Baroque Period

Stacy Brown

Humanities 2002C

At the end of the Renaissance a new period of music, art and literature emerged known as the Baroque period. The Baroque period lasted during the 1600’s-1700. The Baroque period had several qualities that distinguished it from other periods, namely in the form of literature. One such quality is that the writing was very expansive and huge; the writers used many ornate detailed words in their poetry and stories. Baroque literature was also very dramatic, it could make small unimportant things, seem very important. Another important quality is the great contrast present in the literature. This is shown in many different forms, such as the tone of the story or poem. Very quickly the tone of the literature can move from a very happy mood to a somber more depressing mood. Another way to describe this is to think of the literature as moving from a very light, bright tone to a much darker tone. In general the ornate nature of Baroque literature is what truly distinguishes it from other periods.

John Donne is a well known writer from the Baroque period. He was most famous for his poems on love, but after losing his wife in 1617, became a great preacher and many of his sermons are well known to this day. Donne’s poetry is a great representation of the Baroque literary qualities. His poem, “The Flea” is a great representation of the dramatic aspect of the Baroque. In the poem he is speaking to a women and trying to get her to fall in love with him , explaining to her that they are already unified in the fact that the flee that has already bit her has also bit him, therefore their blood is unified inside the flea. He even goes as far to say it is as if they are already married, and that she would be committing three sins if she killed the flea, because it would be as if she were killing herself,