John Donne Undone Essay Research Paper John

John Donne Undone Essay, Research Paper

John Donne wrote cynical verse about inconsistency, poems about true love, brilliant satires, hymns and holy sonnets depicting his own spiritual struggles in which he asks God to purge him of sin. Embracing a wide range of secular and religious subjects he is one of the most outstanding of the English Metaphysical Poets. Born in London to a prominent Roman Catholic family, Donne converted to Anglicanism during the 1590’s. Growing up as a Catholic and then moving to Anglicanism had a huge impact on his writings. Earlier in Donne’s life, he was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Keeper of the Great Seal, in 1598, however a secret marriage in 1601 to Egerton’s niece, resulted in his dismissal and brief imprisonment. Nevertheless, inspired by the love he possessed for his wife and God, Donne’s writings reflected the beliefs of divine love, separation, and a celestial relationship with God.. For Donne, the decay of the world, physically and morally, heralds Heaven as its potential regeneration. (Grierson, 36) The sensual love poetry that typified his youth, soon became obsessive thoughts of sin and death which characterized his later career. However, throughout the writings of John Donne, the universal theme that is apparent is one of understanding and furthering man’s relationship with God. Donne has a strong idea of how man is supposed to relate with God, often likening it to the loving relationship between a man and a woman. However, he implies that while a man’s metaphysical relationship with God is similar to those of mortals, the spiritual bond is much stronger though harder to achieve. Since the spiritual relationship which Donne describes is difficult to break once established, his writing reflects internal conflict based on the inability to separate his love for both a woman and for God. He believes the relationship between man and God is attainable to all those capable of earthy relations, for if someone can give themselves completely to another mortal with inherent flaws, then surely they are capable of doing the same to a perfect God. Donne’s continual conflict seems stem from a need to determine where his loyalty should lie. For him, it is important to achieve that personal relationship with God, however, he feels his love for a woman is spiritual as well. While clear on how to achieve the personal metaphysical relationship, Donne fears that his love for a mortal might jeopardize his path to celestial spirituality.In a Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, Donne speaks of his spiritual relationship as “Stiff twin compasses,” indicating they always lead to each other. This draftsman’s compass, an ordinary mundane object is transformed into a symbol of love that transcends the physical world. Donne adds that the woman’s soul, “the fixt foot,” would always lead him back to her. (Raine, 65)Through this conceit Donne reveals how his love for this woman is ethereal. Filled with images of transcendent purity the lover’s world greatly contrasts the mundane realities of life. This exaggeration employed by Donne serves to demonstrate the superiority of spiritual love over physical love. Donne chides those who fear small disturbances, yet think nothing of the great disturbances of the universe and of God, for his love for the woman and God have a spiritual basis and therefore can never be separated. The many similes that Valediction employs can be seen in the first line, “As virtuous men pass mildly away,” in which the comparison is made between the lover’s separation and the death of a great man. He feels that their divine love has been placed in existence by God, and therefore no one can ever sperate them. Their souls will never be taken away from each other, however the separation of their bodies will be as innocent as an erratic orbit in one of the outer spheres, but purer because they are closer to heaven. His going away is merely expands the wedding ring the symbol of their union, “Like gold to airy thinness beat.” (McDaniel, 4)In the mock hymn to the sun, “The Sun Rising,” the theme of divine love is continued with the lover’s tryst. The beginning shows how the lover’s bed has been intruded upon by the presence of the sun, and his offense at this untimely entrance. The narrator realizes that the sun’s presence indicates the end of his beloved’s time together, and he tries to deny it through boasts of a higher reality, thus disputing the sun itself. After attacking the sun as an “unruly” servant, he then chides him on where true loyalties and riches lie. (Grierson, 36)He demaens the sun, saying that he could shut out the suns beams at any time, but as a result he would lose the sight of his love. Donne informs the sun that if her eyes “have not blinded thine,” it should tell of where the riches of the world lay. Slowly, the lover condescends, allowing the sun to warm him and his partner, for they are all that is important in the whole world. However, regardless of the events the sun still shines quietly as an unwanted reminder of his reality. The sun symbolizes the end of what the man deems to be the beginning of a “lovers’ season.” For him the time is too soon to part, pleading, “Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run.” The plea is of no avail for the sun is an unstoppable force, however, all is not lost. The sun has bright beams of light, but the man can “eclipse and cloud them with a wink,” due to his great love. This affection