Sex and Love in the Poetry of John Donne

Kevin O’Connor

Rumination # 4

Week 5

Sex and Love in John Donne

            It’s impossible to read Donne’s “The Sun Rising” and not trace the discontent the narrator shows towards being disturbed in the early hours of the morning. The narrator has determined that he has no other place to be, other than in his bed with his lover. In the lines, “Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime/ Nor hours, days months, which are the rags of time” (lines 9-10), the narrator communicates that love transcends the concept of time, the rising and setting of the sun happening only as reminders of time. The existence of the sun in the narrator’s eyes is simply an annoyance, as he has contrived that the goal of his existence is to simply lie in bed with his lover. For the narrator, the long held view of the importance of time pales in comparison to the love he experiences for the woman he is with. With the lines, “I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink/ But that I would not lose her sight so long” (lines 13-14), the narrator juxtaposes two overwhelmingly powerful forces in his life. Yet with these lines the narrator is able to contrast the two ideas effectively, highlighting the strength of his love is far greater than the power of the sun. In the lines, “Ask for those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday/ And thou shalt hear ‘All here in one bed lay’” (lines 19-20), the narrator further idealizes the experiences he shares with his lover, comparing the love he experiences to that of royalty.

            Donne is keen on downplaying the motives of most human action, choosing instead to criticize the popular intellectual pursuits of his day. In the poem “Love’s Alchemy,” the narrator is critical of humanity’s accomplishment, advocating the notion that humanity has failed to obtain the ideal found in his love. The discipline of alchemy is found to be a joke by the narrator, who feels its quest for knowledge is heretical when compared to his notions of love, a pursuit he feels to be both self-evident and even obvious. In the lines, “And as no chemic yet th’ elixir got/ But glorifies his pregnant pot” (lines 7-8), the narrator conveys the achievement felt by academics is in vain, as their academic pursuits can simply be attributed to their vanity. The narrator promotes his ideal love as the pride of his life, yet he is aware about some of the misgivings many may have when encountering any such relationship. The poet seeks to draw the reader’s attention to the sometimes petty side of love, warning that when regarding love as a whole this pettiness is insignificant. In the lines, “Can be as happy as I can, if he can/ If he can endure the short scorn of a bridegroom’s play” (lines 16-17), the reader is made aware of the joy the narrator feels in spite of the shortcomings he experiences in his relationship.