Kern 1 John Donne: Master of Women: Believe it or not. English 331
Kern 2 ABSTRACT John Donne was born in 1572 into a Catholic family but did not exactly follow the basic Catholic principles. At an early age, Donne learned the way to treat and the way not to treat women to make them become infatuated with him. The idea of cupidity followed John Donne around in his youth with the feelings of lust, erotic love, and impulse governing most of his actions. Later in life though, Donne learned that there is more to woman that erotic fulfillment. After having met his wife, Donne changed the sexual ease in which he lives. John Donne s style of literature and treatment of women changed throughout the course of his life because of the marriage and eventual death of his wife that pushed Donne to become a Catholic priest, although he was a drastically different in his youth. I will show this through the lustful cupidity in The Flea, and The Bait, and the selfless charity love in The Canonization, and A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning and through the chronicle correlation to John Donne s life.
Kern 3 John Donne: Master of Women: Believe it or not. Donne s love poetry is a body of verse whose effect (rather than intention; I suspect it had no intention) is to present as total a knowledge of the experience of love as one imagination could compass (Cruttwell). John Donne, the poet from the early 17 th century, thought he knew all there was to know about women and the way that they experience love. Little did he know, Donne knew not what to do with women and the process of wooing them. John Donne expressed his frustration about love and lust within his poems as he was rejected from both more than accepted. Over the course of his life time though, we can see how Donne was able to advance in the areas of love and leave the lust behind in his youth. John Donne s style of literature and treatment of women and the church changed throughout the course of his life because of the marriage and eventual death of his wife that pushed Donne to become a Catholic priest, although he was a drastically different in his youth. I will show this through his harsh, lustful words towards women; such as in The Flea and The Bait; to then the compassionate, charity love that he feels in The Canonization and The Valediction: Forbidding Mourning; and by the events taking place in his life. John Donne s poetry fuses three ingredients; the analytical, the autobiographical, and the dramatic and does so with such completeness that it is vain and foolish to try to separate them (Cruttwell). John Donne was born into a prominent Roman Catholic family at a time when religious allegiances mattered a great deal. In his early twenties, Donne started to have his friends read and critique his manuscript copies of his satires, elegies, and lyrics. His early poems render the
Kern 4 kinds of experience typical of young gallants on the prowl in striking detail (Dickson) Donne thought that he knew the ways of women and the process to courting them for marriage. But as we read through The Flea, John did not fully understand how to make women fall for him. Donne makes many assumptions about women and the idea of love and thinks that he can place a blanket statement over the whole association. Donne assumes that the man is always the initiator, the attempter to seduce and conquer, whether successful or not, and that women may respond to his attempts either by an impregnable chastity or a wanton yielding, but that in either case they will understand the rules of the game and will play it properly (Cruttwell). Throughout the course of John Donne s work, we can see the progression of the feelings that Donne feels for relationships and love. He was a man who thought that women desired him and that there was no reason for him to deny them what he thought was their divine right. Donne believed that he should be going after women and that the women are patiently waiting for him to come impregnate them. Love is not a game, but Donne thinks that it is and that he is the game maker. But as the progression of his work continues, you can see within the work, that Donne has changed his outlook on life. The correlation that we can see within his own life, is increasing his happiness and his affections towards one woman. Around his late 20s, Donne marries his employer s relative and finally comes to an understanding of what love can truly be. Donne is a poet who threw himself headfirst into life, love, and sexuality, and later into the roles of a city preacher. Around the time of The Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, we can see that he now can understand what other poets were talking about in their sonnets of love. Starting first with The Flea, John Donne lets his readers understand that he does not believe in the organization of love and the idea of a an ideal marriage and reproduction. In the tone of The Flea, we can hear Donne s blunt, full frontal assault of lust and the idea of cupidity
Kern 5 rather than charity. He is beginning his erotic live and he is trying to express it through women and is having trouble finding a woman willing to accept his search for a sexual release. The poem begins with informing the woman he loves that within the body of the flea, they are now joined as one. And in this flea our bloods mingled be; Thou know st that this cannot be said A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead, Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pampered swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas, is more than we would do (lines 4-9). Donne tries to convince this woman that she needs to accept him as a lover and to not deny the fact that they have entered a new connection together. The woman though refuses to join the man and wants to end their connection as early into the relationship as possible. In Donne s life, he was a very aggressive lover and would not take rejection or loneliness kindly. He also had a problem with the women of the time. Donne thought that the women feigned chastity and respectability because society tries to convince them that the only way to get suitable treatment or a respectable spouse is to let them assume that the women are respectable. The woman in this poem follows that idea that women need to stay respectable and need to not give into the persuasion of the males within the society. The flea though is a catalyst for the relationship between the man and the woman is an idea that has been forming throughout many years. The idea started in a medieval poem that
Kern 6 mentions the jealousy of the man when he learns that the flea is able to take whatever liberties that it desires with his mistresses body. This had started to sprout as a popular erotic theme throughout much of Europe and it was an easy example of taking advantage of a body with ease. Fleas have been connected to the Black Plague for years since the discovery of their part in starting the progression of the plague. John Donne does not use the flea as a catalyst for the plague; he uses it for a catalyst of lust. The flea is such a small, insignificant insect, but it is one that can ravish you. The flea is taking pleasure in stealing her blood and the speaker interprets that as the flea taking pleasure in the woman in erotic ways. The speaker is jealous that the flea can have its way with the woman that he is lusting after through the poem. When she kills the flea in the end though, we understand that the complete relationship is over. Just so much honor, when thou yield st to me, Will waste, as this flea s death took life from thee (lines 26-27). The speaker realizes that it was a small and simple action of killing the flea, but he uses the action to explain that if she gave into him, that it would be just a small and simple action. He is ruthless in trying to make the woman fall for him when he should just give up by the end of the poem. In The Bait, we can start to see the slow progression of growth from the harsh cupidity love that Donne has been feeling while in his early twenties. In the very opening lines of the poem, we can see that Donne is already back to his tricks of trying to lure the women to succumb to his ways and to let him have is way with them. But as the poem progresses, we see that he is starting to change that idea and starting to learn that maybe it isn t the women who are caught by the men, but the men caught by the women. Critic Patrick Cruttwell interprets John Donne s love
Kern 7 poetry as if they are written from the view point of a male that is domineering and controls the entire situation. Women have the choice between which men to respond to and what she would like to use that man for, but ultimately, it is the man s decision if he wants to join with her. Men and women, as Cruttwell says, behave naturally and they follow patterns characteristic to their age and situation. If they are women of society, they do not seek out brothels to spend their time in, usually. The same goes to for men of high class society; they would not be seen cleaning out the pig stables. Within The Bait, we can see that the opposite has occurred for the speaker. The women are the bait and the men are the fish and they are caught in the lures of the females around them. The speaker taunts the woman with promises of beautiful things and feelings to trap her. But as you reach the fourth stanza, dark words start to enter the text and change the free loving feeling to one of being trapped by affections and genders. By sun or moon, thou darkenest both; And if myself have leave to see, I need not their light, having thee (lines 14-16) This is the point in the poem that we start to see the shift from the total devotional lust to one of understanding love. He is no longer telling her that she needs to catch him and use him, but that he is lured to her. In the fifth stanza, Donne starts talking about fishing techniques and how as a fisher you can use a style called angling where you catch fish with a hook on a line. The fish are lured to the hook and can be trapped in nets or baskets made of reeds and weeds. Donne talks about how the other fish, or men, are caught in the easy traps and are stick in the snares and nets, but that he believes that he is not one of the fish that needs to be lured to the women. He is giving into the lover that has been trying to ward him away from her the whole poem. The
Kern 8 speaker tries to use his idea of cupidity love, when in actuality; it has turned into charity love by the ending when he confesses; That fish that is not catched thereby, Alas, is wiser far than I (lines 27-28). The speaker cannot help but be caught in her angling reed, strangling snare, or windowy net. Donne is subtle in letting the speaker lure his lover to him even though she is really the lure to him, he cannot be just satisfied by being one of the men who were caught by her sight. At this point in Donne s life, he is moving to a courtly love view on life and he is trying to figure out how this is possible for him. There are moments of confusion throughout the piece as to whether or not he is sure that he is actually caught in the trap of the female, or if he is really still trying to lure her in himself. These poems within the Songs and Sonnets, were written around 1593 while John Donne was living in London going to school and grieving over the loss of his brother from fever in prison. Donne started to lose faith around this time but was able to write some of his best work within this period. He had recently inherited a large sum of money and spent it on womanizing, books, and traveling and that was a big influence over his work at the time. Being close to the Thames River for schooling and work would have influenced Donne to write The Bait as a way to connect his physical surroundings and the women that he was trying to woo while at his young age. If you follow the literal publishing order of the poems, The Canonization was published before The Bait, but if you look at the progression of Donne between the two works, you can see that The Canonization was written by a man who was truly in love and had an understanding that love is not just about lust. The title opens the reader to an insight into how Donne actually feels
Kern 9 about the love that he is experiencing right now. To become canonized is the act by which a Catholic or Orthodox church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which time; the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. If we, as the audience, are reading the work with the idea of becoming a saint in mind, we are able to understand that the love that the speaker and the lover have for each other is so full and real that the pair of lovers should be acknowledged as great examples for the rest of the world, just like the influence that saints have over the people. Actions to become a saint are through being a servant of God, being heroic in virtue, becoming blessed by the people, and finally by being given sainthood. The speaker of The Canonized justifies the love that they share because they think that through the actions, they progress towards canonization. What merchant s ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed his ground? When did my colds a forward spring remove? When did the heats which my veins fill Add one man to the plaguy bill (lines 11-15)? The lovers are aware that their affections are not affecting any people, and that is not the purpose of their love. They are made to love each other and they know that there is no influence to their love other than the connection and bond that they share. In relation to Donne s life, we can make assumptions that within his life he was still in the grieving stage of losing his brother, and the poem is published in the early section of the Songs and Sonnets and at the time, he could have been finding love. We do not have any definite
Kern 10 evidence of this happening, but as we look in the text, we can see that Donne is feeling more than the cupidity love prevalent in The Flea which was published a couple poems ealier. Love seems to make men think they are poets, and at this point, Donne is using the best love and emotion that he has so far about women. Donne starts to believe that love is all that you need to live for to have happiness and he expresses that within the fourth stanza of the poem, We can die by it, if not live by love, [ ] And by these hymns, all shall approve Us canonized for love: (lines 28-36) They are one person and you can see the love and devotion that can be paralleled with the line, Just so much honor, when thou yield st to me (line 26) in The Flea. There is a struggle to have the love forced where it should be coming easily to the lovers. We are made to love and to be loved, and even though we live and die, the words that we write about love are immortal. The charity for this love that Donne feels is one that will conquer obstacles. Donne also is using his knowledge of Roman Catholic religion to show how the lovers are becoming canonized. Father Macken translates the process of becoming a saint with how closely Donne followed the process himself. Donne inquires about the health of the servant of God, the ordinary afflictions of life, experiences the coldness and falling away from friends, the mocking of the world, the opposing of good men, the dislike of those in power, and all of his trials and sufferings are closely looked into. We can see these shown throughout the poem and we can understand that Donne is convincing the reader to understand that he knows the process to become a saint and that it is something, as a society, we should be striving for.
Kern 11 Finally we come to A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, which signifies the end of the cupidity lust and the blossoming of the charity love that Donne finishes his life feeling. As we have followed the journey of John Donne, we have seen examples of him pinning after women and trying to trick them into succumbing to him. But within the text of A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, there is a devotion to his lover that we can hear and feel powerfully. Donne feels that when you are fully encased in love, you want to be connected to that person as much as possible. You want to have not only a physical closeness to the person, but a spiritual closeness to them. The conceit that Donne uses through the poem is the metaphor of a twin mathematical compass that connects the two lovers at the hinge while one stays where it is planted and the other roams but still stays joined at the hinge with the other lover as long as there is a connection through the compass. A literature conceit is when you have a metaphor that shows how things are similar that in actuality are not similar. The compass is Donne s way of expressing his unyielding connection and that, Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th other do (lines 27-28). When the woman moves away from the speaker, or vise versa, the stagnant foot stays where it was planted but leans and yearns for the lover or pencil that is roaming around. There are times where they draw closer and return to where they began their love, but there are times where distance has come between them but they are still infatuated. Another conceit expressed in the work is the idea of a lump of gold creating a great sheet because of the hammering that happens over the surface to make a gold leaf. Their love is not a passing of passion, but rather an expansion of affection and desire. They are one soul, or one sheet, that is pounded and heated to
Kern 12 become the beauty and lasting art that, even though it is a fragile sheet, can signify a great love that is always growing. In A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Donne has learned that there is a life of love other than for the pleasure of women. In line 20, Donne expresses that he will miss the physical connection that he and his companion have, but later he admits that he will patiently wait for his lover to return to him back to where they began their journey. The growth of his love is very prevalent to the readers of John Donne and we can see the fullness of his love for whomever he is speaking of. At this stage of his life, Donne has passed his youthful twenties and he is growing and working as a man and had to become serious about life and work. Around this time, Donne has come back to the Catholic Church and is going back to understanding his connection with the Church and how he is able to further the knowledge people have of the gospel and the love that the Father has for His children. It is also speculated that this poem was written in 1611 to his wife when she traveled to the Continent away from him and we can see the love and the lack of lust that he expresses through his devotion to her. The style of these poems is also a way to follow the progression of Donne s maturing style of love. During Donne s time of writing, there was no real set style of sonnets, they were just assumed love lyrics that were allowed to take any form that the writer thought would be applicable. Donne, himself, only ever used the sonnet style that we know and use today on one of his works, but we can see that he had his own style that was used throughout the progression of his works. He was one of the leading men in the style of metaphysical writing, which is similar to the romantic conventionalism of Elizabethan love poetry which contains anti-feminist tradition. The best metaphysical poetry is honest, unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical, psychological, and bold;
Kern 13 frequently it is absorbed in thoughts of death, physical love, and religious devotion. Donne is a perfect example of a poet who includes physical love, religious devotion, and anti-feminism. As quoted earlier, to understand Donne s poem, you needed to personally know who Donne was. He originally wrote his manuscripts for his friends to read only and after his death the works were published. The sarcasm, the seriousness, and the personal connections within the poems were known to John Donne and his friends and those records are lost now and are seen as speculation for most of his works. If we follow the progression of John Donne s poems from The Flea, to The Bait, The Canonization, and finally, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning we can see the personal spiritual growth of Donne and the way that he has changed as a metaphysical writer. His poetry fuses the analytical, the autobiographical, and the dramatic to create a completeness that is vain and foolish to try and separate. We are drawn to the world of John Donne and his views of woman and love from his early twenties to his death where he was able to come to terms with God and to love his wife all the way through his life. Donne gives us insight to the full progression of love and the journey that every human travels, the growth from lustful cupidity love, to the happy contentment of loving charity love.