John Donne as a Poet of Love

 

Donne is one of the greatest love poets in English literature. He expounds on no coherent system of the philosophy of love in his love poems. His primary concern is not thought but feeling. No scheme of thought, no interpretation of life became for him a complete and illuminating experience. The central theme of his poetry is his own intense personal mood, as a lover, a friend, and an analyst of his own experiences, worldly and religious. Donne’s love philosophy cannot unify these experiences. He used to record the reactions of his own restless and acute mind to the intense experiences of the moment. 

The love experiences as expressed in his poems were not based upon bookish conventions but on his own observations and beliefs. He experienced all phases of love -cynical strain, conjugal love strain and Platonic strain. His cynicism is always related to women’s unfaithfulness. He finds that no woman is capable of faith and virtue. For instance, in ‘Go, and Catch a Falling Star’ he gives argument after argument to prove that loyalty is very rare in women. One cannot find a faithful girl; if, after doing hard efforts, he finds her then it would have been changed until the person reaches her.

 In conjugal love strain, John Donne finds peace and harmony in love. He sees it as a passion instead of nasty work. Numerous poems by John Donne depict this strain. These poems are addressed to his wife. He sings that true love knows no decay. For instance, ‘Valediction: Of Weeping’ and ‘Valediction: Forbidden Mourning’ are about spiritual peace. As a love poet, John Donne has proved that love is part of life and that without it, life is barren and useless. Whenever he remembers his beloved, he attains peace and serenity. He cannot forget her or the moments that he has spent with her. He bids farewell to his wife cheerfully:

                                         “But think that we

                                          Are who turned aside to sleep;

                                          They who one another keep

                                          Alive never parted be.”  

            Platonic strain is the last but the most important love strain in Donne’s love poems. Love is love whether it is before marriage or after. There is always spirituality in it. Donne has improved this strain and written “Divine Poems”. To exemplify, In ‘The Sun Rising’ the poet considers love as the best thing on this planet. Similarly, in ‘Canonization’, he takes love as a holy passion. He sings:

                                    “Difference of sex no more we know

                                     Than our Guardian angels do.”

Hence, this strain is entirely the opposite of the cynical strain.

            Donne might talk about women but he never praised their beauty. He never said that he liked the hairs or lips of his beloved. He is a love devotee and talks about emotions, not physical appearances. For him, love is not just about sex. If he talks about any part of her beloved’s body then he merely describes its charm. Moreover, in his eyes, physical contact is not necessary for love. This very fact is evident from ‘Valediction: Forbidden Mourning’. It is desirous and spiritual.

Donne has not studied love but experienced it. He does not advise his reader but speaks the truth. He leaves everything to his reader to decide whether he is right or not. Donne’s greatness lies within the expression of feelings and his philosophy of love. In the end, we can say that Donne resembles Byron in cynicism, Browning in grotesqueness, Burns in purity and simplicity, and Keats in sensualism. But he adds to all these spiritual and metaphysical strains.

 

John Donne as a Metaphysical Poet

        

    Actually, the term metaphysics means something supernatural. The meaning of the term ‘metaphysical’ is 'what is beyond physical'. It is concerned with fundamental problems of life and death and soul even after death. The term metaphysical poetry means poetry dealing with metaphysical subjects. These subjects are - the nature of the universe, the movements of stars and planets and the whole relationship of man to God. Novel thought and expressions, conceit, wit, obscurity and learning are the main characteristics of Metaphysical poetry. 

          If we interpret the term ‘metaphysical’ in its strict philosophical sense, then, perhaps Donne cannot be regarded as a true metaphysical poet. He expounds on no coherent system of philosophy. His primary concern is not thought but feeling. No scheme of thought, no interpretation of life became for him a complete and illuminating experience. The central theme of his poetry is his own intense personal mood, as a lover, a friend, and an analyst of his own experiences, worldly and religious. Donne’s philosophy cannot unify these experiences. He used to record the reactions of his own restless and acute mind to the intense experiences of the moment. So he is not metaphysical in the sense in Dante, Goethe, Epicurus etc. are.   

Dryden used the term 'Metaphysical' for Donne's poetry when he said, 'Donne affects the metaphysics'. Later on, Dr Johnson called Donne and his followers 'the metaphysical poets'. In the days of Dr Johnson the term ‘Metaphysical’ was used for something abstract general reasoning. It was in this sense, perhaps, that the word came to be regarded as the equivalent of ‘fanciful, fantastic or imaginary’. Since then the word metaphysical has been used for Donne and his followers.

The Metaphysical poets were men of learning. Their poetry reveals their scholarship. From this point of view, Donne is a great metaphysical poet. To show his learning is his chief object. In his poetry, he has twisted his vast learning. Due to this, his poetry becomes very difficult to understand. In Donne's poetry, there is always an antithesis between natural and divine knowledge.

John Donne’s poetry is metaphysical because of the uniqueness of his poetry and his search for questions. Wit is dominant in his poetry, and it is vague and makes use of improbable conceits. The themes of his poems include paradoxes, fidelity, religion, Death and the Hereafter, both physical and spiritual Love, Interconnection between humanity, etc. 

Donne is one of the immortal image makers. He breaks away from the easy and familiar mythological imagery of the Elizabethans. He turns out the company of gods and goddesses and rejects the spoils of Greek and Latin poetry. He prefers directness and homeliness of expression to artificial grace. His images are drawn from his own interest. The flea to him becomes a marriage bed because it will bite the beloved after biting the poet and thus introduces his blood in her and hers in him:

                                      “This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is”

Several examples of such images can be given from his songs, sonnets, hymns, elegies etc. These farfetched conceits make him a metaphysical poet.

Donne is quite dramatic in offering catchy opening lines. He almost catches the reader by his arms and gives him a jolt. This dramatic rhythm gives the illusion of talking in a state of excitement. Donne is original in his innovation of poetic rhythm. Ben Jonson called Donne “the first poet in the world for something.” His poetry is harsh, more than this it is obscure and puzzling.  That is why he is called “a very great and very puzzling poet”. He acts like a spokesman for one side, a troubled side, of human experience.

There is a “unification of sensibility” in metaphysical poetry. Donne’s poetry gives the impression that thought and argument are arising immediately out of passionate feelings. It is part of the dramatic realism of his style. A thought to Donne was an experience. His poems arise out of an emotional situation. Then he argues and reasons to make his attitude acceptable. And in this process, the conceits are used as instruments. In ‘Good Morrow’ Donne draws upon several spheres of knowledge- geography, philosophy, sea discoveries etc.- all to prove that the world of love is more important than the geographical world.

So we can say that Donne is a metaphysical poet because of the following qualities in his poetry; revolt against Elizabethan matter and manner, the blend of passion and thought, logic, analytical, scholasticism, simple language, and far-fetched conceits. He is indeed a great poet of his age- one of the greatest Jacobean poets of England, if not the greatest.