Attempt a critical appreciation of Donne’s “The Anniversary”.
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| John Donne [1572-1631] |
In the field of love poetry, the contribution of the metaphysicals is considerable. When Donne appeared on the stage, Spenser and his followers were following the petrarchan tradition of sentimental love poetry. Donne’s treatment of love is entirely unconventional. His poems are the expression in unconventional and witty language of all the moods of a lover. Dryden says, “He affects metaphysics not only in his satires but also in his amorous verses….and perplexes the minds of fairsex with nice speculation of philosophy…”
‘The Anniversarie’ is a typical metaphysical love. The metaphysical treatment of love is different from what is found in conventional, romantic Elizabethan lyrics. The approach here is intellectual, not emotional. ‘Love’ is idealized, but not impulsively adored, and rather intellectually analysed. Donne states how all things grow old, as time rolls on, and hasten to their end. The lovers, like the mighty princes, ‘must leave at least in death, these eyes and eares’ and two graves must hide their dead bodies. But the poet proceeds further to refer to the immortality of the lovers’ souls, that release from their physical bodies, will remain, communicate and bear nothing but love–
“But souls where nothing dwells but love”
Donne reaches his conclusion therefrom in a design that is purely intellectual. He emphasises the superiority of love, as freed from all fears and threats. None can do treason to true lovers, except one of them. The poet’s concluding assertion is firm and unequivocal–
Let us love nobly, and live, and add again
Years and years unto years, till we attain
To write threescore: this is the second of our raign.”
This argumentative presentation reminds us of Helen Gardner’s view that metaphysical poetry is marked by concentration.
The intellectual character of metaphysical poetry is marked, too, in the profundity of reflection and the play of wit. Donne’s conceit of ‘Kings’ is deeply meaningful and expresses his lofty thought on love–
Can be such Kings,…………..”
The regular passage of time is a universal truth, and the poet associates with it the course of his love. The sun is elder by a year, than it was when the poet and his lady-love ‘first one another saw’. This is a characteristic metaphysical technique. The emotional lover here wants to refrain from all fears and anxieties and go on loving throughout his life. The emotional undertone suggests that thought was not the primary concern of Donne. The poem does not contain far-fetched images or fantastic conceits. Really we find an echo of an Elizabethan poem of love in it. Here the readers do not feel baffled by the scholastic learning of a metaphysical poem.
Of course Donne’s assertion is not devoid of emotion here. There is, in fact, a just balance between two elements in him–intellect and emotion. This is particularly evident in the concluding stanza in which the poet’s intellectual analysis leads to his emotional declaration—
