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It would appear that Donne was a great womaniser and so, apart from his sermons, he also became
renowned for his many love poems. These, however, were of mixed content and it is very difficult to
conclude what the poet actually felt about love.
Sometimes he spoke of love as though it were a religious experience, the uniting of two souls through the
uniting of two bodies. At other times, he appears caught up almost purely in the sexual side of it.
Sometimes his views in one poem would seem to be contradicted by those expressed in another.
PLATO'S THEORY OF IDEAS
John Donne, having attended both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, would have been well versed in
Greek philosopher Plato and his Theory of Ideas.
Indeed, it does seem that the poet shows influences of Plato within this poem.
Plato postulated that we are like beings who are confined to a cave. The world we see, therefore, is not
the real world but rather a world of shadows and reflections.
The real world is behind us but we are unable to turn around and view it. The sun is God (or Truth or
Goodness) but, because we cannot ever see the sun, we can only philosophise on its nature.
The shadows are but reflections of the real world. Since we cannot see this real world, we can only reflect
upon it and thereby come to rational assumptions about that world.
In the poem, Donne hints at this cave world of Plato on two occasions.
The first is the reference to the "Seven Sleepers' den" -- a legend of seven Christian youths who were
locked away in a cave by the Roman Emperor for refusing to denounce their faith.
They would stay in that cave for almost 200 years before being released. In the same way, the two lovers
have only lived in a world of shadow-love and have never experienced the real thing until now.
The second hint is the poet's reflection upon his Lady-Love as being the ideal of Beauty. Just as in the
cave, we see only shadows, so in real life we see only reflections of Beauty (the sun).
The poet's Lady-Love, however, is the real thing, the goddess to whom all other beauty is compared.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?
- What does the poet mean when he speaks of, "But suck'd we on country pleasures,
childishly"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is stating that, up until this moment, both he and his Loved-One were infants at love. He is using
the pastoral image where babies of the countryside would suckle on bottles of fresh cow's milk.
Most commentators, however, claim that Donne meant much more than this. The poet liked to play with
words, and he is known to dwell on sexual imagery.
And so, the commentators say, he is also playing with words here: the sucking on "country
pleasures" meant those erotic pleasures which don't quite involve sexual intercourse.
You can work out for yourself why!
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The "Seven Sleepers' den" refers to a legend of seven Christian youths who were locked away in
a cave by the Roman Emperor for refusing to denounce their faith. They would stay in that cave for almost
200 years before being released.
- Explain, however, the significance of using the word "snorted" in this regard. (4)
[Need help?]
It seems that the poet is once more playing with words.
He means "snored" but "snorted" has a disparaging tone, doesn't it? He is therefore making
fun of his "innocent" love which he says has been happening up until then.
At the same time, is Donne not also disparaging the story of the seven Christian youths?
It is possible that the poet had just entered that phase of his life when he was becoming sceptical of
religion, and was beginning to view Church merely as a means to attain an end.
This would have been the moment when Donne was turning from Catholicism and embracing Anglicanism
because the latter Church offered him more by way of material advantages in this world.
If this is so, then the word "snorted" indicates a deep cynicism in the poet.
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'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
- What does the poet mean when he says, "All pleasures fancies be"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet appears to be utilizing typical Platonic ideas.
In Plato's Theory of Ideas, the world that we know is not the real world but simply a reflection of the real
world. The original Ideas exist in a plane that we cannot see. What we see are only shadows of these
Ideas.
In like manner, Donne says that Pleasure itself is just an Idea. What he has so far perceived as pleasure,
therefore, is merely a shadow of the real thing, a "fancy".
The poet does, however, deviate from the Platonic version by saying that, in this case, the Real Pleasure
is his Loved-One. She is not a shadow. She is not a fancy.
Indeed, she incorporates the very essence of the Idea.
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If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
- What point is the poet making with these words? (4)
[Need help?]
To restate what has already been said:
The poet appears to be using typical Platonic ideas. In Plato's Theory of Ideas, the world that we know
is not the real world but simply a reflection of the real world.
The original Ideas exist in a plane that we cannot see. Indeed, what we see are only shadows of these
Ideas.
In like manner, Donne says that Beauty is also an Idea. What he has so far perceived as beauty,
therefore, is merely a shadow of the real thing, a "dream".
The poet does, however, deviate from the Platonic version by saying that, in this case, the ideal of Beauty
is his Loved-One. She is not a shadow. She is not a dream.
Indeed, his Loved-One incorporates the very essence of the Idea. All previous experiences of beauty,
therefore, were merely shadows or dreams of his Loved-One.
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For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
- Is this a true reflection of love? (4)
[Need help?]
This is very much open for discussion. Is the poet talking about "love" or is he merely referring to
"infatuation"?
It is certainly true that two people who are infatuated with each other see nothing else but each other, and
the little world in which they live is their total world.
But that surely is merely the romantic idea of love.
Is not real love that entity which remains once one sees that there is a world beyond one's Loved-One?
Does not real love happen when one realises that one's Loved-One is actually full of faults?
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Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally.
- What is meant by this line? Do you think this is a fair reflection of love? (4)
[Need help?]
Technically, the poet is referring to one of two things.
First, the early cosmological idea stated all matter consists of a mixing of the four elements: Earth, Wind,
Water and Fire.
It is the incorrect mixture of these elements that causes death and leads the body to break down once
more into its constituent four elements.
Second, a belief common in the Middle Ages was that death comes about from an imbalance of the
elements which make up the body. This was probably merely an extension of the earlier philosophy.
Donne, of course, is talking about the metaphorical mixing of the elements of love. If these elements are
not mixed properly, he says, then love will break down and will eventually die.
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GENERAL QUESTION:
Are the poet's sentiments serious -- or is he being somewhat tongue-in-cheek? (4)
[Need help?]
Bear in mind that many scholars believe that Donne was most insincere, that his poems are really a clever
play on words.
Being the womaniser that he was, he appeared to have had the desire to put into words reflections of his
many conquests.
His play on words in "country pleasures" to mean both innocent childhood love but also erotic love-
play that falls short of sexual intercourse, does of course suggest that the poet is intending to be
humourous.
In like manner, is the rest of his poem merely making gentle fun of people who confuse infatuation with
love?
Consider too how the poet deviates from Plato's Theory of Ideas. For Plato, the original Idea is God. In
this poem, however, Donne substitutes his Loved-One for the Prime Idea or God!
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