The document is an analysis of John Donne's poem "The Extasie" written by Nirav Amreliya. It provides background on Donne and the poem, analyzing the literary devices used. The poem depicts a state of rapture and true love as ecstasy, exploring Donne's philosophy of platonic love between souls without physical pleasures. While their souls converse, the lovers' bodies lay motionless. The analysis concludes the poem examines achieving self-realization and divine transcendence by merging with God's wholeness.

1. Prepared By : Nirav Amreliya
Batch : 2021-2023 (M.A. Sem. 1)
Enrollment Number : 4069206420210002
Ro. N/o. : 30
Submitted To : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University,
Vidhyanagar, Bhavnagar – 364001
(Dated On : 4th Dec., 2021)
The Extasie
~ John Donne
 Paper N/o., Subject
Code, Name : 101 : 22392:
Literature of the
Elizabethan and
Restoration Periods
Topic : Analysis of the
Poem : ‘The Extasie’ by
John Donne

2. Index :
o A Brief Introduction to Donne & ‘The Extasie’ :
o Technicality & Literary Devices Employed :
o Insight : Search for True Love : Platonic Love :
o Conclusion :
o References :

3. A Brief Introduction to Donne & ‘The Extasie’ :
John Donne (1572 – 1631)
Nigel Boonham (b. 1953) & Andrew Whittle (b. 1952)
Cannon Street, City of London
• Pioneer Metaphysical Poet, Belongs to the Transition Age : Elizabethan and
Jacobean Age
• Subjects of His Poems Were Love, Sexuality, Religion, and Death
• John Dryden Remarks of Donne in His ‘Discourse Concerning Satire’ (1693)
as :
• “He affects the Metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous
verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair
sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their
hearts, and entertain them with the softness of love.”
• “To know and feel all this and not have the words to express it makes a
human grave of his own thoughts.”
(From ‘Eclogue’ by John Donne)

4. The Extasie :
 The poem is written when Donne was at his pinnacle of maturity.
 As the title infers, the poem delineates the state of Rapture, of Affinity
with God, and The Essence of True Love which is Ecstasy.
 The poem reflects Donne’s philosophy of love. He seems to agree with
Plato’s philosophy of love which is the love between souls without
interference of physical pleasures derived through the contact of
senses.
 He, unlike Plato, deems body as the means for a soul to express its
love. It is the body that brings the loving souls together. Body is seen
as a stepping-stone towards ultimate goal for souls which is spiritual
union, spiritual love.

5. Technicality & Literary Devices Employed :
The
Extasie
A Metaphysical
Poem
76 Lines in 19
Stanzas
Written in
Iambic
Tetrameter
Rhyme
Scheme
Followed ABAB
Use of
Rhetoric
Question
Use of
Anaphora
Use of
Personification
Use of Simile
 “Where like a pillow on a bed, a pregnant bank swell’d
up to rest.”
 “Love these mix’d souls doth mix again”
 “Our hands were…Our eye-beam twisted…”
 “Our bodies why do we forbear?”

6. Platonic Love :
“And whilst our souls negotiate there,
We like sepulchral statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were,
And we said nothing, all the day.”

7. Insight : Search for True Love : Platonic Love :
 Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the Term ‘Platonic Love’ as : A close
relationship between two persons in which sexual desire is nonexistent or
has been suppressed or sublimated.”
 The fact that sex is not at the front in their love comforts readers who stand
in favor of Platonic Love. However, the tone of the poem shifts drastically
when Donne employs his intelligent sardonic criticism in the conceding
stanzas :
“But, O alas! So long, so far, our bodies why do we forbear?
They are ours, though not we; we are th’ intelligences, they the spheres.”
“We owe them thanks, because they thus did us, to us, at first convey,
Yielded their senses’ force to us, nor are dross to us, but allay.”

8. Conclusion :
• Ecstasy is the exalted state of one’s body and mind, it happens or supposed to happen while one gets self-
realization or in apocalypse of divine in which one transcends one’s physical limitations and merges with the
everlasting eternal wholeness or God. Such postulation has been taken by Donne in the poem; when he tells
that the lovers do not speak even a word to each other but seat for long like statues whereas their souls
speak to each other. He further compares souls to the armies, strong and willing to win over each other :
“As ‘twixt two equal armies fate suspends uncertain victory,
Our souls (which to advance their state were gone out) hung ‘twixt her and me.
And whilst our souls negotiate there, we like sepulchral statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were, and we said nothing, all the day.”
“If any, so by love refin’d that he soul’s language understood,
And by good love were grown all mind, within convenient distance stood.”

9. References :
 http://theecstasybyjohndonne.weebly.com/rhyme-scheme.html
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320807628_The_Search_for_True_Love_in_John_Donne's_The_Extas
ie
 https://poemanalysis.com/john-donne/the-ecstasy/
 https://literaryocean.com/a-short-summary-and-critical-analysis-of-the-ecstasy-by-john-donne/