CRE for The Relic by John Donne

In The Relic by John Donne, the poem presents a story regarding a man and a woman who
create a deceitful plan for when they die, in order to fool others into believing them to be a
couple and allow themselves to become relics after death. In this poem, John Donne is able to
highlight the theme of deceit and creates a satirical poem which points out the flaw and
unreliability of superstition. He is able to do this through the use of diction, tone, imagery and
use of metaphysical techniques throughout the poem.

In the first stanza, John Donne makes use of diction in order to create certain wordplays in the
poem. An example of this can be seen in the eighth line of the poem where it is stated “And
think that there a loving couple lies”. While in context it means that there were a loving couple
lay or lies in the tomb, at the same time it also highlights the deceit being done. Looking it at this
light the loving couple are lying. John Donne makes use of double meanings in this line to
continue to tell his story and at the same time highlight the theme of deceit. As seen through his
use of diction, John Donne is able to highlight the theme of deceit.

In the poem John Donne also uses tone in order to help tell the deceitful story of the man and
the woman. In the poem it can be said that there is a satirical tone, as John Donne makes use
of the satirical nature of poetry. This can be seen as the persona of the poem is able to attack
superstition, through the deceit he creates. This can be seen in the third stanza where the
persona states “First we loved well and faithfully,” yet in the following line he seems to contradict
what he said stating “Yet knew not what we loved, nor why”.

Lastly John Donne, uses imagery to reveal the deceitful story that the persona and woman
had created. At the beginning of the stanza, the image of the persona’s grave being dug up is
created. The persona’s grave was being dug up in order to reveal the story of the corpses to its
guests, yet not knowing that what they reveal is a false story created by setup of false evidence
such as the “bracelet of bright hair”. In the second stanza the persona tells of how they may
become holy relics, giving images of church related imagery such as mass, bishops and Mary
Magdalen. This is to highlight the flaw and unreliability of superstition as people have been
fooled by the false story the persona created. With this the poem serves as a satire to
superstition.

Overall John Donne’s poem entitled “The Relic” serves as a satirical poem, which criticizes
superstition and at the same time highlights the theme of deceit. This was seen through his use
of diction such as through his wordplay, his satirical tone and his use of imagery to portray the
false story created by the persona.