PARAPHRASE
Stanza 1. We, two lovers, each thinking of the other as the best person in the world, sat on the river-bank which was raised high like a pillow to enable the reclining heads of violet flowers to rest on it.
Stanza 2. Our hands were firmly grasped and from them a strong perfume emanated. Our eyes met and reflected the image of each other. It appeared as if our eyes were strung together on a double thread.
Stanza 3. Our hands were firmly clasped together and this was the means of bringing us close to each other. Our eyes reflected our images and this was the only fusion of our love.
Stanza 4. Just as when two equally powerful enemies fight each other while fate holds the victory in a state of balance, undecided which way to turn the scale, in the same way, our souls, which had left our bodies to sublimate to a state of bliss, hung between the two of us uncertain of their future.
Stanza 5. While our souls communicated with each other in this situation, we lay quiet and motionless like statues built over the monument of the dead. All through the day, our bodies continued to remain in the same position without movement or speech.
Stanzas 6 & 7. If any stranger, whose soul had been purified by a similar process had stood beside our souls, and had been capable of understanding the language of the souls his purified mind would have forgotten the existence of the body and enlightened and sharpened the faculties of his mind, such a soul may not have understood the conversation of our souls because both our souls meant and spoke the same thing, but that soul might have undergone a fresh process of purification and felt more refined than before.
Stanza 8. Our souls have reached a state of ecstasy which revealed to us what we did not know earlier. We realised that love was not sexexperience. We discovered the first time that love really is a matter of the soul and not of the body.
Stanza 9. Souls are made of various elements of which we have no knowledge. It is love which brings together two souls and makes them one, though, in reality, the two have separate existence.
Stanza 10. When a violet plant is tansplanted (removed from one place and replanted in a better soil) it shows a marked improvement in its colour, size and strength. After transplantation it almost doubles itself and also grows more rapidly.
Stanza 11. In a similar manner when love brings two souls together it imparts to them a great zeal and life. The stronger (or noble soul) supplements (or removes) the deficiencies of the lesser soul. Love also removes the feeling of loneliness felt by single souls.
Stanza 12. As a result of the union of two souls, so to say, a new soul comes into being. This new soul knows of what elements the two souls are composed. It makes us realize that the substances of which we are made are not subject to any change.
Stanza 13. Alas, we have so far and so long ignored our bodies. The bodies are ours, but we are distinct from the bodies. We are souls ; we are of spiritual substance; we are like heavenly planets while our bodies are the spheres in which we move.
Stanza 14. We are thankful to our bodies, because they brought us together in the first instance. Our bodies surrendered their sense in order to enable our love to be spiritual. Our bodies are not impure matter, but they are like an alloy ( an alloy when mixed with gold makes it tougher and brighter). The body is useful agent for holy love.
Stanza 15. The influence of heavenly bodies on man comes through the air. So when a soul wishes to love another soul, it can contact it through the medium of the body. Hence a union of souls may need the contact of bodies as the first step.
Stanza 16. Just as the blood which is an important constituent of our bodies labours to produce the essence (the semen) which helps in uniting two bodies, in the same way a spiritual love produces a kind of ecstasy which binds the two souls together. This subtle knot of love may not be fully understood.
Stanza 17. Just as blood produces elements which brings about the union of sense and soul which constitute a man, in the same way the lover's soul leaves some linking elements like the sense and the bodily faculties to express their love. The sense and faculty of the body come to the aid of the soul, which is like a prisoner. Just as a prince who is imprisoned cannot gain freedom unless somebody comes to his aid, in the same way the senses of the body go to the aid of the lover's soul and secure freedom for it.
Stanza 18. We must now turn to our bodies so that weak men may have a test of high love. Love sublimates the soul but it is through the medium of the body that love is first experienced. The body is as important as the soul in the matter of love.
Stanza 19. If some lover like us has heard this discourse (made by two souls with one experience) let him look carefully at us. After our pure love when we go back to our bodies he will find no change in us because we shall not revert to physical sex again.
CRITICAL NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS
Title
‘Ek' means 'out' and 'St' means 'to stand', hence the meaning "standing out”. It is a mystical state of trance wherein the soul comes out of the body to have communion with God. The same state of ecstacy is to be found in Wordsworth's famous poem Tintern Abbey. Here is a difference in that lovers' souls come out of their respective bodies only to have communion with each other.
Stanza 1.
L.2. A pregnant bank swelled up : The two lovers meet near a heap of earth that has swelled up like a pillow on a bed. It is pregnant because it has seed within that would soon bear flowering plants. L.3. The violet's reclining head: The violet is a blue flower symbolising faithful and true love. Reclining head: it grows low near the ground, hence resting its head on the heap of earth. L.4. Satwe.........best: The two lovers who find the greatest joy in each other's company.
Stanza 2.
L.5. Our hands.......cemented : They were holding firmly the hands of each other. L. 5&6. Cemented witha fast balm: According to medieval science, the living bodies exuded a substance which preserved them from decay. Hence, the grasp of the lovers' hands was tightened by this balm. L.7-8. Our eye beams....... String : The lovers gaze fixed into each others' eye and the lights from their respective eyes inter-mingled, creating a sense of double string that tied them together.
Stanza 3.
L.9. So to, intergraft our hands: Grafting of one variety of a plant upon another is a common practice in horticulture which here suggests the physical union of the lovers through their clasped hands, to intergraft : means to incorporate or to join on to something already existing. L.10. Was all...... one : The clasping of the hands was the only means that brought them close to each other. L. 11-12. And pictures....... propagations: The only act of reproduction between the lovers was to beget the reflection of each in the other's eyes. Propagations: causing to increase by natural process, to spread from one to another to multiply.
Stanza 4.
L. 13. 'Twixt two equal armies: between two equally powerful warring forces. L. 13-14. As, twixt..... victory: When two equally strong forces meet, none of them is sure of victory and fate hangs in between. L. 15-16. Our souls..... and me : Their souls had already left the bodies to rise up to a state of ecstasy and to achieve calm and serenity.
Stanza 5.
L. 17. Negotiate : confer with each other ; converse like two armies negotiating a truce. L. 18. Sepulchral : lifeless. Sepulchral statues: statues on the tombs of the dead. L. 19. Postures: poses; throughout the day, the two lovers kept sitting in the same position without uttering even a single word.
Stanza 6.
L. 21. By love refined: elevated, ennobled or purified by love.L. 22 That he......... understood: the real nature of love, who knew that love unites two : souls and not bodies, love is spiritual and not physical. L. 23. And By....... mind: who had forgotten his body totally in his love and who was mentally awake. L. 24. Within ........ stood: stood nearby so as to overhear the dialogue of the two souls.
Stanza 7.
LI. 25-26. Though he knew ........ spoke the same : though such a man could not distinguish between the dialogue of the souls of the lover and the beloved as both meant and spoke the same thing. L. 27. A new concoction: he will acquire a new perfection. 'Concoction' is is a purification or sublimation by heat. The allusion is to metals and minerals which are refined by heat to a state of purity. Then new concoction' will make a new element and enter his soul so that his soul re-emerges as an intellectual soul. L. 28. And part ...... he came : such a man with the capacity to understand the language will depart after a fresh experience and further purify his soul.
Stanza 8.
L. 29. This ..... unperplex: this coming out of the souls and holding converse throws light on love which is a complex thing, a mixture of feeling, understanding, sensation and insight. There are both spiritual and sensual elements in love. Ecstasy enables us to understand these elements and also the very essence of love.L.30. Tell us that we love: Makes clear to the lovers the true nature and source of their love. L. 31-32. We see by this ... what did move: The lovers realise now that it was not sexual passion that led them to love each other; in this new clarity of understanding they find that true love is of the spirit and not of the body.
Stanza 9.
L. 33. Several souls : separate or distinct souls. L. 34. They know not what : The soul does not know which element predominates. It may be sensation and desire, which are supposed to belong to lower side of life. But the lovers now realise that love is a thing of the soul and not of the body. L. 35-36. Love ........ this and that : the individual soul of the two lovers, already mixed within themselves: ‘each this and that means the spiritual and physical qualities are further ‘remixed' by love's alchemy.
Stanza 10.
LI. 37-40. A single ....... multiplies: the lovers' souls create a new soul which is likened to a transplanted violet flower. Hence this new soul coming up after grafting, gains in its powers and energies like the grafted violet flower than gains in strength, colour and size.
Stanza 11.
L. 42. Interinanimates : brings together the two souls and unites them into one; animates the one with the other. L. 43. That....doth flow: the single revitalized soul that emerges from the union of two souls in an ecstatic state of love. L. 44. Defects ...... controls: this soul is superior to the other two and hence free from the faults of any one of them. In this way, they also overcome the sense of loneliness.
Stanza 12.
L. 45-46. We then ..... and made : the lovers now realise that they are only soul, and no body. The state of ecstasy not only unites the lovers but also gives them this new realisation. L. 47. Atomies : components. L. 48. Whom no change can invade : which are not subject to any change in matters of love, i.e., no inconstancy in love. Love residing in the soul and not in the body is unchangeable.
Stanza 13.
Ll. 49-50. But ... forbear?: Why do the lovers then abstain from or deny their bodies. After all, the bodies are theirs. The body is the gateway to the bliss and quietude that the soul experiences in a state of ecstasy Grierson says: “This is one of the most important lyrics as a statement of Donne's metaphysics of love, of the interconnection and mutual dependence of body and soul". L. 51-52. They are ours ....... sphere : The lovers' souls are the intelligences' while their bodies are the ‘spheres' within which the intelligences move. The intelligences may be regarded as spiritual being distinguished from sensual being.
Stanza 14.
L. 53. Them: the bodies. L. 54. Did us ....... convey: it is because of the body, its beauty etc. that the lovers first begin to love each other. Love, in the beginning, is physical and spiritual love follows upon the physical. L. 55. Forces: Faculties of the body; senses. L. 56. Dross : rubbish ; useless or worthless materials. Allay : alloy (a mixed substance)
Stanza 15.
L. 57. Heaven's influence : the influence of heavenly bodies. L. 57-58. On man the air : When heavenly influence works on man, it first permeates the air. The argument is that ‘as spiritual forces sometimes need to work through a less pure medium, so a union of souls may require the coupling of bodies'. L. 59-60. So soul ....... first repair : When love starts working, it first, affects the bodies which are united and then fuses the souls into one another. Thus, the union of bodies must precede the union of souls.
Stanza 16.
LI. 61-62. As our blood .......as it can: Spirits are the intermediate between bodies and souls. They are related to blood as well as to souls. The souls realise themselves only through spirits and therefore they are dependent on the bodies. L. 63. Because ...... knit: It is necessary to hold each other's hand to activitize blood leading to spirit and therefore they are dependent on the bodies. L.63. Subtle: Impalpable, fine.
Stanza 17.
L. 65-66. So must .. faculties : It is necessary for the souls of lovers, though they are out of their bodies in a state of ecstasy, to have dealing with the sense of sight and touch, otherwise they cannot establish contact with each other. 'Affections': inclinations, feelings. 'Faculties' the dispositions and powers of the body.L. 68. a great prince: the souls of the lovers. Prison : the physical bodies of the lovers. Else ... lies : Here also Donne affirms the interdependence of body and soul. According to him, if the soul does not fulfil its function of informing and governing the body, it is like a powerful ruler who is a prisoner in his own kingdom. A king who is in prison and cannot maintain his contact with the rest of the world, loses the effective nature of the king. Similarly, the lovers, however pure and perfect their union of souls, would lose their effective nature, if their oneness does not activate itself in the union of their bodies.
Stanza 18.
L. 69. To our .... we then: The lovers, therefore, turn to their bodies and their souls descend to affections and faculties. L. 70. Weak men: weak men in understanding and so unable to follow the spiritual nature of their love. L. 71. Loves mysteries ... grow: it is in the soul, and not in the body that love has its full flowering and richness of growth. ‘Mysteries' may stand here for the old sense of craft' and 'sacred rites'. L. 72. But yet ...... book: the secret of love is expressed through the body, and it is only through the body that they can be understood by others. Hence the body is likened to book containing the mysteries of love.
Stanza 19.
L. 74. dialogue of one : this discourse ; Refer to line 26 “Because both meant, both speaks the same". The dialogue of the soul of the lover with that of his beloved. L. 76. Small change : Either a change to sensual love or inconstancy in love. The listener will see little difference between the spiritual reality and the physical manifestation when the lovers have returned to their bodies after ecstasy.
It is a complex and metaphysical poem dealing with the twin aspects of love-physical and spiritual. Some critics like Legouis find in it a plan for seduction with emphasis on the physical nature of love, while others like Helen Gardner find in it an affirmation of spiritual love. In fact, it deals with the relationship of the body and the soul in love.
What is 'extasie'?
L. 57. Heaven's influence : the influence of heavenly bodies. L. 57-58. On man the air : When heavenly influence works on man, it first permeates the air. The argument is that ‘as spiritual forces sometimes need to work through a less pure medium, so a union of souls may require the coupling of bodies'. L. 59-60. So soul ....... first repair : When love starts working, it first, affects the bodies which are united and then fuses the souls into one another. Thus, the union of bodies must precede the union of souls.
Stanza 16.
LI. 61-62. As our blood .......as it can: Spirits are the intermediate between bodies and souls. They are related to blood as well as to souls. The souls realise themselves only through spirits and therefore they are dependent on the bodies. L. 63. Because ...... knit: It is necessary to hold each other's hand to activitize blood leading to spirit and therefore they are dependent on the bodies. L.63. Subtle: Impalpable, fine.
Stanza 17.
L. 65-66. So must .. faculties : It is necessary for the souls of lovers, though they are out of their bodies in a state of ecstasy, to have dealing with the sense of sight and touch, otherwise they cannot establish contact with each other. 'Affections': inclinations, feelings. 'Faculties' the dispositions and powers of the body.L. 68. a great prince: the souls of the lovers. Prison : the physical bodies of the lovers. Else ... lies : Here also Donne affirms the interdependence of body and soul. According to him, if the soul does not fulfil its function of informing and governing the body, it is like a powerful ruler who is a prisoner in his own kingdom. A king who is in prison and cannot maintain his contact with the rest of the world, loses the effective nature of the king. Similarly, the lovers, however pure and perfect their union of souls, would lose their effective nature, if their oneness does not activate itself in the union of their bodies.
Stanza 18.
L. 69. To our .... we then: The lovers, therefore, turn to their bodies and their souls descend to affections and faculties. L. 70. Weak men: weak men in understanding and so unable to follow the spiritual nature of their love. L. 71. Loves mysteries ... grow: it is in the soul, and not in the body that love has its full flowering and richness of growth. ‘Mysteries' may stand here for the old sense of craft' and 'sacred rites'. L. 72. But yet ...... book: the secret of love is expressed through the body, and it is only through the body that they can be understood by others. Hence the body is likened to book containing the mysteries of love.
Stanza 19.
L. 74. dialogue of one : this discourse ; Refer to line 26 “Because both meant, both speaks the same". The dialogue of the soul of the lover with that of his beloved. L. 76. Small change : Either a change to sensual love or inconstancy in love. The listener will see little difference between the spiritual reality and the physical manifestation when the lovers have returned to their bodies after ecstasy.
CRITICAL APPRECIATION
It is a complex and metaphysical poem dealing with the twin aspects of love-physical and spiritual. Some critics like Legouis find in it a plan for seduction with emphasis on the physical nature of love, while others like Helen Gardner find in it an affirmation of spiritual love. In fact, it deals with the relationship of the body and the soul in love.
What is 'extasie'?
a ‘Extasie' is essentially a religous experience in which the individual soul, ignoring the body, holds converse with Divinity. It is a feeling of trance, of spiritual exaltation, and of Samadhi where the individual has a vision of the divine. Donne applies the feeling to the experience of the lovers and finds that the essence of love is not sex but an overpowering feeling of unity in diversity. In fact, true love is an activity of the soul. A new soul emanates from the two individual souls and makes the lover realise that love is, in its pure essence, spiritual. Donne has also interpreted love in a philosophic way. Love is an idea or a concept concretized through physical enjoyment of sex. He has also interpreted it according to the Platonic concept—the desire of the moth for the star, longing of one soul to seek communication with another. Another idea introduced in the poem has been borrowed from astronomy. Just as heavenly bodies are moved by "intelligences" i.e., angelic spirits, in the same way souls are the motivating forces in human love, though they have no existence of their own. They are linked with the body, which is the overt and apparent machinery for love-making. The soul expresses itself through the body. In other words, the body is a medium used by the soul to achieve the consummation of love. Thus the poem uses a religious and mystical experience to interpret the complexity and depth of secular love.
The physical setting:
The first stanza provides the physical setting of the two lovers. On the bank of a river overgrown with violet flowers, the lovers sit quiet, looking into each other's eyes and holding hands firmly. This physical closeness offers a romantic and pastoral setting—their hands cemented in mutual confidence and the eyes as if strungon a thread. This sensually exciting scene is a forerunner to the actual physical union.
The poet compares the two lovers to the two armies. The souls are like the negotiators. They are not committed to either side. Only those who are gifted can understand the dialogue of the two souls, and realise the true nature of love.
True nature of love:
The communication of the souls of lovers reveals the true essence of love. Love is not sex-experience. It is rather a union of two souls. Each soul appears to keep its identity and as in horticulture , by transplantation the plant grows stronger and better, the new soul has a great strength and vitality. The fusion of the two souls is the real consummation of love. The new soul is composed of “atoms' which are beyond decay. Just as the essence of the individual is not the body but the soul, in the same way, the essence of love is not sex but mutual dependence and affection. The body is no dross, but an alloy necessary for pure metals to become stronger. The body is the channel for the souls to inter-communicate with each other.
Is love physical or spiritual?:
DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT
The physical setting:
The first stanza provides the physical setting of the two lovers. On the bank of a river overgrown with violet flowers, the lovers sit quiet, looking into each other's eyes and holding hands firmly. This physical closeness offers a romantic and pastoral setting—their hands cemented in mutual confidence and the eyes as if strungon a thread. This sensually exciting scene is a forerunner to the actual physical union.
The poet compares the two lovers to the two armies. The souls are like the negotiators. They are not committed to either side. Only those who are gifted can understand the dialogue of the two souls, and realise the true nature of love.
True nature of love:
The communication of the souls of lovers reveals the true essence of love. Love is not sex-experience. It is rather a union of two souls. Each soul appears to keep its identity and as in horticulture , by transplantation the plant grows stronger and better, the new soul has a great strength and vitality. The fusion of the two souls is the real consummation of love. The new soul is composed of “atoms' which are beyond decay. Just as the essence of the individual is not the body but the soul, in the same way, the essence of love is not sex but mutual dependence and affection. The body is no dross, but an alloy necessary for pure metals to become stronger. The body is the channel for the souls to inter-communicate with each other.
Is love physical or spiritual?:
To this old and complex question, Donne has a satisfactory answer. Love is dependent both on the soul and body.Love has to be concretized. This is possible only through the physical play of love. Donne feels that love is enriched by the mutual understanding of the souls of the two lovers. Spiritual love is not possible in a vacuum. Like heavenly beings who influence the actions of men through manifestation, the souls must express themselves through the bodies. The poet feels that an isolated soul is like a captive prince. Souls must return to the bodies and manifest the mystery of love. As from the blood comes strength and vigour which acts as an agent of the soul and binds together elements which go into the making of man, so the body and the sense organs are at the disposal and service of the lovers' souls, otherwise the soul cannot express themselves. The body is the book of the love. Great mystics have also pleaded for the evolution of physical love towards holy or divine love.
Finally, the poet feels that love ripens in the soul. As such, physical love and holy love are complementary. If some lover observes the poet and his beloved, he will hardly find any change in their behaviour when the lovers return to their bodies.
CRITICAL REMARKS
The poet employs an unusual desire through 'extasie’ which means 'to stand out. The souls of the poet and his beloved as it were, stand out of their respective bodies and hold a dialogue revealing the true nature of their love. In a religious 'extasie' the soul holds a communication with God. Here the conversation is not between the soul and God but between two souls. Donne has artistically explained the religious and philosophical belief to throw light on physical and sensuous love. The greatness of the poem lies in reconciling the opposites—physical love with spiritual love, metaphysical belief with the scientific, the abstract with the concrete, the human element with the non-human. The images and the conceits are carefully selected to support the poet's views. The romantic setting in the beginning of the poem sets the mood of physical love—the violet flowers, the holding of hands and the cementing of the balms and the threading of the eye beams. The physical aspect of love must precede the spiritual union. Then comes the image of two armies and the soul acting as negotiator. Then, there are the images of the new soul-emanating out of the two souls stronger and abler because it is made out of 'atoms'. The inter-dependence of the body and the soul is expressed through metaphors. The souls are moving spirits, while the bodies are the 'sphere in which the 'intelligences' move. Just as the stars and planets give rise to natural phenomena which affect the fortunes of human beings, in the same way the soul must find expression through the body. Just as the spirits of blood unite the physical and metaphysical in love, so souls express themselves through the five senses in the body. The image of the body as lovers, is very vivid and convincing.
The poet shifts quickly from the physical to the spiritual and therefore this poem has an edge over other metaphysical poems. The very fact that critics disagree about the objective of the poem-seduction or spiritual transport- shows the complexity and the diversity of possible interpretations. On the whole, the critics praise the poet for his excellent performance. Coleridge said: “I would never find fault with metaphysical poems, were they all like this (Extasie) or just half as excellent.” James Smith commended the poem in the following words : “Donne does not write about many things; he is content with the identity of lovers as lovers, and their diversity as the human beings in which love manifests itself, the stability and self sufficiency of love, contrasted with the mutability and dependence of human beings ; with the presence of lovers to each other, their physical unity, though they are separated by travel and death, the spirit demanding the succour of the flesh hampering the spirit, the shortcoming of this life, summarised by decay and death, contrasted with the divine to which it aspires."
For reconciling the dichotomy between the flesh and the sensuous and the sublime, particularly in this poem, Donne deserves credit.
For reconciling the dichotomy between the flesh and the sensuous and the sublime, particularly in this poem, Donne deserves credit.
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