G. M. Hopkins Heaven-haven
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Love and angels The main analogy in this poem is between masculine love and angels. Nowadays angels are often seen as feminine but traditionally they have tended to be viewed as masculine. In Donne’s day it was believed that angels needed some medium through which to manifest themselves to humans. That medium was the element of air, which was regarded as the purest of the four elements (the others being earth, water and fire), though Donne’s references to ‘a voice’ and ‘a shapelesse flame’ suggest other ways for angels to make themselves known.
Donne's argument is that love also needs an incarnation in which to manifest itself, just as does the soul (l.7). Otherwise, it remains invisible: ‘Some lovely glorious nothing I did see’ - an unusual oxymoron. So his first attempt to find a suitable manifestation was the woman’s body. She, as a physical being, must be the outward expression of his love. This suggests typical Elizabethan love poetry, in which every detail of the lady's body is listed as an object for admiration: ‘thy lip, eye, brow’. However this proves inadequate so he switches his analogy to a ship: ‘love’s pinnace’. His approach has loaded so much on to the woman's body (ship), that it has capsized. The medium of incarnation must have been wrong. What, then, is the right medium? Women’s loveThe answer is the woman's love itself. Just as air is not as pure as the angel it manifests, neither is the woman's love as pure as his, but it is the only way for it to show itself. This can, of course, be interpreted in several different ways – and Donne enjoys this ambiguous, paradoxical, possibly teasing, kind of ending. Is the poem, then, a put-down for women? Or does it mean that love simply cannot exist materially unless both a man and a woman are fully in love with each other i.e. a complete manifestation? Or that without a woman's love, a man's love is just an idea? Investigating Aire and Angels
There are several themes present in the poem “Air and Angels” by John Donne and each carries a particular meaning. While giving a summary of all of the themes in “Air and Angels” by John Donne is nearly impossible given the multiple possible interpretations, at the least, it is best to identify the themes that are most prominent, including love and the world of the flesh versus spirit worlds. The influence of Shakespeare, particularly his sonnets, are clear in “Air and Angels” as many of the same themes are explained and explored. In the poem, “Air and Angels” love is represented as being something higher than human thought and comprehension. In “Air and Angels’ love is something that transcends the flesh and the human body is merely a vessel for this potent emotion. Love in this poem is not represented as a feeling that is strictly based on outside or shallow perceptions of beauty but rather, it is projected onto the object of the affection in a pure and spiritual sense. Through using specific images and compounding themes and meaning throughout the poem “Air and Angels” by John Donne, the reader gets the sense that even though the speaker seems to have a notion of the power of love, he is not quite able to grasp it or give it the form and shape he seems to desire. These ideas of form and shapelessness as a theme in “Air and Angels” by John Donne are interwoven by language that is at once “earthly” and heavenly. This poem accomplishes its task of questioning the relationship between the ethereal and intangible nature of a “pure” emotion by placing the idea of love in a number of different contexts. It is at once compared and contrasted and interposed onto the human form, then is placed in connection with the heavy connotations associated with ballasts and boats, and then, by the end, it is “freed” because it is associated with angels who are thought to be in their most pure form when appearing as air. The mix between this world of the flesh and the world of the pure spirit of love are constantly playing off and one another as earthly and heavenly or supernatural images are juxtaposed. The form that a pure emotion like love takes is the central question and is explored in different ways throughout the poem. The best way to examine this meaning would be to look at the very structure which is at once a unified thought process yet is broken into two distinct ideas. There are two sections to the poem, each with its own separate theme and use of language. The first fourteen lines encapsulate the need for emotion to be placed in flesh and relies heavily on the use of “earthly” terms such as “limbs of flesh” and “parent” as well as the fuller sense that the poet is attempting to “ground” his thoughts to the mere earth-bound before launching into a discussion of higher things as the poem moves forward and branches out to include the metaphysical. At the beginning of the second set of fourteen lines, the poem still retains a beginning that is firmly rooted in the “real” by invoking nautical terminology such as “ballasts” and “pinnace” which at once puts the poem in a sort of grounded and earth-bound context yet all the while is developing the idea that love cannot be attained through such average modes. The images of heavy “human” items such as the ballasts and boats are set against the following lines, which are important quotes from “Air and Angels” the poem by John Donne, “Extreme, and scattering bright, can love inhere; /Then as an angel face and wings.” The narrator goes on to speak of love and angels as something that are of the air and not bound to the weighty matters of the flesh and society. The beginning of the poem is rather difficult to decipher, which is in many senses, the meaning of the poem; that beauty is difficult to grasp and put into form. By the end of “Air and Angels” however, there seems to be a resolution to the question of such formlessness when the narrator decides in one of the quotations from “Air and Angels” by John Donne, “As is ‘twixt air’s and angels’ purity, / Twixt women’s love, and men’s, will ever be” since here he concludes that love is just what he thought it was from the beginning—an idea without boundaries, much like air—formless and supernatural even though we may try to put it into the terms of flesh and reality. In some ways, there is actually a conflict and resolution to the poem since the narrator at once declares in the first section quote, That it assume thy body, I allow/And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow” yet by the end of his thoughts he is left with the resolution that there is no way to fix the flesh to the formlessness or “shapelessness of flame” which is, in this case, love. THE ANNIVERSARY. by John Donne ALL kings, and all their favourites, All glory of honours, beauties, wits, The sun it self, which makes time, as they pass, Is elder by a year now than it was When thou and I first one another saw. All other things to their destruction draw, Only our love hath no decay ; This no to-morrow hath, nor yesterday ; Running it never runs from us away, But truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day. Two graves must hide thine and my corse ; If one might, death were no divorce. Alas ! as well as other princes, we —Who prince enough in one another be— Must leave at last in death these eyes and ears, Oft fed with true oaths, and with sweet salt tears ; But souls where nothing dwells but love —All other thoughts being inmates—then shall prove This or a love increasèd there above, When bodies to their graves, souls from their graves remove. And then we shall be throughly blest ; But now no more than all the rest. Here upon earth we're kings, and none but we Can be such kings, nor of such subjects be. Who is so safe as we? where none can do Treason to us, except one of us two. True and false fears let us refrain, Let us love nobly, and live, and add again Years and years unto years, till we attain To write threescore ; this is the second of our reign. “The Anniversary” by John Donne is about a couple who are celebrating their first year together in a relationship. The underlying conceit of the entire poem is the metaphor of royalty, where the speaker addresses his lover, and himself, as if they were royal kings and nobles. At the same time, divine imagery and death images permeates the poem, but that is not the focus of our discussion here. The question under scrutiny in this paper is: how does Donne use royal imagery to convey the idea of a passionate love? There is no doubt that there are religious, divine images within the poem and that there is constant reference to death and decay, but the opening line of “all kings” immediately suggests that the central theme is indeed royalty. The opening line immediately declares that “All kings” and all the “glory of honours, beauties, wits/ The sun itself” have aged by one year ever since the speaker met his lover. This suggests that the two lovers have been together for one year, and yet, unlike the kings and glories, and even the sun which brings life and time, the two lovers have not aged in their love. There is a reference to kings in the beginning of the poem, setting the stage for later metaphors. “All other things to their destruction draw/ Only our love hath no decay” is a grandiose statement by the passionate speaker who proudly declares that while everything may decay and rot away, his love will not and does not decay. This love appears to be divine and everlasting. “This no to-morrow hath, nor yesterday” declares that his love will last forever because it has no tomorrow, and that it does not look back to yesterday, and this idea is corroborated where despite time and the love running forwards together, “it never runs from us away”, suggesting that the love will never run away, but instead “truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day”, being eternal and long-lasting. There is little reference to royalty apart from the first two words in the stanza, yet it can be said that the arrogant phrasing of the words and the proud and loquacious declarations of the speaker remind the reader of a kingly declaration or an announcement. The persona then turns to talk proudly about death, where death would unite the two lovers in the grave, and thus “death were no divorce”. The love that the speaker feels for his lover is so strong that only death can physically separate them, and even more, on a spiritual level, death cannot even separate them metaphysically, as death is not considered a divorce, at least to the speaker. The metaphor of princely royalty once again emerges: “as well as other princes, we/ —Who prince enough in one another be” suggests that the two of them should have princely pride and love, different from other people, whose love is not pure, noble and royal as their love is. The theme of death is strong in this second stanza, where “eyes and tears” fed with “true oaths, and with sweet salt tears” have no choice but to physically disappear into the grave. Yet, the spiritual element saves the love: “But souls where nothing dwells but love”, a reference to his own higher level spiritual love, suggests that the loving souls are freed from the prison of the body, and then can still be reunited. This concept sounds very unbelievable and somewhat illogical, in contrast to the arguments and very structured build up in the poem by Donne, but Donne is merely using as a poet, the poetic license, in order to manipulate spurious theories and twist theology to suggest that spiritual love is the best and has an underlying meaning beyond the grave. With death “then we shall be throughly blest”, but that is not the key idea, because when they are dead, they are merely having a spiritual love just like all other lovers who have died, “now no more than all the rest”. This is not different nor spectacular, since many have already died in love. “Here upon earth we're kings, and none but we/ Can be such kings, nor of such subjects be” refocuses the final stanza back into the present, on earth, and utilises the imagery of kingship and royalty. On earth, and still alive, both the speaker and his lover are royalty and subjects at the same time. This kind of love may be subject to treachery, but that is not possible, because since both of them love each other, “treason” is out of the question. The word “treason” was chosen because of the royal metaphor and analogy, where if any one of the two lovers cheats, being both subjects and royalty at the same time, then treason has been committed against their state. “True and false fears let us refrain” is an honest, proud declaration of loving without fear, and then the final declaration is the intention of keeping their reign long and long, “to write threescore”, loving “nobly” and living nobly. The royal metaphor clearly shows that the elements of kingship are apparently present in the couple’s relationship, and also that the speaker wants them to love each other just like royalty do, in what he sees as a passionate love just like a closed and unified society. In conclusion, Donne conveys passionate love in terms of royalty by comparison, proud declarations and the interconnectedness and weaving with death, spiritual love and other elements, hence making royalty into an overarching metaphor for noble, kingly love. This poem is about two people forming a society, with themselves as kings and subjects all at once – a very interesting take on love. It is the celebration of a love that is a year old. It has not been affected by any changes. It is love triumphant, resisting decay which invades everything else in the world. But the poet cannot keep out the image and thought of death. Death will sever the lovers. Love has crowned them kings, but kings too die, and they will be a prey to death. Those eyes of theirs, which have been fed with true oaths, and those ears of theirs, which have been fed with sweet-bitters, will be closed in death. But it does not mean the annihilation of their love. Their love will survive while their bodies crumble into dust in the grave. In heaven they will love again, and they will be blest like other spirits. This consummation is to be reached after they have loved nobly and lived on earth for three score of years. And their love in heaven as blest spirits is described by the poet as the reign. None of the mellifluous expression of the Elizabethan is here-none of their “taffeta phrases, silken terms precise.” Donne writes in a simple and direct manner. The thought-process may be a little complicated, for the poet passes quickly from one thought to another, from one image to another, each being not necessarily related to the other. The Elizabethan sonnet-writers speak the sentiment of Petrarch, having established a cult of woman-worship, and partaking as they do in the diffused poetry of the age, they have sometimes the accents of the poets-but they are lacking in passion. They can just write smooth and fluent verse. Here we see all the difference between Donne and the Elizabethans. He infuses passion into poetry, and introduces the personal note; and in his love-poetry so unlike that of the Elizabethan he expresses the varying moods and sentiments, sometimes these moods and sentiments being personal, even going down to stark realistic representation. It is the complexity of mood and feeling in his love-poetry, which is something new. In The Anniversary we may note the different phases he passes through. First, the passing of a year, since the lovers met and began to love. Has it effected any change in them? The sun itself has changed in the course of a year-and kings and all their favorites, honor, beauty, wit have all changed. With the very idea of change, wrought by time, Donne begins with kings and their favorites. Now this is not fortuitous. The lovers are just like kings in their love. They have the coveted position of kings. But kings are mortal too. The poet thinks decay and death that affect all things in the world. Here the quick transition of thought is to be noted. Love that seems to be constant-and even eternal-makes him thinks of death. The haunting image of death recurs again and again in Donne’s poetry. It is a sort of obsession with him. It is the macabre that possesses his mind the dissolution that is wrought by death. So in this poem he goes into details-each of the lovers rotting away in different graves, the eyes that beamed loves and ears that devoured words or love being now sealed in dust. From the idea of death the poet soon rises to the idea of love that is eternal, and it is the love that is lodged in the soul, and therefore it must be imperishable. The metaphor of kings is carried on again. After they have lived on earth as kings by right of their love, where none can do treason to the other (they are both kings and subjects in their love, and a subject can be guilty of treason to his kings- and so here the question of treason does not arise at all), their souls will ascend to heaven where they will be blessed spirits and their love can know no changes. Ideas which seem to be contrary-death and eternal of love-are combined here, and developed dialectically. Now this is the way of Donne. Most of us use anniversaries to celebrate. This poem, too, is a celebratory one, on the completion of the first year of a relationship. It would be most obvious to think of Donne's marriage, which was deep if costly. The celebratory language is in terms of the royalty of love. In a way, this is an extension of the theme of the microcosm of the lovers’ world, boldly proclaimed in The Sunne Rising. If the lovers' world consists of only two inhabitants, then they are both royalty, the King and Queen of their own little universe. Investigating The Anniversarie
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