G. M. Hopkins Heaven-haven
Download 0.78 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Horticulture
- Military
- Scientific references
- The argument of the poem
- Lines 1-20
- Lines 21-48
- Lines 49-76
In an ecstatic stateThis does not mean it is just a philosophical poem. Far from it. The word ‘ecstasy’ means a very heightened experience so that you feel almost out-of-body, which is presumably why the name was given to the drug. True ecstasy does not need to be drug-induced, however, and Donne describes fully the ecstatic state he experienced through true love, just as another metaphysical poet, Richard Crashaw, describes spiritual or religious ecstasy in his Hymn to St Teresa. he ecstasy of loveThe ecstasy of love is clearly the major theme of The Extasie. Donne looks at the outward manifestations of it and its inner meaning. In fact, the understanding he gains is that We see, we saw not what did move In other words, a revelation has come of what true love is, which is quite different from his perception before. There is a place for sex and the physical, but only as an expression of a union of souls. UnionThis idea of union also runs throughout the poem, and suggests also The nature and completeness of the lovers' world. People may come by and look and learn, but the lovers don't need others. Their ecstatic union leaves no room for anyone or anything else. But the world has to include their bodies, else a ‘Prince’ lies in prison. The ‘prince’ idea is found in other poems by Donne on this theme, as The Sunne Rising. Investigating The Extasie
The two main strands of imagery are horticultural and military, with some sexual images also. HorticultureThe horticultural imagery is most important in the discussion on transplanting and also in ‘to' entregraft our hands’ (l.8). Both processes suggest union:
We actually talk, too, of ‘propagation’ in horticulture, as the poet does in l.12. The word is ambiguous here, for ‘propagation’ is also used to mean ‘making pregnant’.
MilitaryMilitary imagery comes with the idea of two armies negotiating a truce (l.13-17), quite an extended simile. The image suggests not so much former hostility, as great strength on both sides. This is an equal match. The military imagery is picked up in ll.54,55; and l.68. Scientific referencesAs is typical of Donne, there are many scientific references too:
Behind much of this is the same question: what fusion can be made which will result in an unchangeable final state (‘whom no change can invade’)? Investigating The Extasie
The argument of the poemThe argument of the poem falls into three sections:
Lines 1-20The lovers have reached a state where they feel their souls have, as it were, left their bodies:
There was a union, but it was a soul-union, not physical union, apart from
Their only ‘propagation’ was seeing each reflected in the other's eyes. Lines 21-48Donne imagines what some bystander would make of them. Certainly it would be a purifying experience for such a person. And for them, too, it has answered some questions about love and sex. In the first place, the ecstasy has been a union of souls, not of bodies. Like a transplantIt is like transplanting. Donne was writing before organ transplants were even dreamed of, but plants were regularly transplanted to get better and better plants. The net result of their two souls being transplanted into one another is a single new soul which ‘Defects of lonelinesse controules’. It is fulfilled, where ‘no change can invade’. Lines 49-76So how are they to understand their bodies and physical sexuality?
More on Incarnation? Souls cannot exist without bodies: Soe soule into the soule may flow,
(‘repaire’=travel).
Else a great Prince in prison lies he simply says.
so Weake men on love reveal'd may looke like writing invisible thoughts down into a material and visible book. For the lovers themselves, it really will not make much difference ‘when we'are to bodies gone’. The language of The Extasie is an amazing combination of emotionally charged and philosophic language, in which the poet undertakes a patient argument to analyse the lovers' state of being. So there are all sorts of markers that an argument is being conducted:
The argument is quite technical:
This technicality suggests the theory of the day, which, whilst outdated to us, nevertheless still works as imagery, even if not science! Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 0.78 Mb. Share with your friends:
|