The Canonization by John Donne - Short Questions & Answers

The Canonization

John Donne

The Canonization - (Short Questions & Answers)

👉 What is the meaning of the word, ‘Canonization’?

Answer: The word ‘Canonization’ means formal announcement for a diseased person as a 'Saint'. Through this act of proclaiming one after his death as a 'Saint', the Pope of a Christian church publicly announced the diseased person as a holy one. In Donne's poem, the “Canonization” for the lovers implies that the lovers are holy as the Christian saints and that their love is worthy to be emulated.

👉 What does ‘arts’ refer to?

Answer: ‘Arts’ here refers to studies or bearing. It was common term for all research or observations during the Renaissance.

👉 What is a Phoenix?

Q. What does Donne want to say by the expression, ‘prove mysterious by this love’?

Answer: It is to be noted that the Phoenix is a mythical bird and there is a mystery on how it makes perpetual its species, since there is never more than one bird at a time. It is believed that periodically consume itself in fire and raise renewed. Similarly, the loves prove them serious because in their perfect union they become one flesh, after the consumption of their sexual passion rise reinvigorated.

👉 What is ‘plague bill’?

Answer: The ‘plague bill’ is an account of mortality or a written record of deaths that were died of the plague disease. In the contemporary time of John Donne, these bills were issued weekly. Donne may go on referring to the plague of 1592-93.

👉 What is meant by ‘stamped face’?

Answer: ‘Stamped face’ means literally, the face of the king of which was always embossed on coins. Actually, it implies a pursuit of wealth.

👉 What is the meaning of the word ‘hearse'?

Answer: The word, 'hearse' literally means a vehicle which is used to carry the dead bodies to funerals. John Donne in his poem, The Canonization has used the word to suggest the dead.

👉 What does Donne want to mean by ‘legend’?

Answer: A ‘legend’ refers to the story of a saint’s life. Here Donne compares the lovers to that of saints, signifying that the true lovers are like saints.

👉 What is the ‘pretty rooms’ referred to?

Answer: The ‘pretty rooms’ are the sonnets. Etymologically, the Italian word ‘sonnet’ means ‘a room’.

👉 What is the meaning of the word, ‘invoke’?

Answer: The word, ‘invoke’ means to call on a God or a ‘deity’ as a witness or to urge for an aid.

👉 What is ‘well-wrought urn holy-acre tomb’?

Answer: ‘A well-wrought urn’ is the beautifully decorated vase designed to hold ashes. In Donne’s Canonization, the poet suggests that just as beautifully worked vases are no less attractive than ‘holy-acre tomb’.

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