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John Donne: a love poet
Donne was the first English poet to challenge and break the supremacy of Petrarchan tradition. Though at times he adopts the Petrarchan devices, yet hisimagery
and rhythm, texture and colour of his love poetry is different. There arethree distinct strains of his love poetry – Cynical, Platonic and Conjugal love.
Giving an allusion to Donne’s originality as the poet of love, Grierson makes thefollowing observation:“His genius temperament and learning gave a certain qualities to his love poems…
which arrest our attention immediately. His love poems, for instance, do havea power which is at once realistic and distracting.”Donne’s greatness as a love-poet arises from the fact
that this poetry covers awider range of emotions than that of any previous poet. His poetry is not bookishbut is rooted in his personal experiences. Is love experience were wide
andvaried and so is the emotional range of his love-poetry. He had love affairs with anumber of women. Some of them were lasting and permanent, other were only of a short
duration.Donne is quite original in presenting the love situations and moods.The “experience of love” must produce a “sense of connection” in both the lovers.This “sense of connection”
must be based on equal urge and longing on both thesides.“The room of love” must be shared equally by the two partners.Donne magnifies the ideal of “Sense of connection” into the
physical fulfillment of love."My face in thine eyes thine in mime appears"This aspect of love helps him in the virtual analysis of the experience of love.Donne was a shrewd observer who
had first hand knowledge of “love and relatedaffairs. That is why in almost all his poems, he has a deep insight.His love as expressed in his poetry was based not on conventions but on
his ownexperiences. He experienced all phase of love – platonic, sensuous, serene,cynical, conjugal, illicit, lusty, picturesque and sensual. He could also begrotesque blending thought
with passion. Another peculiar quality of Donne’s love lyrics is its “metaphysical strain”. Hispoems are sensuous and fantastic. Donne’s metaphysical strain made his reader confused his
sincerity.Donne’s genius temperament and learning gave to his love poems power andfascination. There is a depth and rang of feeling unknown to the majority of Elizabethan poets.
Donne’s poetry is startlingly unconventional even when hedallies, half ironically, with the hyperboles of petrarch.Donne is realistic not an idealistic. He knows the weakness of Flesh, the
pleasure of sex, the joy of secret meeting. However he tries to establish arelationship between the body and the soul. Donne is very realistic poet.Grierson distinguished three distinct
strains in it. First there is the cynical strain.Secondly, there is the strain f conjugal love to be noticed in poems like“valediction: forbidding mourning”. Thirdly, there is platonic strain.
The platonicstrain is to b found in poems like “Twicknam Garden”, “The Funeral”, “TheBlossoms”, and “The Primroses”. These poems were probably addressed to thehigh-born lady
friends. Towards them he adopts the helpless pose of flirtationsand in high platonic vein boasts that:Different of sex no more we knowThan our Guardian Anglles doeIn between the
cynical realistic strain and the highest spiritual strain, there are anumber of poems which show an endless variety of mood and tone. Thus theeare poems in which the tone is harsh,
others which are coarse and brutal, stillother in which he holds out a making threat to his faithless mistress and stillothers in which he is in a reflective mood. More often that not, a
number of strains and moods are mixed up in the same poem. This makes Donne as a lovepoet singularly, original, unconventional and realistic.Whatever may be the tone or mood of a
particular poem, it is always anexpression of some personal experience and is, therefore, presented withremarkable force, sincerity and seriousness. Each poem deals with a
lovesituation which is intellectually analyzed with the skill of an experienced lawyer.Hence the difficult nature of his poetry and the charge of obscurity have beenbrought against him.
The difficulty of the readers is further increased by theextreme condensation and destiny of Donne’s poetry.The fantastic nature of the metaphysical conceits and poetry would become
clear even we examine a few examples. In “Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” truelovers now parted are likened to the legs of a compass. The image is elaboratedat length. The lovers
are spiritually one, just as the head of the compass is oneeven when the legs are apart. One leg remains fixed and the other moves roundit. The lover cannot forget the beloved even
when separated from her. The twoloves meet together in the end just as the two legs of the compass are together again, as soon as circle has been drawn. At other times, he uses
equally extravagated hyperboles. For example, hemistakes his beloved to an angel, for to imagine her less than an angle would beprofanity.In Donne’s poetry, there is always an
“intellectual analysis” of emotion. Like aclever lawyer, Donne gives arguments after arguments in support of his points of
view. Thus in “Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” he proves that true lovers neednot mourn at the time of parting. In “Canonization” he establishes that lovers aresaints of love and in
“The Blossome” he argues against the petrarchan lovetradition. In all this Donne is a realistic love poet.
Donne was the first English poet to challenge and break the supremacy of Petrarchan tradition. Though at times he adopts the Petrarchan devices, yet hisimagery
and rhythm, texture and colour of his love poetry is different. There arethree distinct strains of his love poetry – Cynical, Platonic and Conjugal love.
Giving an allusion to Donne’s originality as the poet of love, Grierson makes thefollowing observation:“His genius temperament and learning gave a certain qualities to his love poems…
which arrest our attention immediately. His love poems, for instance, do havea power which is at once realistic and distracting.”Donne’s greatness as a love-poet arises from the fact
that this poetry covers awider range of emotions than that of any previous poet. His poetry is not bookishbut is rooted in his personal experiences. Is love experience were wide
andvaried and so is the emotional range of his love-poetry. He had love affairs with anumber of women. Some of them were lasting and permanent, other were only of a short
duration.Donne is quite original in presenting the love situations and moods.The “experience of love” must produce a “sense of connection” in both the lovers.This “sense of connection”
must be based on equal urge and longing on both thesides.“The room of love” must be shared equally by the two partners.Donne magnifies the ideal of “Sense of connection” into the
physical fulfillment of love."My face in thine eyes thine in mime appears"This aspect of love helps him in the virtual analysis of the experience of love.Donne was a shrewd observer who
had first hand knowledge of “love and relatedaffairs. That is why in almost all his poems, he has a deep insight.His love as expressed in his poetry was based not on conventions but on
his ownexperiences. He experienced all phase of love – platonic, sensuous, serene,cynical, conjugal, illicit, lusty, picturesque and sensual. He could also begrotesque blending thought
with passion. Another peculiar quality of Donne’s love lyrics is its “metaphysical strain”. Hispoems are sensuous and fantastic. Donne’s metaphysical strain made his reader confused his
sincerity.Donne’s genius temperament and learning gave to his love poems power andfascination. There is a depth and rang of feeling unknown to the majority of Elizabethan poets.
Donne’s poetry is startlingly unconventional even when hedallies, half ironically, with the hyperboles of petrarch.Donne is realistic not an idealistic. He knows the weakness of Flesh, the
pleasure of sex, the joy of secret meeting. However he tries to establish arelationship between the body and the soul. Donne is very realistic poet.Grierson distinguished three distinct
strains in it. First there is the cynical strain.Secondly, there is the strain f conjugal love to be noticed in poems like“valediction: forbidding mourning”. Thirdly, there is platonic strain.
The platonicstrain is to b found in poems like “Twicknam Garden”, “The Funeral”, “TheBlossoms”, and “The Primroses”. These poems were probably addressed to thehigh-born lady
friends. Towards them he adopts the helpless pose of flirtationsand in high platonic vein boasts that:Different of sex no more we knowThan our Guardian Anglles doeIn between the
cynical realistic strain and the highest spiritual strain, there are anumber of poems which show an endless variety of mood and tone. Thus theeare poems in which the tone is harsh,
others which are coarse and brutal, stillother in which he holds out a making threat to his faithless mistress and stillothers in which he is in a reflective mood. More often that not, a
number of strains and moods are mixed up in the same poem. This makes Donne as a lovepoet singularly, original, unconventional and realistic.Whatever may be the tone or mood of a
particular poem, it is always anexpression of some personal experience and is, therefore, presented withremarkable force, sincerity and seriousness. Each poem deals with a
lovesituation which is intellectually analyzed with the skill of an experienced lawyer.Hence the difficult nature of his poetry and the charge of obscurity have beenbrought against him.
The difficulty of the readers is further increased by theextreme condensation and destiny of Donne’s poetry.The fantastic nature of the metaphysical conceits and poetry would become
clear even we examine a few examples. In “Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” truelovers now parted are likened to the legs of a compass. The image is elaboratedat length. The lovers
are spiritually one, just as the head of the compass is oneeven when the legs are apart. One leg remains fixed and the other moves roundit. The lover cannot forget the beloved even
when separated from her. The twoloves meet together in the end just as the two legs of the compass are together again, as soon as circle has been drawn. At other times, he uses
equally extravagated hyperboles. For example, hemistakes his beloved to an angel, for to imagine her less than an angle would beprofanity.In Donne’s poetry, there is always an
“intellectual analysis” of emotion. Like aclever lawyer, Donne gives arguments after arguments in support of his points of
view. Thus in “Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” he proves that true lovers neednot mourn at the time of parting. In “Canonization” he establishes that lovers aresaints of love and in
“The Blossome” he argues against the petrarchan lovetradition. In all this Donne is a realistic love poet.