporary life, in passing in some of his poems. In The Sun Rising, Donne subtly connects the ‘court- huntsmen’ with the “Busy old fool” and “Saucy pedantic wretch”, the is subtle irony as he speaks of the favoured persuits of people- the lust for wealth and favours .

In some of the poems, Donne also satirizes a false sense of honour. In the Sun Rising, he calls all honour ‘mimic’. In several of his poems, he satirizes women’s inconstancy. In The Canonization, he mocks at the cynical adversaries of love. Thus the satiric note is never quite absent in the poems of Donne.