The Love Poetry of John Donne

Paper Summary:

The paper gives examples from Donne's poems of imagery involving comparisons that are often far-fetched, yet intellectual. The writer asserts that these poems are written records of Donne's inner-turmoil. The paper shows that Donne's love poems fall into two distinct categories-- passionate poems and cynical poems.

From the Paper:

"Just as Donne wrote passionate poems of the sacredness of love, he wrote cynical poems of the hypocrisies of love. His "concern for the "honesties of love' turned him into a rebel and atheist of love" (Williamson 55). It is in the works of this time that Jack Donne, trapped between his idealistic conception of holy love and the reality of superficial love, which seemed so prevalent in society, can be seen at his best. Under his attack were women; he scorned both faithlessness and faithfulness and wrote of women with contempt. "At this time he despised them equally for yielding to his lust or for denying themselves to him" (Keast 124). Such disdain can be seen in his poem "The Apparition," in which he addresses a murderess of his love, cursing her so that she will feel his presence when she is in the bed of another. In his "Song," Donne challenges any man to find " . . . a woman true and fair" (Abrams 1064), an impossible feat, since "Though she were true when you met her . . . she/Will be I False . . ." (Abrams 1064). As Jack matures into John, his perceptions of love become more realistic, as lovers are never perfect soul mates."

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