The Fool

The fool represents the different aspects of a person's character. The poem revolves around the central metaphor of the fool. Donne often uses extended metaphor in his works, and this one is particularly prominent, as he explores three different uses of the metaphor here: a lover's folly, an artist's, and the folly of making one's grief public. The image of the fool, both as an adjective characterizing a character and as a symbol referencing professional fools, is a central idea that structures the poem.

Medicine

Medicine represents the healing power of art. The speaker compares his attempt at writing poetry to two frequent medical treatments of the early modern era: purgation and drawing. Doctors often attempted to "purge" diseases by giving the patient an emetic or laxative in the hopes that they would pass whatever toxin was making them ill (7). Likewise, doctors would frequently "draw...