John
Donne is one of the most famous poets of the seventeenth century. He has been
highly acclaimed for his metaphysical poems and he is considered as the pioneer
of the metaphysical poets. Many poets used to write poems in this technique,
but he was the major metaphysical poet because of his writing style.
‘Twickenham Garden’ is a metaphysical
poem written by him. The poem is written addressing the home of Lucy, the
Countess of Bedford. This fair lady was the patroness of John Donne. By
conceiving a fruitless love for her, he has misunderstood their friendship. So,
the poem is like an autobiographical lyric describing the personal experience
of the poet. Before going to discuss metaphysical poetry, we should know its
definition at first.
The
word “Metaphysic” can be divided into two parts- “meta”, which means beyond,
and “physic”, which means physical. It actually indicates the things or ideas
that are not in physical form. Some of the important characteristics are given
below-
1. Language of the
poem should be ordinary and it will be combined with puns, paradoxes and
conceits.
2. Poems will be
written in the form of dramatic monologue. It means there will be only one
speaker and one listener who has no physical existence.
3. In love poetry,
while showing the relationship between soul and body and the union of lovers’
souls, they take the concept from Renaissance Neo-Platonism.
4. It shows the
development of wit, a sense of fancy and originality in figures of speech.
5. While describing
the concept of love, poets try to show the realism of psychology.
6. It should have a
sudden start.
7. There should be the
use of hyperbole.
The
most important characteristic of metaphysical poetry is that it starts suddenly
and we can see the same thing happening in this poem too. The poem has started
suddenly describing the poet’s state of mind and there is only mention of his
inner turmoil. He said, “Blasted with sighs, and surrounded with tears.”
Here,
the poet says that he is tormented by his suffering that he is surrounded by
his tears. Here ‘sighs’ and ‘tears’ can be interpreted as metaphors for ‘wind’
and ‘rain’. It is also the example of Donne’s hyperbole.
Another
important characteristic is dramatic monologue. Dramatic monologue is a type of
poetry where there will be one speaker revealing his incident that makes up the
whole of the poem to a person who is not physically present. In this poem,
readers can find one speaker and he is perhaps the poet himself.
In
this poem, John Donne has beautifully demonstrated the use of metaphysical
conceit. This literary term can be seen in the first stanza of this poem. The
poet said,
“The
spider Love, which transubstantiates all,
And can convert manna to gall.”
In
these above-stated lines, the poet has compared his love with a dangerous and
poisonous thing like spider. He said that his love is like a spider love, which
can transform anything into poisonous. Even it can convert a heavenly food into
bitter.
Actually,
it indicates triangle love. He has fallen in love with a woman who is already
married. He knew that he cannot have this beautiful woman. Because of his
one-sided love, he does not like the love that exists between her and her
husband.
In
the last two lines of the first stanza, readers can get the use of metaphysical
conceit when the poet brilliantly compares himself to the serpent of Eden. He
said,
“And
that this place may thoroughly be thought
True paradise, I have the serpent brought.”
In
these lines, the poet said that he has brought a serpent with him in the shape
of “love” that will give the similar appearance of this garden to the Garden of
Eden. Here, the writer with the word “serpent” mentions about painful thoughts
and memories of love. Being a serpent, Donne turns a perfect place into a place
of expulsion, grief and absence.
The
reason for comparing himself to the serpent is because he is jealous of the
married couple and he wants to tempt Lucy into being unfaithful to her partner.
It is a Biblical reference. When Adam and Eve were in Paradise, Satan took the
form of a serpent and tempted Eve and this resulted in the fall of Man.
In
the second stanza, Donne has used “stone fountain” as a metaphysical conceit.
He said,
“Make
me a mandrake, so I may grow here,
Or a stone fountain weeping out my year.”
The
poet prayed to God to convert himself into a mandrake plant or a stone fountain
so that he can shed tears in the form of jets of water throughout the year.
The
main reason is that he wants to forget the memories of Lucy. As he is unable to
turn Lucy against her husband, he is full of anguish and hopeless. He even
prefers to be an unimportant part of Lucy’s world rather than being nothing at
all. His tears come because of his hatred feeling towards Lucy’s marriage and
because he still loves her knowing that she cannot accept his love.
The
writer has not only used metaphysical conceit but also he has brilliantly used
natural images. At the beginning of the poem, readers can find a very beautiful
description of nature. He said, “Hither
I come to seek the spring.”
He
comes to nature to get relief from his torment by enjoying the beauty of
natural objects. But natural sights and sounds fail to cure the suffering of
his heart. It is because he has brought with him the thoughts of love into the
garden.
With
the use of natural image, Donne has wonderfully depicted his state of
depression and isolation and the inner turmoil he suffers from falling in love
with a woman he cannot have.
The
second stanza of this poem can also be considered as the best example of
natural image. He has used natural image to show his current state of mind and
emotion. He said,
“Twere
wholesomer for me that winter did
Benight the glory of this place,
And that a grave frost did forbid
These trees to laugh and mock me to my face.”
These
lines indicate that trees were laughing at the grief and despair of the poet.
For this reason, he wants the winter to destroy the beauty and charm of this
place. He wishes that a thick frost would have covered the trees of this garden
so that trees should not have made fun of his suffering.
This
short poem also contains many symbols. The word “Mandrake” carries a very important
symbolic meaning. He said, “Make
me a mandrake, so I may grow here.”
Mandrake
is a tree, which is half-human and half-plant. The name of this tree is
mentioned in classic novels. It is said to have groaned when it is wounded.
However, mandrake trees are most often seen symbolizing males. The poet wants
to be a mandrake tree so that he can groan here.
Another
symbol that has equal importance in this poem is “love's wine”, which
symbolizes the poet’s tears. He said,
“Hither
with crystal phials, lovers, come,
And
take my tears, which are love's wine.”
He
said that his tears come from true love. For this reason, he invites lovers to
come with bottles of glass, and after filling them with tears, take them home
and compare them to the tears of their lovers.
In
the poem ‘Twickenham Garden’, readers can find Donne’s negative attitude
towards women. Third stanza is the best example that shows his hatred for
women. He has taken the help of some images to show the unfaithful
characteristics of women. He said,
“For
all are false, that taste not just like mine.
Alas ! hearts do not in eyes shine,
Nor can you more judge women's thoughts by tears,
Than by her shadow what she wears.”
At
the beginning of this stanza, the poet calls lovers to come with a bottle of
glass and fill it with his tears. He also tells them to compare it with those
tears shedding by their beloved. If they do not taste the same then the love of
their beloved is not true. With the words “all are false”, he is actually
referring to all women whose love is not genuine to their beloved.
He
also said that the true feelings of a woman’s heart cannot be judged by the
tears which flow out of her eyes as they can shed false tears. Either directly
or indirectly, he mentioned that ‘truth’, ‘honesty’ etc. are a rare virtue of
womanhood. Readers get a clear idea of Donne’s scornful attitude towards women.
His view of women is totally opposite to the view expressed in most of his love
poems.
He
has boldly portrayed the negative side of women. What message we get from his
view is that women are neither goddess nor fully honest. They have all the
shortcomings as a human being. Readers can find Donne’s materialistic,
negative, and occasionally misogynistic idea.
Readers
can find John Donne’s anti-Petrarchan thought about women. He did not bother
about portraying the negative side of women. In this poem, readers can find
women as ordinary human beings full of flaws or errors. It means that he has
depicted women in opposite way of what the followers of the Petrarchan
tradition have shown women in their poems. It should be known to all that
followers of the Petrarchan tradition treated women as virtuous or goddess.
Their main concern was to portray the beauty and positive sides of women.
Like
other poems of John Donne, the main theme of ‘Twickenham Garden’ is also love
for woman. Here, readers get his cynical view of love. Readers also find him as
a passionate lover who is in love with a married woman he cannot have. While he
was addressing his love for Lucy, we find a sad tone in his voice.
The
poet with his sad and dejected mood entered into the garden in the Spring
season to get some pleasure by enjoying natural sights and sounds. But the
beauty of nature fails to cure his suffering as he enters the garden with him
bringing the thought of love. It should be noted here that Spring is the season
of love and new life.
His
suffering because of Lucy’s rejection of accepting his love has got the main
importance in this poem. Until he compares his beloved with other women, we can
find his negative attitude towards women. According to him, all women are false
because their tears do not taste like his. However, his beloved is the only
exception among them. She is so much true and honest to her husband that she
has denied Donne’s passionate love and this has caused his suffering.
The
closing lines are the most important lines of this poem. In these two lines,
Donne compares Lucy with all women and proves that the girl he loves is better
than anyone. He said,
“O
perverse sex, where none is true but she,
Who's therefore true, because her truth kills me.”
In
these above-mentioned lines, he said that his beloved is not like other women
who are false and deceptive. His beloved is faithful to a single lover. Her
truthfulness to her husband has become the reason for his suffering.
The
last two lines are totally opposite of what he so far said in this poem. It
shows his contradictory thought about love and woman. It shows his paradoxical
thought.
In
conclusion, it can be said that ‘Twickenham Garden’ is undoubtedly a
metaphysical poem because the whole poem deals with nothing but human feelings.
It is much clear that his poem is more about spiritual love rather than
physical love. True love is possible when there will be unity between body and
soul. It is proved that it has all the qualities to be a metaphysical poem.
