The Sexual and the Spiritual in John Donne's Poetry: Exploring "The Extasie" and its
Analogues
By Basil Thommen
Abstract
This paper looks at the poet John Donne’s method of incorporating sexual imagery into religious and spiritual
contexts. The main features of Donne’s technique arise from his notion of ecstasy. Donne’s ecstasy describes how
the souls of two lovers leave their bodies during their physical union and mix together before returning to their
original bodies. This experience purifies each of the lovers and grants them spiritual fulfillment. Writers such as
Marsilio Ficino, St. Teresa of Avila, and others have proposed similar ideas regarding the transformative experience
that sex has on the soul. These ideas directly collide with the beliefs of some schools of thought, like Stoicism,
where sensual experiences are disfavored compared to the power of order and reason in discovering spiritual truth.
A discussion of the various perspectives on ecstasy is followed by a brief examination of how the notion especially
pervades three of Donne’s works: “The Extasie,” “Holy Sonnet XIV,” and “The Good-Morrow.”
As a metaphysical poet, John Donne uses imaginative and ironic conceits in his poetry which
often address topics like love and religion. Bozanich (1975) explains how Donne as an expert
metaphysical poet frequently treated themes such as the union of binaries:
In what may now be regarded as the classic era in the study of the Metaphysicals,
it was concluded that the distinguishing mark of that school and, above all, of its
master Donne was a concern with the problem of the-one-and-the-many, an
obsession with unity, a preoccupation with ‘the relatedness of things.’ Donne’s
poetry, in this view, is characterized by a search for the means by which such
Donne’s“Exstasie”/2
seemingly opposed elements as body and soul, male and female, the earthly and
the divine may be subsumed into unity. (p. 274)
Donne has a habit of combining sexual and spiritual imagery, as can be seen in a few of his Holy
Sonnets and other poems like “The Extasie.” The juxtaposition of both sexual and spiritual
language may seem strange at first, but this pairing actually makes sense once the reader is
familiar with Donne’s concept of ecstasy.
“Art is the most passionate orgy within man’s grasp.” — John Donne
While some may consider John Donne’s technique of pairing sexual language with spiritual
subject matter as paradoxical, one may argue that this technique serves a logical purpose in
illustrating Donne’s notion of ecstasy, which describes sexual gratification and spiritual
fulfillment as two concurring phenomena.
John Donne (1572 - 1631) was an English poet of the metaphysical school, much of whose now
highly regarded poetry was published posthumously. Interest and admiration of Donne's work
was especially reignited by later poets such as T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats.
Donne’s“Exstasie”/3
This paper not only explores Donne’s ideas, but also the ideas of other figures who share similar
thoughts on the concept of ecstasy. After discussing Donne’s notion of ecstasy, I show how these
ideas are conveyed in Donne’s poetry by looking at three examples: “The Extasie,” “Holy
Sonnet XIV,” and “The Good-Morrow.”
Mitchell (1968) gives a concise overview of Donne’s notion of ecstasy:
The inward union of the body and soul of man is achieved through the outward
union of man and woman. Body and soul remain at odds within a person until he
loves another person, for the reason that his soul realizes and knows itself through
the experience of love, love being a state in which flesh, become subordinate or
servant to the psyche, terminates its suppression of soul. During love, the soul is
ecstatically freed from the body, transplanted into a richer soil, which is the soul
of the other person, and thereby gains new strength and knowledge about itself in
relation to its body. When at the termination of love’s ecstasy, the soul repairs to
its body, the self is no longer a merely carnal or physical being, but a synthesis
permitted by love’s potentiation of the soul. (p. 91)
Donne’s notion of ecstasy may prove to be morally troublesome for traditional philosophies such
as Stoicism. The Stoics believe the highest virtues are attained through self-control and
avoidance of purely sensual experiences. They believe truth and beauty can be found through
reason alone. To suggest to the Stoics that the pleasure of sexual experience can lead to spiritual
truth would be to undermine their view of virtue.
Donne’s“Exstasie”/4
According to Huntington (1977), the scholar Marsilio Ficino discusses a theory of virtue that
greatly resembles Donne’s concept of ecstasy and challenges Stoic values: “The central
requirement of the theory, that one give oneself up to the attraction of beauty rather than remain
under the strict control of reason, involves a crucial violation of the Stoic moral ideal” (p. 41).
Ficino’s theory permits “forms of sensual love which, however much they alarm the Stoic
moralist, if pursued with the proper spirit and with the proper preparation have philosophic
value” (Huntington, 1977, p. 42).
Cirillo (1969) supports the notion that both Donne and Ficino share a theory where a realm of
spiritual possibilities exists within the experience of sexual union:
Through mutual love, two lovers achieve that perfect fusion of souls that makes
them one—neither he nor she, but both he and she in one spiritual union. This
theory is propounded in the writings of Ficino . . . and it suggests that the moment
of union is preceded by ecstasy, or a love-death in which the two lovers are said
to be dead, to die to life that they may live to love . . . This concept of union may
be seen as the basis of many of Donne’s Songs and Sonnets. (p. 81)
Sexual union is seen as a path to spiritual harmony because of the relationship dynamic that has
been established between the body and the soul. Along with Donne and Ficino, another historical
figure who has been known to promote similar ideas regarding the ecstasy of the body/soul is
Saint Teresa of Avila. McCann (1954) describes the similarities between the saint’s writings and
Donne’s writings:
Donne’s“Exstasie”/5
An examination of the two works . . . reveals not only some of the differences one
would expect, but a surprising amount of agreement about the position of bodies
and the movements of souls during a contorted ecstasy. That Teresa was famous
for the violence of her ecstasies is evidenced by Bernini’s statue of her in the
throes of a spasm. There is no evidence in Donne’s poem, or in his other works,
that he himself had experienced an ecstasy. Yet there is a pronounced similarity in
the reactions of two strong-minded individuals—separated by sex, history, and
national culture but curiously alike in temperament—to a single startling
experience. (p. 125)
The remarkable correspondence between Donne’s ideas and Teresa’s writings is interesting as
both of them had significant relationships with the Church and Christianity throughout their
lives.
After discussing Donne’s as well as others’ notion of ecstasy, one may briefly explicate his
poem, “The Extasie” to demonstrate how these ideas are conveyed in his poetry. The poem
begins with two lovers who lay together physically (lines 1-12). Their physical union lays the
foundation for the subsequent bonding of their souls which have left their bodies and “negotiate”
in the ether around the lovers’ bodies (15-20).
The description of the elevation and mixing of their souls demonstrates a view that what is taking
place should be considered more than mere sex:
We see by this it was not sex,
We see we saw not what did move;
Donne’s“Exstasie”/6
But as all several souls contain
Mixture of things, they know not what,
Love these mix’d souls doth mix again
And makes both one, each this and that (31-36).
The mixing of the souls repairs each individual soul’s defects and creates a fuller awareness for
each soul (37-48). The pairing of spiritual and sexual language parallels the mutual dependence
of the body and the soul (49-60).
Donne’s technique is present in his other poems like “Holy Sonnet XIV.” In this poem, the
ecstasy is pondered not between two human lovers, but between the human speaker and God as
the speaker begs, “Batter my heart, three-person’d God” (line 1). Payne (1996) notes that:
The strategy of the poem appears to be that of a dangerous, blasphemous
anthropomorphism in the heat of devotion, but deflecting that danger, just in time,
by the equation of sensual passion to spiritual virtue; for the concluding couplet
declares that true freedom comes when one is imprisoned by God, and that purity
of heart comes with God’s ravishment . . . By the poem’s conclusion the conceit
of the rape which ensures chastity no longer skirts blasphemy. In fact, in Donne’s
hands, it even becomes orthodox, an ideal of devotion worthy of emulation. (p.
211)
The implications of this thought-process are somewhat radical. Donne essentially turns rape into
an act that would not only be permissible, but perhaps even desirable or praise-worthy since the
perpetrator is God. This renovation of the act of love-making is supported by Clements (1961)
Donne’s“Exstasie”/7
who says that “the poem’s theme of love and courtship . . . has been characteristically
transformed by Donne to a violent love and courtship” (p. 485).
God is perfectly good and cannot be questioned; therefore, if God were to rape someone, that
person would be made better as a consequence. Newman (2004) mentions how the poem hints at
this idea with its use of the word “ravish:”
Here the speaker, impersonating a captive bride, begs to be freed by imprisonment
and purified by rape. For that, of course, is the implication of ‘ravish,’ a word
with a long and telling history. The verb derives from Latin rapere via Old French
ravir: its root meaning is ‘to abduct, rape, carry away by force,’ but
metaphorically it can mean ‘to exalt or transport with joy.’ By the thirteenth
century, raptus and ravissement could denote either the crime of rape or the
experience of mystical ecstasy. (p. 86)
Donne’s concept of ecstasy also pervades his poem, “The Good-Morrow.” The first two lines of
the poem indicate how the love that the speaker and his partner share is so great that it erases all
memory of the meaningless and ignorant past they lived before they met each other (1-2). The
second stanza gets into more detail about how the ecstasy of the lovers affects each of their
souls:
And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Donne’s“Exstasie”/8
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. (8-14)
The lines describe how the ecstasy of the lovers “makes one little room an everywhere” which
means that their souls leave their bodies in the bedroom and are transported to a realm of
omnipresence or eternity. The final stanza describes how if their love for each other is equally
strong, then the mixture of their souls will allow them to transcend death, “If our two loves be
one, or, thou and I / Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die” (20-21). This
representation of love overcoming death marks the power of the ecstasy to make the lovers feel
infinite and immortal during their union.
Although some look upon Donne’s signature technique of juxtaposing sexual and spiritual
language with disapproval, the poet employs this method as it stems from his belief in ecstasy.
The fact that several other writers and historical figures have developed strikingly similar
theories seems to indicate that there might be a deeper truth behind such an experience.
References
Bozanich, R. (1975). Donne and ecclesiastes. PMLA, 90(2), 270-76.
Cirillo, A. R. (1969). The Fair Hermaphrodite: Love-Union in the Poetry of Donne and Spenser.
Studies in English Literature, 9(1), 81-95.
Clements, A. L. (1961). Donne's holy sonnet xiv. Modern Language Notes, 76 (6), 484-89.
Donne’s“Exstasie”/9
Huntington, J. (1977). Philosophical seduction in chapman, davies, and donne. ELH, 44(1), 4059.
Mccann, E. (1954). Donne and saint teresa on the ecstasy. Huntington Library Quarterly, 17(2),
125-32.
Mitchell, C. (1968). Donne's "the extasie": Love's sublime knot. Studies in English Literature,
8(1), 91-101.
Newman, B. (2004). Rereading john donne's holy sonnet 14. Spiritus, 4(1), 84-90.
Payne, C. (1996). Donne's holy sonnet xiv. The Explicator, 54(4), 209-13.
Student Pulse 2014, Vol. 6 No. 11
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/938/the-sexual-and-the-spiritual-in-john-donnes-poetry-exploring-the-extasie-and-its-analogues