Donne Poetry Analysis

Love’s exquisite versatility gives it freedom to exist in whatever form it wishes, whether it is Eros, Phillia, or Agape. This versatility is the source of much of the emotions sparked by love. These great emotions aroused through personal experience inspire many of the “enlightened” to portray love in their works. One such artist was the poet John Donne. John Donne was an exceptional metaphysical and love poet of the seventeenth century. He is best known for his vivacious and passionate poetry that captured the hearts of many during his lifetime and continues to captures the hearts of many. In the following two poems: The Ecstasy and Love’s Deity, John Donne conveys his views on love and its sincerity in the world.
The Ecstasy is a poem that spiritualizes the experience of sex by portraying it as the joyful union of two souls. In stanza three, Donne shows that touching hands and uniting their bodies was all that they needed to bring their souls together so they could see the same dreams. In stanza four, their souls “advance their state” and leave their bodies meeting between them as one. Donne shows how their bodies were “sepulchral statues” while their souls merged. Donne’s choice of the words “sepulchral statue” gives the body a very negative connotation making it sound like a useless entity. In stanza five, their love for each other allowed their souls to speak to each other and grow in love. In the sixth stanza, he “knew not which soul spake, /Because both meant, both spake the same—. “ Since the souls are united, he is uncertain about which soul speaks to him but this does not matter because they speak the same thoughts. The alliteration in “soul spake” and “spake the same” stresses that both the souls had the same thoughts and therefore spoke the same words. The spiritual union of these souls makes them one for all eternity. In the eighth paragraph, Donne