A Gorgeous Prism

Primarily known as a metaphysical love-poet, John Donne provides a variety of images of women in his love poetry. The thesis is a discussion on the images of women as to have a clear view of John Donne's system of beliefs and his literary position in the sequence of love poetry in Elizabethan England.The thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter One deals with different types of women in Donne's love poetry. Unfaithful, constant and divine women are discussed. The metaphysical techniques in the description of-the images of women are analysed. Donne's adoption and transformation of Petrarchanism reflected in this chapter are also pointed out.Chapter Two focuses on the position of women reflected in Donne's love poetry. Court ladies, with whom Donne endows divinity, are representatives of the upper class women in Elizabethan England. Confined women and libertine women, as the representatives of the lower class women, are confined in the realm of love. They reflect Donne's limitation as a love-poet in a male-dominated society.Chapter Three analyses the root of these diversified images of women in Donne's love poetry, and points out that Donne's religious experience, his marital experience, and his view on love and sex contribute to the complexity of the images of women in his love poetry.The conclusion is a summary and over-all assessment on Donne's merit and limitation as a love-poet.