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... It is the use of these studied metaphors that gives Donne’s poetry what Eliot calls “a direct sensuous apprehension of thought, or a recreation of thought into feeling.” It is this link between thought and feeling that gives the work of Donne its powerful nature. ... It is this basic conflict- between his religious thought, and his erotic feeling- that forms the base of his work.
The opening lines of Divine Meditation 10:
“Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,” (1-2)
are contradicted in Elegy On Mistress Boulstred:
“Death I recant, and say, unsaid by me
Whate’er hath slipped, that might diminish thee.” (1-2)
These differences do not show inconsistencies with Donne’s work, rather they highlight his struggle to find a balance between thought and feeling. ... He wants to bow to his desire for feeling, and justifies this to himself by the use of complex religious thought. ... In this poem, his ‘feelings’ (lust) are taking precedent over his ‘thought’ (religion), although he is aware of his theology, and uses the metaphor of the flea to find a balance. ... This will actually expand their union, with Donne equating it as “gold to aery thinness beat” (24) - expanded over a greater area. So whilst ‘feeling’ a separation from his loved one, their ‘thought’ will keep them together. ... Their love is compared to the “trepidation of the spheres” (11), the ethereal concentric planes of which the universe was thought to have consisted to ancient times, and is “greater far” (12) than the “Moving of th’ earth” (9), which is the kind of love that can be only physical.
Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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