John Donne's Unusual Ideas: Bizarre Images or Thoughtful Comparisons?What is a flea and the intense emotion of the love have exactly in common? Does the sun ever creep in on you and your lover when you're in bed? For most people, these questions would only attract quizzical or blank looks, followed perhaps by a referral to one psychologist or another. However, if one asked the same questions of a certain young minister in 17th century London, he would suddenly be inspired. This exceptional personality was the metaphysical poet John Donne. Many people wonder whether the metaphysical style of Donne's verse is a truly contemplative simile or simply eccentric imagery. However, if one examines his witty works such as "The Sun Rising" or "The Flea" in depth enough, one will find evidence to support both views. It has been said of Donne's love poetry that it "sometimes lost itself in the fantastic and the absurd" (Grierson 25). Using his unusual conceits or outlandish metaphors, John Donne uses his remarkable ability to elicit a nostalgic sigh of love from any reader while shocking and twisting the brain cells at the same time. It is this innovative method combining such passion and great intelligence that inspires poets like TS Eliot to imitate him and others like Samuel Johnson to criticize him. An example of John Donne's words presenting themselves as a thoughtful and truly intriguing simile is presented in "The Sun Rising." "In this composition, Donne boastfully proclaims: "She is all the states and all the princes, I, nothing else is" (Lines 21-22). By this he so boldly declares that he and his own love are the center of the universe and all that is important (Carey 109 He goes on to say to the “unruly sun”: “This bed is your center, these walls, your sphere” (line 30). ). By these lines we can see that Donne describes love as an omnipotent emotion He tells us that being in love means a completeness, an obsession that makes everything else negligible When the speaker states to the sun: “Yes. his eyes have not blinded yours; look, and tomorrow late, tell me, if the two Spice Indies and mine Be where you left them, or lie down here with me” (Lines 15- 18), he masterfully shows both the superiority of his loves and the inferiority of the sun..