John Donne’s treatment of love

John Donne started the trend of metaphysical poetry in English literature. For this reason, he is considered to be a very important poet of English literature. For many years, his poems were not appreciated. Thanks to brilliant poets like T.S. Eliot, his work is widely appreciated by the readers. Donne started his career as a poet in the late Elizabethan period, and he came out of the influence of major poets like Shakespeare and created a new style in poetry.

The subject of love occurred naturally in Donne’s poetry because from ancient times we see that in literature, especially in poems, love is given a lot of importance. In all ages, the poets always talked about love between a man and woman though in real life the scope of love was very limited. Still, poets praised love all the time.

What is striking about John Donne is that he introduced a new idea about love. Predecessors of Donne portrayed love as something heavenly and noble. Though lovers live in the world but enjoy heaven on earth. Donne neither admitted it nor denied it. He did not deny the importance of love in human life, but he did not present love as a heavenly object all the time in his poems. Love also causes pain, emotional upset and treachery. Sometimes he brutally attacked women. He said that no beautiful girl remains faithful to his lover. On the contrary, he spoke highly of his wife. The high thought about love that dominated in the works of the poets of ancient times was also very common among Elizabethan poets. Elizabethan poets of England were highly influenced by Petrarch, the famous Italian poet. Petrarch, in his poems, spoke highly of his beloved. This trend was broken by John Donne. It helped other poets to think in a different manner.

John Donne portrayed love from a realistic point of view. He even used logic to justify love. We all know that love has a deep connection with emotion, and love, in most cases, does not follow logic. It is impossible to judge love using logic. John Donne tried that impossible feat in many of his poems.

In fact, Donne tried to portray the true picture of love. It is true that love brings great joy and happiness in the hearts of the lover and his beloved, but it also causes pain, and Donne successfully presented this idea in his poems. Most of the lovers are men and they compose poems about their wives and beloved. We see some exceptions in Donne in this regard. Women did not have any freedom at that time and they had no rights or privileges. Most of the women were illiterate. There were no separate colleges for them. Most of the women studied at home and most men did not recognize women as a separate entity. Women did not inherit anything from their fathers or husband. John Donne in his poetry talked about women’s separate entity and their freedom. Sometimes they use their freedom for evil purposes and cheat on their lovers, but they have a separate entity.

In “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” poem, John Donne’s treatment of love is sensuous. In this poem, his statement repeats the Platonic statement that physical contact is not necessary for the development of spiritual love. It refers to a temporary departure when Donne was called from home. The poet compares him and his beloved with two legs of a compass. While one leg of a compass remains fixed, the other moves around to complete the circle. The physical existence is not necessary if a true bond of the minds has occurred, thus joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally.

However, in some of his poems, we can find the influence of Petrarch and Ovidian. Such a poem is “Twickenham Garden”. This poem tells the poet’s friendship with the Countess of Bedford, a cultured and accomplished lady of the seventeenth century. There is no authentic source to know if the lady nodded her head to the love of the poet. This poem shows how love changes joy into sorrow. The poet is so unhappy that even spring cannot bring happiness to the poet’s heart. Women, in general, are false, and as a result, they are not worthy of being trusted, but the poet’s sweetheart is an exception. The poet wishes that lovers should judge their mistresses’ love by comparing the taste of her tears with that of their tears.

“The Good-Morrow” is another poem that shows the lover’s move from discussing sensual love to spiritual love. He realizes that, with spiritual love, the couple can be liberated from fear and the need to seek adventure. The poet said that he and his beloved are one because they are similar in all respects and as such none of them will die. Their mutual love can neither decrease, nor decline nor come to an end. Their love is immortal.

In his poem “Go and Catch a Falling Star”, we can find his cynical view towards women. It is one of the most common formulas in his love poems. It is anti-woman and hostile to the fair sex. The poet shows the impossibility of finding a true and fair woman. The speaker tells his listener that if he ever finds a true and fair woman then he would go to her as if he is going on a pilgrimage to some holy place. He also said that an ugly woman may be constant, but a beautiful woman can never be so.

John Donne thought very differently about love and he was the first one to present love as a complex matter. Poets before done talked about love as it was a heavenly object and did not think about it from a realistic point of view but Donne emphasized logic along with emotion.

‘Twickenham Garden’ is a metaphysical poetry

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.

 

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‘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.

John Donne’s treatment towards women

John Donne is one of the famous poets of the seventeenth century. He has been highly acclaimed for his metaphysical poems and is regarded a major metaphysical poet for his writing style. In his poems, he has beautifully shown the love relationship between man and woman from both sensuous and realistic perspectives, and to do so, he sometimes criticizes women and sometimes praises them. His mixed attitude towards female figure has made him apart from both the Petrarchan and the Platonic school of thoughts. Here, in this writing, you will find how he treated women in his literary works. 

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In the poem “Go and Catch a Falling Star”, John Donne has showed his cynical attitude towards women. Women’s faithlessness is the main theme of this poem. According to him, finding a fair and chaste woman is an impossible task. Beautiful women will have several lovers, and for that reason, it is not possible for them to be loyal to any of them. A woman is constant only when she is ugly, and there is no one to love her. He also said that if anyone can find such a fair and honest lady, the poet would like to visit her as if on a pilgrimage to some holy place.

In the poem “Twickenham Garden”, we can see the similar kind of attitude towards women. He said that all women are false. They cannot remain loyal to a single lover. The interesting thing is that in the same poem we can find his different view when he talks about his beloved. He said that only his beloved is true because she is faithful to a single lover. He greatly admires her for this particular quality, which is, undoubtedly, a rare virtue in womanhood.

In the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, we can also find his different view about women when he spoke highly of his wife, Anne More. This poem discloses the poet’s eternal faith in life. Conjugal love at its best is more rewarding and meaningful than weeping in unfulfilled love. As it shows the fulfillment of a happy married life that is why, it is called one of the best love poems written by John Donne.

The above stated poems reveal Donne’s satirical-cynical attitude towards womankind. He comes out of the influence of the Petrarchan tradition of woman-worship. He himself is the victim of woman’s inconstancy. That is why, he considers a constant woman as a rarity.

We can find John Donne’s anti-Petrarchan thought about women. He did not hesitate portraying the negative side of women. In these poems, readers can find women as ordinary human being with full of flaws or errors. It means that he has depicted women in an 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 or deities. Their main concern was to portray the beauty and positive sides of women.