How do I recognise the literary device ‘intertextuality’?

Intertextuality is a complex literary device because there is a constant interplay, both intentional and non-intentional, between texts across the various literary cannons of different cultures and languages. However, some intertextuality is very pointed and can be recognised using some of the following techniques. In his poem, ‘The Indifferent’, John Donne uses intertextuality between his sonnet and poem, ‘Amores 2.4’, by the Latin poet Ovid. Donne roughly bases his poem off Ovid’s. In Donne’s case, similarities in meter and rhyme between the two poems won’t help you identify intertextuality since the two poems were composed in different languages. However, the form of the poem, catch phrases, and the tone are all elements which are recognisable. Ovid’s poem is memorable because of its blatant irreverence to Emperor Augustus by cataloguing his promiscuity and innumerable love affairs. This was in reaction to Augustus’ recent laws on marriage and adultery which made infidelity a capital crime. Ovid writes spends 10 stanzas detailing the different types of women who attract him in a promiscuous and highly satirical fashion. He writes, ‘The looks that lure my love have no set pattern […] I fall for blondes, I fall for girls who’re auburn’ and ‘Both long and short, they suit my lover’s eye’. Donne reflects Ovid’s poem by using the same satirical tone targeting those who uphold fidelity. His first stanza follows the same pattern as Ovid’s ten stanzas, using the same blatant language. Donne writes ‘I can love both fair and brown […] I can love her, and her, and you, and you | I can love any’. Both writers de-humanise their lovers: Ovid describes them in terms of ‘long’ and ‘short’ which are measurements generally used to describe objects. Donne reflects this de-humanising tone in his poem by saying ‘I can love any’: the indefinite pronoun ‘any’ is in the inanimate form, meaning that it is used grammatically to replace objects in a sentence not people. If it was replacing a person, the pronoun would be ‘anyone’. Donne is referring to his lovers by replacing them with an inanimate pronoun that blatantly de-humanises them. Look for similar tones between the two poems and identify similar words and catch-phrases. Look for underlying themes that the two poems may be dealing with. In the case of Donne and Ovid, both poets are dealing with the theme of corrupted love. Both Ovid and Donne are attacking people who uphold fidelity in order reveal the nature of humanity as prone to infidelity. Connections between the texts of Ovid and Donne can be recognised based on a separate knowledge of the two poets and an understanding their views on the common theme of love.