John Donne’s poetry reflects a deep image of religious elements and most of his sonnets are the combination of both Catholic and Protestant. In “The Flea” and “Show Me Dear Christ” John Donne also uses religious imagery. He expresses in implicit way this tactic. HHHHis early poem “The Flea” implies the concept of sexual love; furthermore, it exemplifies unconventional metaphor by which the flea bites two lovers, who are compared on the basis of sex. Moreover, we see a woman trying to resist sexual advances. The speaker with the help of the flea was trying to convince her that the relations between them are not illegal.
Additionally, through the marriage temple the author states that he wants to devote holy and sacred religions to ritual marriage, to the union of two lives. The flea embodies this union because it contains the blood of both of them. There is a religious sound in several places and the symbol of Christian beliefs can also be seen in this poem. The image of three in one inside of this flea also refers to the godhead, the doctrine and practices of the ancient Christian church. In fact, Donne wants to allude in an indirect way at the Catholic conception of the importance of the doctrine. It is important for him, that’s why he presents it through these metaphorical images. He may be trying to show his devotion to the Catholics beliefs. Donne appeals to present vivid images of religion in his secular poem: “Oliver’s claims regarding the religious verse can be applied to the secular, as well: in each case, Donne’s poems put us in touch with voice” (Baumlin 83). He uses this small insect ironically and metaphorically. In fact, in his poem Donne is addressing the Catholic Church by calling it a religious temple. He is talking in an indirect way and is showing his devotion to his beloved church, which stands here as a symbol of a woman. “Donne was the unconscious and unwilling prisoner of his childhood devotional training.” (P. M Oliver). This shows the reader the influence of the Catholic religion and the family on Donny, before he became an Anglian priest.
Meanwhile, in “Show me, Dear Christ, Thy Spouse so Bright and Clear” Donne is seeking the true faith and he, without doubt, exposes his inner religious struggle of the old Catholic faith and the new Protestant (Calvinistic) faith. Throughout the sonnet Donne asks God to show his spouse. He clearly alludes to the Church because in this poem spouse stands for its’ symbol. He basically refers to the Roman Catholic Church, which is full of Ritual ceremonies on the other store. Furthermore, in this line he says: “What! Is it She”. That “she” refers to the church, which stands as a beloved woman to him, since the church is described in the Bible itself as “The Bride of Christ” and “The wife of the lamb”. “She” is often used in his poem; this might be showing the reader that his devotion for the old faith was wakened. He had in mind his struggle around that lovely heritage of faith, since he doubted to recognize the true faith. This poetized “she” is both a woman and religion, at the same time offering subjects to the poet’s fidelity. This was not made to reduce in the songs and the sonnet all the allegories of faith but for the vocabularies of Donne’s love-making, of his faith-breaking, of his libertinism made for a continuous commentary on the Reformation controversy. So, the entire lexicon may represent Donne’s love for his religious traditions or, on the other hand, it may reflect the complexity of his relationship with Catholicism and his desire to detach him from it. Besides, he considers the Church his sweetheart and he asks God to make his sweetheart unfaithful. This is one of the paradoxes. They make this poem so interesting for every reader. “Donnean paradox comes to life only within the antithetical action of the reader. Donne’s aim is to exercise his relationship in rhetorical self-defense.” (Baumlin78). Donne’s purpose is to practice his relationship with church in rhetorical way, since Donne, after converting to the Anglican, became a mature person, he describes religion with love affection. He makes a big shifting, in which his theology of language becomes more complex and represents devotional claims, which contradict his secular verse. He wrote these poems in his youth.
The poem also reveals the early seventeenth’s century struggle between controversial religions. Donne’s grief over fragmentation of the church and his hesitation over true identity are quite visible. “Doth she, and did she, and shall she ever more on one, on seven, or on no hell appear?” He may metaphorically say at which place he can find the true spouse. He makes an inquiry in order to reach the real church. He wants real and pure religions. He wishes to find his true church. On the other hand, in the line ‘’Laments and mourns in Germany and here” Donne is finally going to another place, it is Germany. It is completely obvious that he gestures to the Protestant Church ritual. He doubts about true regions and spends much time thinking, what religion is true. "Each poem, in sum plays within the age’s reading game, creating so many dialogues between faith and skepticism, belief and doubt."(Baumlin 84). This shows the fact that Donne’s opinion about religious under the period of uncertainty and hard-working theological inquiry is still changing, even when he becomes a member of the Church of England.
In Donne’s own life, he had to choose between his Catholic inheritance and the inner pressure for success that would drive him to switch to the Established Church. Donne seems to have a self-conflict between his own religions. He describes his own Hamlet-like irresolution by embracing the local Religion. Discussing Hamlet, we noted the conflicts of conscience that accompanied conversions (forced or otherwise); by his own admission, Donne “had longer work to do than, having to wrestle againstthe reasons, by which some hold was taken upon his conscience.”(Baumlin 79). So, Donne as a priest was torment from such a dilemma and for that reason he meditated in most of his sonnets spiritually, either as a priest or as a lover.
The theological debate has clearly influenced Donne’s poem. Calvinism plays the major part in his writing and it is quite obvious that this religion goes with the notion of predestination, where only God has the right to choose, who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. "God hath ordinated all men to a certain and everlasting state: that is, either to salvation or condemnation, for his own glory.”(Oliver 27). This means that people are already elected by God and no actions can be made and no repentances can help either. This doctrine of Calvinism contradicts Catholicism. The Catholics believe that Jesus is the God’s Son and he will save all the people, because he sacrificed himself for all. In fact, they follow Sacred Scripture and they refer to the clergy when condemn the false, so the priest is the one to define and interpret the scripture and the truths. Additionally, it is difficult to clarify, where Donne is a Calvinist and where a Catholic, since he argues about these two faiths throughout the whole poem.
“Show Me Dear Christ” can be called a meditation poem because Donne, as a Christian poet, is recognized to be a person, who remediates the conventional crises and challenges in his poems the religious faith. Donne wants the reader to gain some experience by offering them the images of emotion, thought and affection. “A Hymn to Christ, at the Author’s last going into Germany.” (Oliver 111). In fact, Donne lives with a Catholic thought in a realm of the Protestant doctrine. In the most of the poem his sound is fabricated with the thought of belief.
Donne uses several techniques of meditation throughout his poem. That may distinguish his sonnet from lyrical ones because Donne has applied the Exercise of St. Ignatius Loyola, which stands for a mental exercise. “Ignatian meditation providing strong evidence for the profound impact of early Jesuit training upon the later career of john Donne.” (Martz 1962, p. 53). It is an old method, which shows the relationship between the human and his god in the world exemplified in the Society of Jesus. In reality, this exercise is derived from Catholic beliefs. Through them the poet mentally and spiritually can make a short request for the grace of God, so He could show him the right way. “The spiritual exercise practices as the compulsory second stage in each meditation. Such practices of “composition” or “proposing” lie behind the vividly dramatized, firmly established, graphically imaged openings that are characteristics of the poets we are considering.”(Martz 1962, p. 31). Since his series of sonnets have such techniques as the image of meditation, Donne can be recognized as a meditative or a devotional poet.
Donne as a priest was strongly influenced in his writing and expressing the internal struggle of thought in his poetry. He was so passionate in most of his poems. In fact, he was the one of the greatest English poets, whose reputation was the most remarkable one among the major writers in English. He didn’t write those poems for publishing only, he wrote them because all these poems were reflecting the experiences he had gained at that time. “Donne ‘faces both ways ‘on the subject of reformation theology.” (Baumlin 83). Donne was a person, who tore between religious contradictions and for that reason these religions became the very center of his poetry. “The catholic notes in Donne’s religious poems are remarkably clear and full.” (Baumlin 81). He could not settle his inner conflict, that’s why he prayed for God’s mercy and grace, so that he might be able to build his faith on a new foundation. Most of his poems present the reader his images of faith. That can be seen in the “Show me dear Christ” and “The Flea”. Donne shows the reader his own love as priest; moreover, during most of the sonnet he laments his old faith.
Works Cited
Baumlin, James S. "Hamlet's Sorcery." Theologies of Language in English Renaissance Literature: Reading Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2012. Print.
Oliver, P. M. "The Art of Devotion." Donne's Religious Writing: A Discourse of Feigned Devotion. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.
Martz, Louis Lohr. "Methods of Meditation." The Poetry of Meditation; a Study in English Religious Literature of the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print.
