Analysis On Donne’s Love View From His Circle Images

John Donne (1572–1631) is known as the founder of the Metaphysical Poetsand is primarily known as a metaphysical love poet. He wins his name by poetryespecially his Songs and Sonnets. As a man who “has tasted every fruit in love’sorchard”, Donne has a unique thinking on love, and his love poems show his changingviews of love, as Ian Mackean said,“Donne’s Songs and Sonnets do not describe asingle unchanging view of love.” He has a great thirst for harmonious love, while hisnegative view of love and outgoing view of love prevail in his poetry. In describinglove and shaping the image of women, Donne is fond of using circle images. Thisthesis ventures to demonstrate Donne’s changing views of love based on the circleimages in his love poems. This thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One probes into Donne’s negative view of love. He finds the women,especially these women close to him, are fickle and unreliable even hypocritical andinfidelity, which results in his negative view of love. While in shaping the image ofwomen, Donne reflects fully his distrust and contempt towards women through thecircle images.Chapter Two explores Donne’s outgoing view of love. When Donne doubts atwomen’s faithfulness, he also doesn’t believe the constancy which extols in traditionin love. His pursuit of true love is frustrated which makes him calls for love’s truestate. He indulges himself in an outgoing state like a crazy young man for his freepursuit of love. It is as same as a flea who shows a naked physical love by suckingblood from lovers, whose belly is stuffed like a ball; and then in a deformed spirituallove likes tears. But what he gets are disillusionment and doubt about love.Chapter Three is devoted to studying Donne’s harmonious view of love. Donnefinds that these two kinds of love are not what he really wants. He realizes thatharmonious love must be the perfect unity of body and soul, which is best proved bythe “compass-circle” image. Harmonious love also requires the harmony of men andwomen, like the equality, full devotion and exclusiveness, all of which can be known through his poetry’s circle images, such as hemisphere, Phoenix Nirvana, Sun, etc..The circle images, which Donne used in his love poetry, express his uniquethinking of love, and reflect his changing views of love. His love poetry is no longerattached to Petrarcan tradition who extols the women’s elegance, nor confined toElizabethan period when people suppressed true love. He pursues the true feeling oflove, being both physical and spiritual love. He calls for love-based marriage whichshows his great progress in the theme of love. His thought is far beyond his time andis innovative.