Pearson Edexcel · A-Level · English Literature

    Course version: 9ET0 · Version from Sept 2015

    Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 –…

    Full specification wording

    Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – John Donne Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006): A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day

    "A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day" explores profound grief and the absolute annihilation of the self following the death of a beloved.

    Checked against the Pearson Edexcel 9ET0 specification (opens in a new tab) on .

    • Point 14 of 22
    • 4 key terms

    Study notes

    From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    The idea

    "A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day" explores profound grief and the absolute annihilation of the self following the death of a beloved. Set on the winter solstice, the year's darkest and shortest day, Donne uses the bleakness of the season to mirror the speaker's internal desolation. The poem employs complex alchemical conceits, presenting the speaker as having been distilled into the very essence of nothingness, "re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death". While ordinary alchemy seeks to create gold and life, love's alchemy has reduced the speaker to the "quintessence even from nothingness".

    What earns the marks

    • Analyse the use of alchemical imagery to express the absolute reduction and annihilation of the speaker's identity.
    • Evaluate the significance of the setting on the winter solstice as a macrocosmic reflection of the speaker's microcosmic grief.
    • Explore the contrast between the cyclical nature of the physical world and the linear, irreversible nature of the speaker's loss.
    • Discuss the structural progression of the stanzas, moving from the external dead world to the internal void of the speaker.

    Common mistakes and how to put them right

    • Assuming St Lucy's Day refers to a modern December 21st solstice.

      Put it right: Note that in the Julian calendar used in Donne's time, St Lucy's Day on December 13th was the winter solstice.

    • Interpreting the poem as a standard elegy seeking consolation.

      Put it right: Recognise that the poem actively rejects consolation, insisting on the speaker's unique status as absolute nothingness.

    • Misunderstanding the alchemical term 'quintessence' as a positive perfection.

      Put it right: Explain that Donne subverts this term; the speaker is the perfection of 'nothingness' and 'ruin', not a purified life force.

    Exam tips

    • Connect the poem's bleak, irregular metre to the speaker's disrupted emotional state and sense of profound emptiness.
    • Compare the destructive 'alchemy' of love in this poem with the more celebratory, unifying alchemy found in Donne's earlier love poetry.
    • Use the concept of the macrocosm and microcosm to explain how the dying year reflects the death of the speaker's world.

    Try the lesson

    The start of the Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – John Donne Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006): A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    Have a go first

    What is the significance of the setting in John Donne's 'A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day'?

    Listen

    A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day" explores profound grief and the absolute annihilation of the self following the death of a beloved. Set on the winter solstice, the year's darkest and shortest day, Donne uses the bleakness of the season to mirror the speaker's internal desolation. The poem employs complex alchemical conceits, presenting the speaker as having been distilled into the very essence of nothingness, "re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death". While ordinary alchemy seeks to create gold and life, love's alchemy has reduced the speaker to the "quintessence even from nothingness". A strong answer earns marks for these points. Analyse the use of alchemical imagery to express the absolute reduction and annihilation of the speaker's identity. Evaluate the significance of the setting on the winter solstice as a macrocosmic reflection of the speaker's microcosmic grief. Explore the contrast between the cyclical nature of the physical world and the linear, irreversible nature of the speaker's loss. Discuss the structural progression of the stanzas, moving from the external dead world to the internal void of the speaker. A common slip: Assuming St Lucy's Day refers to a modern December 21st solstice. Instead, Note that in the Julian calendar used in Donne's time, St Lucy's Day on December 13th was the winter solstice. Exam tip: Connect the poem's bleak, irregular metre to the speaker's disrupted emotional state and sense of profound emptiness.

    See it

    A top-down flowchart. The winter solstice, the year's darkest and shortest day, leads to the external dead world, which leads to the speaker's internal desolation. This leads to the alchemical conceit of the speaker distilled into nothingness, then to the quintessence even from nothingness, then to being re-begot of absence, darkness, death. Separately, the natural world's cyclical renewal and eventual spring leads to the speaker being excluded from the cycle of life, and the re-begot node also feeds into that exclusion. The exclusion finally leads to permanent spiritual death and the rejection of consolation.
    Shows how the solstice setting and alchemical reduction lead to the speaker's exclusion from nature's cycle and permanent spiritual death.

    Key words

    Say what each word means before you turn the card.

    Grief and Loss

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Nothingness and Annihilation

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Time and the Seasons

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Love's Destructive Power

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    See every definition
    Grief and Loss
    Profound grief and the absolute annihilation of the self following the death of a beloved.
    Nothingness and Annihilation
    The speaker is presented as distilled into the very essence of nothingness, the "quintessence even from nothingness".
    Time and the Seasons
    The bleakness of the winter solstice, the year's darkest and shortest day, mirrors the speaker's internal desolation.
    Love's Destructive Power
    Love's alchemy has reduced the speaker to nothingness, in contrast with ordinary alchemy, which seeks to create gold and life.

    Label the diagram

    Some boxes have lost their names. Pick the right name for each number.

    The diagram again, with 3 boxes numbered instead of named. A top-down flowchart. The winter solstice, the year's darkest and shortest day, leads to the external dead world, which leads to the speaker's internal desolation. This leads to the alchemical conceit of the speaker distilled into nothingness, then to the quintessence even from nothingness, then to being re-begot of absence, darkness, death. Separately, the natural world's cyclical renewal and eventual spring leads to the speaker being excluded from the cycle of life, and the re-begot node also feeds into that exclusion. The exclusion finally leads to permanent spiritual death and the rejection of consolation.

    • 1Box 1

    • 2Box 2

    • 3Box 3

    0 of 3 labelled

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