When writing poetry all a writer has is their words to express thoughts, feelings, and actions in a way that both gets their point across and paints a picture for the reader. In "The Broken Heart" John Donne uses descriptive language to captivate their minds. While he isolates a different technique in each stanza they all come together like puzzle pieces to make one picture that tells a poignant story while enlightening us about his views about the nature of love.

In the first stanza Donne uses the concept of time, in hours and years, to show that you can't give love a shelf value. He expresses to us that it is a lasting thing. He also makes it a point to employ action verbs. His personification of love through these actions sets the tone for the rest of the poem giving love the ability to take the...