Loves Alchemy

Question 1

How would you structure an argument which has a focal point of Frustration and Betrayal

Answer 1

• The ecphonesis “O” marks a pivotal moment of emotional rupture in the poem, intensifying the speakers despair and sense of betrayal by love.
• It breaks from earlier logic, as originally the speaker was enfatuated with love, “deeper digged”, this sudden change implying love was the catalyst for this sense of betrayal - Now the speaker is labeling love as “imposture” implying that is is purely performative, much like other beliefs such as Alchemy, “no chemic yet th’ eliir got”.
• The rejection of ideas like Alchemy, the idea of transforming nothing into something, implies that the speaker will be eternally shrouded in a darkness that they cannot escape, they have been reduced to a state of nothingness, described as a “bubbles shadow” when the bubble is poped.
• This evokes the idea of inescapability and hopelessness for the speaker
• Furthermore
• This statement coming from a devout priest, challenges the idea of miracles, a rejection that may have been contreversial among the Protestant audience of Donne’s time.