I.14a "When like a pillow on a bed"

Ugh. I would have to pretty dense not to get this one, by JD (the other JD). The ultimate refinement of metaphysical wit. That intellectual quality we find in Shakespeare, but intensified. The image of the eyes threaded on a string has always repulsed me. I believe this poem is titled "The Ecstasy": "this ecstasy doth unperplex." A+

14b "A single violet transplant"

A lesser Donne poem, or a poem by a lesser Donne. A tongue-twister effect: "We owe them thanks, because they thus / Did us, to us, at first convey; / Yielded their forces, sense, to us, / Nor are dross to us, but allay." Not sublime, but a solid B+. This style is enormously difficult to pull off. I think Zuke wanted us to compare these and find the second lacking.