John Donne's Idealistic Love

Traditional Donnean critics have often celebrated Donne's "vivid realism" in his idea oflove, while traits of idealism in Donne's love poetry have not, so far, received adequatecritical emphasis. In fact, Donne's attitude towards love is idealistic as well as realistic, as it istrue with his other concerns. This thesis is intended to be a tentative study of Donne's attitudetowards love, highlighting and elaborating the elements of his idealism and idealistic traitsreflected in his love lyrics.It is held that his attitude towards love in his early works, as many critics points out, isrealistic, embodying incomplete, temporary sexual love and cynic view on women. However,even in his early love poetry emphasizing realistic depiction of sexual love, skepticism ofideal love and contempt for women, we can still discern his idealistic attributes. In thesepoems his ideals in love are insinuated or expressed in a contorted way.Donne's idealistic love finds its expression in poems affirming and celebrating true love,and these poems portray a much broader world for readers. With Donne's true view of love isconcerned, aspects of his idealism are explored and explicated: he believes true love must beexclusive, and he reiterates self-sufficiency and mutuality in a love relationship. Idealisticdevotion and extravagance find their way into his love lyrics. Accordingly, his view onwomen undergoes a progression. He glorifies ideal love with religious deity and claimssainthood to true lovers. Owing to the pursuit of idealistic love, his concept of love is elevatedto a level beyond mere union of bodies: he excels in asserting that idealistic love should bethe perfect union of soul and body. It is held that body and soul are complementary innature—union of bodies is fulfillment of love of souls, whereas union of souls is essence oftrue love.It is Donne's idealistic love that sublimes and eternalizes his love lyrics, rendering themwell in advance of the age in which he lived and suggesting a progress in motif of love inliterature.