Discuss John Donne as a metaphysical poet. in about 800 words.

Death and the metaphysical are common traits in Donne's poetry. However, for Donne death is not so much a somber subject producing gloomy thoughts, but a transition moment--often a climax--denoting a change of state. In "The Flea," for example, the woman's killing of the flea ostensibly ruins his argument for their physical intimacy, but from this death he is able to form a positive proof that their union would not have any greater effect than the loss of the blood she has just obliterated. In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," Donne refers to his impending departure and absence from his wife as a form of death, suggesting that his separation from her is a form of emotional obliteration (although he states that the physical distance cannot alter their ubiquitous love).