In all of his poems, there is a ‘strikingly similar’ audacity with which Donne conveys his feelings about love

and relationships, whether those be poems about his

Ironically, it is his poetry concerning women (often Anne) in which he talks about a spiritual and ethereal love with – not God. It could be said that he argues that
a love soul-deep, gives the lovers a new status as people, both in society as well as among the Gods.  The Good Morrow portrays love as something of the soul,
using hyperboles and imagery to signify their emotional and physical connections. In the aubade, Donne present their love as immortal because their soulful
connection has guaranteed their immortality, as the soul ‘none can die’. In his imagery of the ‘two better hemispheres’, Donne is perhaps alluding to the Neo-
Platonic idea of finding your ‘other half’ in order to form the perfect form. Therefore, in ‘which watch not one another out of fear’, Donne is insinuating that if
you find your ‘soulmate’, everyday things like jealousy are not important and cannot taint your love. This can also be seen in A Valediction: forbidding Mourning,
where Donne ‘forbids’ Anne from mourning their separation through the conceit of a compass. The comparison of the lovers to a compass, depicts that no
matter how far they are from each other, they are always connected through their love: ‘Our two souls therefore, which are one’. Donne also argues that
because he and Anne have the opposite of a ‘dull sublunary lovers’ love’ which depends on physical touch only, they can ‘admit / Absence’ because they have a
soulful connection although they themselves ‘know not what it is’. 

INTRODUCTION: John Donne is the leader and founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry. His poetry is a revolt against the popular current. First of all Dryden
used the term ' Metaphysical' for Donne's poetry. He said,' Donne affects the metaphysics'. Later on Dr. Johnson called Donne and his followers 'the
metaphysical poets'. Since then the word metaphysical has been used for Donne and his followers.

WHAT IS METAPHYSICAL POETRY: The term metaphysics means something supernatural and transcendental. Its sense is 'what is beyond physical'. It is
concerned with fundamental problems of life and death and soul even after death. The term metaphysical poetry means poetry dealing with metaphysical
subjects. These subjects are - nature of universe, movements of stars and planets and the whole relationship of man to God.

AS A METAPHYSICAL POET: When Dryden, Johnson and Dowden called Donne a metaphysical poet, they referred to the style of Donne. But when De Quincey
disagreed with them, he toned up Donne's subject matter. His poetry is metaphysical because of his individualism and his quest for learning. His poetry is full of
wit. It is obscure and it indulges in far fetched conceits. It fuses thought and emotion. It is logical, analytical and mystical.

LEARNING: The Metaphysical poets were men of learning. Their poetry reveals their scholarship. From this point of view, Donne is a great metaphysical poet. To
show his learning is his chief object. In his poetry he has twisted his vast learning. Due to this his poetry becomes very difficult to understand. In Donne's poetry,
there is always an antithesis between natural and divine knowledge. Donne's pre- occupation with mortality and death fills his poetry with a macabre element.
In his fine sonnet 'Death Be Not Proud' he hates death and says:One short sleep past, Wee wake eternally,And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

NEW THOUGHTS AND EXPRESSIONS: Donne's poetry is purely intellectual and it makes an appeal to the intellectuals. His thoughts are often new. He has
expressed his thoughts in a unique manner. In short, he played with thoughts. In ' The Canonization' 'The Flea' and " Death Be Not Proud' one can easily find
Donne's new thoughts and expressions.

OBSCURITY: Obscurity is one of the important features of Donne's poetry. In his poetry we find obscurity and vagueness of subject. This is linked with sensibility
of literary wit and philosophical conceptions. He frequently combines dissimilar ideas. Thus his poetry is harsh, obscure and puzzling. Saintsbury is right when he
calls him a very great and very puzzling poet.

WIT: Wit is one of the chief characteristics of Metaphysical poetry. This important feature can be found everywhere in Donne's poetry. It fashions his feeling and
thought. Passion sentiment and sensuality are subordinated to wit. His wit is unique in the discovery of comparison and analogies. It is realistic and
straightforward. It looks to run side by side with humour and irony. The heterogeneous material is compelled into unity by the rapid association of thoughts.
‘The Flea' is a beautiful example of it.

CONCEIT: Conceit is an important feature of Metaphysical poetry. Donne makes an abundant use of conceits. It is an instrument to reveal wit. The conceit is a
comparison between two unlike objects or things. In short, it is a far- fetched comparison. Donne's conceits are far- fetched and his imagery is obscure. We can
easily point out some of the conceits in Donne's poetry. In his popular poem 'The Flea' the flea becomes a marriage bed.

 In sonnet 90, he characterizes time as a dimension of suffering

 Platonic love(a form of amorous affection bereft of any sexual element

 Black lady( love largely based on carnal lust)

 Shakespeare condemns the black lady in his sonnets

 Self-depreciatory language, his inadequacies to keep the fair lord happy

 He calls himself bore in sonnet 76

 So far from variation or quick change”

 Homoerotic undertones

 Explicit expression of love for the fair lord

 Transience of life

 Aging process and beauty

 Rich foliage symbolizes youth and barren trees symbolize old age

 Flowers and weeds to contrast beauty and ugliness

 Stars stand for fate but free will as well

 He relies on his hands rather than fate to make decisions

 He has been unlucky in the stars but lucky in love

 Pathetic fallacy, associating his absence from the young man to the freezing days of December
and the promise of their reunion in a pregnant spring

 Weather and seasons stand for human emotions

 Autumn a time when nature’s objects begin to decay and ready themselves for winter or death

 In sonnet 98, despite the arrival of “proud-pied April “, he still feels winter as he is away from his fair lord

 “ shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”

 He pushes the fair lord to have a child and inspire future generations

 Fair lord’s beauty surpasses the fleeting inconsistent seasons

 Ravages of time

 Inevitable mortality of human beauty

 “And every fair from fair sometime declines

 But the fair lord’s is of another sort, for it shall not fade”

 Summer as season of extremes and disappointments

 Imperfections of the summer sun, sometimes hot, sometimes its golden complexion is dimmed by passing clouds
THEME

 Admiration and love: the whole poem is about admiration and affection for the poetic persona’s object of admiration. This admiration is illustrated
by the poetic persona by juxtaposing summer’s day limitations to the efficiencies of his object of admiration.

 Nature’s cruelty: This is another idea that is expressed in the poem. The summer is discussed as being harsh. This is depicted by high lightening the
hotness of the sun and the destructive wind of summer.

 Death brings limitation: Although, this was not fully emphasized, but the way it is being mentioned in the poem, it shows that death limits people’s
glamour. The poetic persona assures his object of admiration that death cannot stop it from shining by bringing it under its shade. In other words,
the shade of death stops life and makes it unable to blossom and achieve things.