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.