Donne as a metaphysical poet
Introduction: Dryden expressed
the view that “Donne affects the metaphysics” taking his cue from this
statement, Dr. Johnson described Donne and his followers as the metaphysical poets.Ben
Johnson followed classical rules and being a classicist, was a champion of
decorum, discipline, symmetry and regularity, so he was not in favor of the
bold liberty taken up by Donne.
But he appreciated Donne as well
for revolting against Petrarchan Conventions. According to Dr.
Johnson, the metaphysical poets were men of learning; the displayed
an abundance of wit, if will be defined as a combination of dissimilar ideas.
They ransacked nature and art for illustrations, comparisons and allusions.
Johnson used the word, Metaphysical for Donne’spoetry in a
rather contemptuous sense, even though much of what is said applies to Donne’s
work. The wit of a metaphysical poet is more intellectual than that
of the Elizabethan poets in general. his conceits are psychological, his lyrics
are argumentative but the greatest achievement of a metaphysical poet
is a blend of passion and thought. Intense emotional intellectuality is a
leading quality of a metaphysical verse. In brief, the term,
“MetaphysicalPoetry” implies the qualities of complexity, fusion of emotions, outburst of
passions and emotional intellectuality and an embodiment of reflective
elements.
Qualities of Donne (‘s poetry)
as a poet: Intellect and wit are the two prime qualities of
ametaphysical poet. The poet interweaves these two elements with its emotional
effects. Donne was a classical representative of this kind of poetry. He
was a man whose instinct compelled him to bring the whole of experience into
his verse. When we speak of Donne as a metaphysical poet, we
generally have in mind the combination of passion and thought which
characterize his work. His conceits are witty, his hyperboles are outrageous
and his paradoxes astonishing. His mixes fact and fancy in an astounding
manner. All these qualities need to be illustrated from his poems. The
Good-Marrow is a poem of passion, but its intellectual quality is less
obvious. The poem proves that the poet and the beloved are passionately in
love. Each one is a world to the other. These lovers can never die because they
love each other with equal intensity. Donne was the first poet who included
thought and idea in poetry side by side as opposed to the
Elizabethans. Originality in diction marks Donne’s poetry. He used
scientific, technical as well as colloquial vocabulary. He rejected the
conventional Petrarchan conceits and coined new images. His
vocabulary is rich and diversified. He is the first poet who has delineated
ecstatic joy of fulfilled love in the Sun Rising. We see originality,
novelty and complexity so abundant no where but in Donne’s poetry.
The main aspects of the Metaphysical poetry are:
Passionate thinking, Philosophical concept of the universe and ordinary
experiences, obscurity and learning, unified sensibility, conceits and images,
Affectation and Hyperbole, Diction and versification and excessive
intellectualism. All these features of metaphysical poetry are
abundant in Donne’s poetry for which he is labeled as a metaphysical poet.
Donne is a metaphysical poet
in a literal sense too. He speaks of the soul and of spiritual love.Air and
Angles is a metaphysical poem in this sense. In A Valediction and Forbidding
Mourning,the poet speaks of the spiritual love. The love is so
refined that the lovers do not much miss each other’s eyes, lips and hands
which lovers normally seek. In the Relic, they do not even know the
difference of sex. Donne deserves the title, Metaphysical also
because of his obscurity which is sometimes terrible. His concentration,
expanded epigrams, fondness for conceits and striking and subtle wit,
combination of passion and thought, the use of common language and the
profundity of thought and intensity are the qualities that make Donne a metaphysical poet.
Selected Love Poems for Analysis
The Good-morrow:
My face in thine eye, thine in
mine appears
Where can we finde two better
hemispheres
If our two loves be one, or thou
or I
Love so alike, that none doe
slacken, none can die
Synopsis: One of the finest poems
of Donne explaining the complex nature of love. Initially, it has an element of
fun and sex but later it provides a complete world to the lovers and this pure
love is neither subject to time nor death.
Song:
Goe, and catche a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake roote,
Synopsis: the poet, through a
series of images, proves to show that it is impossible to find a true and
faithful woman in the world as it is equally impossible to produce a child from
a mandrake root. Petrarchan and Elizabethan poets honored woman as
the heroine and goddess, but themetaphysical poets mocked at them.
Frailty, thy name is woman was quite popular in Donne’s time.
The Sun Rising:
I could eclipse and cloud them
with a winke,
But that I would not lose her
sight so long:
She is all States, and all
Princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Love, all alike, no season knows,
nor clime,
Nor houres, dayes, monthes, which
are the rages of time.
Synopsis: This shows a lover’s
vexation against sun-rising. The dawn is regarded as impertinence between the
two lovers. The supremacy of love surpasses both time and space. I can blow out
the sun with a wink but I don’t want to avert my attention from my lover even
for this short duration. My sweetheart is all the states of the world rolled
into one and I am all the princes of the world rolled into one. There are no
states and princes except those described by me.
Aire and Angels:
Twice or thrice had I loved thee,
Before I knew thy face or name;
So in a voice, so in a shaplesse
flame
Angells affect us oft, and
worship’d bee
Synopsis: This is a poem of love
and has little to do with air and angles. The poet is fed up with the Platonic
idea of love – love as something holy and spiritual. The poem is an address of
the poet to his beloved. I had loved you twice or thrive in spirit before
I saw your face or knew your name. Just as angels are recognized through their
voice or through a ball of fire and then worshipped in the same way.
The Extasie
But as all severall soules
containe ,
Love, these mix souls, doth mixe
againe,
Synopsis: It is love that
brings two souls together and mixes them into one while in reality they are two
separate human existences. It is a complex and metaphysical poem
dealing with the twin aspects of love physical and spiritual. What is Extasie?
It is a state in which the soul comes out of the body and has communication
with God.
The Relicque
First we lov’d well and
faithfully,
Yet knew not what wee lov’d, nor
why
Difference of sex no more we knew
Synopsis: We loved totally
and faithfully without knowing why we liked each other. We didn’t regard sex as
the object of our love. Our love was pure and clean like those of angels.
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