John donne essays celebration

The Anniversary. The English writer and Anglican cleric John Donne is considered now to be the preeminent metaphysical poet of his time. He was born in 1572 to Roman Catholic parents, when practicing that religion was illegal in England.

Theirs is a divine love which is elevated beyond simple physical bonds. When they part, their souls remain as one without a "breach, but an expansion,/ Like gold to airy thinness beat" (lines 23-24). These lines support the idea that their bond does not dissolve, but only changes form.

Donne has enjoyed a rather cyclical popularity with critics and the reading public, going through phases of celebration and ignorance. He is, for most readers, a difficult poet. Other metaphysical poets, such as Andrew Marvell, have enjoyed a steadier, if less glamorous, regard, since much of their poetry is more accessible.

The first paradox of ‘The Anniversary’, and perhaps the most central, is that Donne is celebrating his and his beloved’s one-year anniversary, marking the fact that time has moved on since they first met … and yet their love has not changed at all. It seems to exist outside of the bonds of time.