AIR AND ANGELS by John Donne

Born in 1572, the poet and Anglican cleric John Donne is now considered the major metaphysical poet of his time.  Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that studies being, identity and change, space and time, and the relationship between mind and matter.  Extended metaphors known as conceits are one of the hallmarks of metaphysical poetry- unconventional, logically complex or surprising comparisons which challenge us intellectually rather than appeal to our emotions.  John Donne employed conceits to explore the relationship between the sensory and the abstract, using the unlikeness of the two things compared to surprise and hold the reader’s attention.  Donne often used scientific and technological advances of his day as a source for his conceits. 

In Air and Angels Donne asks us to examine love through comparisons with both the spiritual and material world.  Although we may reject his rigid views on the differences between male and female as outdated his desire to explore the nature of love is a subject which still engages us.

Donne is a challenging poet to understand, but his language is also immediate and conversational, strikingly beautiful and easily read in a modern voice. Over two hours we will explore the message of Air and Angels through repeated readings and discussion.

SALON DETAILS:

• Facilitated by Caroline Hammond
• Single meeting study, Wednesday 10 November 2021, 6-8.00 pm
• £25 includes background materials and opening notes

Air and Angels

Twice or thrice had I lov’d thee, 

Before I knew thy face or name; 

So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame 

Angels affect us oft, and worshipp’d be; 

         Still when, to where thou wert, I came, 

Some lovely glorious nothing I did see. 

         But since my soul, whose child love is, 

Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do, 

         More subtle than the parent is 

Love must not be, but take a body too; 

         And therefore what thou wert, and who, 

                I bid Love ask, and now 

That it assume thy body, I allow, 

And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow. 

Whilst thus to ballast love I thought, 

And so more steadily to have gone, 

With wares which would sink admiration, 

I saw I had love’s pinnace overfraught; 

         Ev’ry thy hair for love to work upon 

Is much too much, some fitter must be sought; 

         For, nor in nothing, nor in things 

Extreme, and scatt’ring bright, can love inhere; 

         Then, as an angel, face, and wings 

Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear, 

         So thy love may be my love’s sphere; 

                Just such disparity 

As is ‘twixt air and angels’ purity, 

‘Twixt women’s love, and men’s, will ever be.

John Donne