“The Apparition” Summary

“The Apparition” Themes

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  Rejection and Revenge

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• 

  Women's Hypocrisy and Male Jealousy

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Apparition”

• Lines 1-3

  When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead
           And that thou think'st thee free
  From all solicitation from me,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,
  And thee, feign'd vestal, in worse arms shall see;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  Then thy sick taper will begin to wink,
  And he, whose thou art then, being tir'd before,
  Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think
           Thou call'st for more,
  And in false sleep will from thee shrink;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-13

  And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected thou
  Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie
           A verier ghost than I.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 14-17

  What I will say, I will not tell thee now,
  Lest that preserve thee; and since my love is spent,
  I'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent,
  Than by my threat'nings rest still innocent.

  

  

  

  

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“The Apparition” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Hyperbole

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Irony

  

  

  

  

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“The Apparition” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Apparition
• Thee, Thou, Thy
• Murd'ress
• Think'st
• Solicitation
• Feign'd vestal
• Taper
• Tir'd
• Call'st
• Shrink
• Poor aspen wretch
• Bath'd
• Quicksilver
• Verier
• Lest
• Preserve
• Spent
• I'had
• Shouldst
• Repent
• Threat'nings

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Apparition”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Apparition” Speaker

“The Apparition” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Apparition”

More “The Apparition” Resources

• External Resources

  • Donne in Print — See images of the first published collection of Donne's works, Poems (1633).

  • A Brief Biography — Learn all about Donne's life and work at the British Library's website.

  • Donne's Tomb — Donne didn't die of love—but he did leave behind a striking and eerie tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral. Learn more about this tomb and its history from the Church Monuments Society.

  • More Donne Resources — Visit the Poetry Foundation to read more of Donne's poetry and learn more about his life.

  • Donne's Legacy — Learn more about Donne's lasting influence in this article by Katherine Rundell.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

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  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • A Valediction: Of Weeping

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Canonization

  • The Flea

  • The Good-Morrow

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed