The Divine In Donne And Milton's Poetry.

Hassan Basarally 806007430 LITS 2006 Donne to Byron

Name: Hassan Basarally I.D.: 806007430 Academic Year: 2007-2008 Semester: 2 University: University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Faculty: Humanities and Education Department: Liberal Arts Course Code: LITS 2006 Course: Donne to Byron Course Lecturer: Dr. G. Rampaul Course Tutor: Mrs. N. Selvon-Ramkissoon Title: Although both John Donne and John Milton are interested in the Divine, They express their devotion in radically different ways. Discuss with reference to at least three Donne’s poems and Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. Date Due: 6th March, 2008.

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Hassan Basarally 806007430 LITS 2006 Donne to Byron

The topic of the Divine was predominant in English poetry in the seventeenth century. The Church still held heavy influence but poets choose to express devotion and theological issues in different ways. The poets John Donne and John Milton, both priests at some point, make religion a central theme. This is illustrated in John Donne’s “Canonisation”, “Holy Sonnet XVI: Batter my Heart, Three Person’d God” and “The Good Morrow” and John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. The two poets differ in their expression of devotion through, use of conceit, seeing the world through everyday experiences as opposed to divine vision and explaining human behaviour through Biblical foils. Donne is classified as a metaphysical poet due to his use of the conceit. This device does not appear in “Paradise Lost”. The conceit is, “an analogy between things apparently unlike, in the poetic exemplification of these ideas. There is a widespread habit of seeing the universe itself as a metaphor, as hieroglyphics which must be deciphered, as God’s handwriting. All objects are symbolic” (Broadbent, 93). It is through the conceit that Donne is able to explore theology is a disarming non-blasphemous way. Milton on the other hand is more literal while still deep in meaning. Milton writes: OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, (Book I, 1-5) The introduction to “Paradise Lost” seems plain but a poem consisting of twelve books surely has several deep ideas that the reader has to analyse. The subject of Adam and Eve is apparent but the question remains on how to “regain the blissful Seat”, the poem describes how to do this through the articulation of 2

Hassan Basarally 806007430 LITS 2006 Donne to Byron the characters’ thoughts. Therefore it can be said that though Milton does not use metaphysical conceit, the metaphysical concern remains.

John Donne believed that language and by extension poetry, which was still viewed as the highest literary form, was of divine origin. The poet should produce work that uplifted and benefitted humanity. Hence the form Donne used was different from epics like “Paradise Lost” but adhered to the belief that “the proper design of language is a preparatory exercise for ones full and final participation in God’s design, in His divine harmony” (Stanwood, 2). Donne wrote in Sermon 4:252 “Our speech is the manifestation of God’s Spirit at work in us”. However this is not particular to Donne as John Milton has the same belief, again the difference is solely in expression. Milton writes in “Paradise Lost”, “I may assert Eternal Providence, / And justifie the wayes of God to men.” (25-26). Unlike Milton, Donne uses everyday occurrences to convey his theological message. In addition the poems are overtly sexual which is unexpected in religious poetry. There is the fusion of physical and spiritual dimensions, showing that religion was not dogma but applicable to everyday life. In addition sacred verse has sexual connotations, showing that even the most intimate and private acts were subject to divine attention and has a lesson in it. In “Canonisation”, “Every man shall see light in his salvation, and so may go in peace; in every desire of the heart is a meeting with God.” (Stanwood, 46). Firstly the title is a conceit as Donne utilises “Canonisation” as a conceit for lovers renouncing the world for carnal as opposed to spiritual reasons. However the poem is not purely sexual and physical. Donne writes:

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And thus invoke us, You, whom reverend love Made one another's hermitage ; You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage ; Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove Into the glasses of your eyes ; (36-40) “Donne proclaims the uniqueness of the lovers who are confined to “one little roome,” but he also shows the limitations and worries of lovers who cannot appear together in drawing rooms. Because their all-encompassing, unprecedented love is clandestine, it is always subject to the death blow of discovery and condemnation” (Ilona, 47). The message given is that the zeal of sexuality needs to be parallel to the zeal for forgiveness and piety. The feeling of infatuation for a lover is needed in the love of God. According to Pattridge, “(t)he language of these poems has a biblical simplicity and strength of will reflecting the struggle; the poet relies less on the efficacy of theological argument, more on the need for obedience to divine law, in its Hebraic conception” (127). However this simplicity does not translate into easy understanding is shown by “The Good Morrow”. Donne writes “Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;” (19). Here the world was believed to be composed of fire, air, water and earth “and a person was composed of four corresponding humours: the phlegmatic (indifferent), sanguine (hopeful), choleric (passionate/angry) and melancholy” (Hosseini, 5). Jesus, the redeemer of “Paradise Lost”, had a perfect balance of these humours, to attain balance was the aim of the Christian faithful at that time. Ironically Donne’s personas seem to have only the choleric. “He deliberately flouted the Petrarchan tradition of smoothness, as he did with his use of a final couplet, a form not favoured by Italian poets, who divided the sestet into two tercets” (Pattridge, 130).

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The metaphysical poet therefore adopted a style that was varying and changing with the mood of what was written. “Donne would experiment with tone by changing it according to the topic he would be dealing with” (Rodriguez, 3). This is seen in “The Good Morrow”, “I wonder by my troth, what thou and I/Did, till we loved ?” (1). It starts with an exclamation, jarring the reader into listening to the poet’s concerns. The same occurs in “Canonisation” with, “For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love ;” (1) “The pauses and stress inversions are admirably suited to the passionate language, abounding in powerful monosyllables and positive predictions” (Pattridge, 131). Donne’s poetry is fast paced encompassing the reader while leaving a need to find deeper meaning in words that can stir emotions. Donne has a way of relating to present readers. The “intellectual apprehension and expression of emotion...is often contorted by over-ingenious metaphors and allusions and sometime obscured by far-fetched ‘conceits’...(i)t is this quality of intellectuality, above all, which contract the great differences between Donne’s world and ours and establishes their point of contact.” (Hayward, 8). In “Holy Sonnet XVI: Batter my Heart, Three Person’d God” there is a feeling of spiritual impotence that is present in modern societies. However, Donne gives a solution to the abyss. Donne writes: Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine, But am betroth'd unto your enemie: Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe; Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free, Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee. (9-14) According to Spurr, “he is impassioned and at the same time theologically rigorous” (54). “The extremity of the speaker’s condition is captured in the opening phrase as he requests a battering, a rough physical motion from the physical Trinity”, this is typical of Donne in addition to the

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Hassan Basarally 806007430 LITS 2006 Donne to Byron

variation in tone (54). Through the quick speech the persona expresses a need to be cleansed from sin but this can only be done through rigorous repentance. John Milton, uses a radically different way of expressing devotion in “Paradise Lost”. To begin with Milton uses an awesome event in Biblical history to explain themes such as free will and understanding a powerful yet seemingly distant God. His use of one event as opposed to others does not devalue his art but shows the capacity of the poet to explain and show much from a single event. Like Donne, Milton has the ability for “making language sing in its simplicity and yet still contain the immensity of his thought” (Bevis, 1). Milton uses the internal dialogue and monologue of the characters in “Paradise Lost” to teach religious messages to the reader. Poets reflect the issues of the period in which they compose. Milton wrote during the Puritan discontent in England, which encompassed the movement being at odds over several political and theological issues with the Anglican Church of the reigning king. In this period of instability Milton tempered the passions of the public by relating the cause of the fall of Adam. However, Milton started with the fall of Satan which showed the consequences of pride and extremism. Satan’s flaws are shown and with it the dangers that lies ahead for the reader if the individual treads a similar path, Milton writes: Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in Glory above his Peers, (Book I, 35-39)

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“Satan as the representative in Paradise Lost should be understood in relation to this relatively new ideological situation, in which ethical codes are being reshuffled and centred in a new sphere of abstract interpersonal relations, and in which evil appears with revitalised force as a monolithic and placeless agent that can find its definition not positively or inherently but only in reacting against some similar abstract and unified concept or agent of virtue and reason.” (Kendrick, 149). Milton writes, “Here we may reign secure, and in my choice / To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: / Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n” (Book I, 261-263). It is through the dialogue that the reader sees the Satan in the individual, represented by the lust for power and unwillingness to serve. “Paradise Lost” is not simply, a theological poem, it is an analysis into the hearts and souls of different people represented by the likes of Satan, Adam and Eve. Milton uses a structural wit by showing Satan’s action as a parody of God’s. It is almost comical to read Satan constantly finding a way to turn defeat into a new plot against God. Satan is cast out of heaven, as Milton describes: ......what time his Pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in Glory above his Peers, He trusted to have equal'd the most High, (Book I, 36-39) Milton produces a mirror image of man who instead from learning from transgression, continues it like Satan. These mirror images continue with others, for example Adam realising that Eve has transgressed when he is offered the fruit by her says, “Flesh of Flesh, / Bone of my Bone thou

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art, / and from thy State / Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe” (Book VIII, 914-916). Milton through this asks the reader to imagine an individual response in similar situations. By providing such foils, Milton provides characters to emulate in a better manner. This is in keeping with his belief “that the poet was a...prophet” (Broadbent, 81). Hence the poet was given the responsibility of uplifting the morality of the people. Milton shows the reality of free will and provides a plausible explanation for the suffering of man. Man does not suffer innocently but through transgression and the plots of “Th' infernal Serpent” (Book I, 34). Also suffering is necessary for spiritual growth. This is shown in Book XII, “The World was all before them, where to choose / Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: / They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, / Through Eden took thir solitarie way” (646-649). The fall of humankind, while originally seeming an unmitigated catastrophe, does in fact bring good. After Adam sees the vision of Christ’s redemption of humankind in Book XII, Adam refers to his own sin as a felix culpa or “happy fault”. Hence Milton is able to create hope in addition to moral rectitude in the poem. The virtue of repentance as seen in Adam and Eve’s descent, only through repentance can the individual be secure. Milton uses the technique of the divine or omniscient sight in “Paradise Lost”. It serves two purposes, to inform the reader of each characters’ thoughts and to explain why God allows man to fall into sin. By the reader knowing Satan’s jealously, Eve’s pride and Adam’s selfsacrificing love, it becomes evident that human beings have the capacity for demise and redemption. However, having the capacity for both brings punishment then redemption. Milton then aims to illustrate that the prohibitions of God are a kind of sign, a sign of fixed relation between man and God (Book X 198-202). By this the reader is elevated to see that which was always present but now understood. “It is important to realise that the poem does not move to 8

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this revelation: it has been there from the first, plainly visible to the eye capable of seeing it. It is the reader who moves, or advances, until his cleansed eye can see what has always been there” (Bevis,71). Paradise Lost presents two moral paths that one can take after disobedience: the downward spiral of increasing sin and degradation, represented by Satan, and the road to redemption, represented by Adam and Eve. Milton allows the reader to see this through elevation to divine interpretation. Donne takes the ordinary human world and transforms it through new eyes. The conceit beguiles the reader into being engulfed in the sensual language while missing the fact that divine inspiration can be sought from a simple lovers’ embrace. The aim of both poets may be the same but the methods are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Donne uses the conceit and everyday experience while Milton uses a grand event and foils that show human nature.

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Works Cited Bell, Ilona. “Under Ye Rage Of a Hott Sonn & Yr Eyes: Donne’s Love letters to Anne More.” The Eagle And The Dove: Reassessing John Donne. Eds. Summers J.C and Pebworth, T. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986. 25-52 Bevis, Katryn. John Milton: A beginners guide. Great Britain: Cox and Wyman, 2007. Broadbent, J.B. John Milton: Introduction. Great Britain: University Printing House, 1973. Hayward, John. Donne. Great Britain: Cox and Wyman, 1985. Hosseini, M., “Love in the Poetry of John Donne” Milton and Metaphysical Poetry (2001), 29 January 2008 Kendrick, Christophor. Milton; A study in ideology and form. New York: Methuen,1986. Pattridge, A.C. John Donne: Language and Style. London: Andre Deutsch Limited, 1978. Rodriguez, L.L., “John Donne: The New Turn Of Classical Tradition,” Sederi vii (1996), 29 January 2008 Spurr, Barry. Studying Poetry. London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1997. Stanwood, P.G. and Asals, Heather eds. John Donne and the Theology of Language. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986.

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