The poem analyzes the concept of love through four stanzas. The speaker wants to discuss love with someone from a time before Cupid, as he cannot understand pursuing someone who does not love you back. Each stanza presents a different perspective on love: mutual love represented by Cupid, a distorted modern view of love, and admitting that loving someone unattainable can still be true love. Imagery of mythology is used to discuss the changing definition of love.

1. Poem analysis
by: Rachel
“LOVE’S DEITY” Fulton
By: John Donne

2. STANZA 1
“I long to talk with some old lover’s ghost
Who died before the god of love was born.
I cannot think that he who then loved most
Sunk so low as to love one which did scorn.
But since this god produced a destiny, 5
And that vice-nature, custom, lets it be,
I must love her that loves not me.”
Summary: The speaker wants to talk to someone who has loved
before the god of love Cupid was born. He cannot understand
why the lover would love someone that did not love him back.
The speaker is upset that it is now the norm to love someone
who does not feel the same way.

3. STANZA 2
“Sure, they which made him god meant not so much,
Nor he in his young godhead practiced it.
But when an even flame two hearts did touch, 10
His of fice was indulgently to fit
Actives to passives. Correspondency
Only his subject was. It cannot be
Love till I love her that loves me.”
Summary: Cupid formerly represented mutual love. The people
nor Cupid meant to turn love into what it has become - the
pursuit of the unattainable. The speaker professes that he
disagrees with this kind of love and that mutual love is the only
love.

4. STANZA 3
“But every modern god will now extend 15
His vast prerogative as far as Jove.
To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend,
All is the purlieu of the god of love.
Oh, were we wakened by this tyranny
To ungod this child again, it could not be 20
I should love her, who loves not me .
Summar y: The speaker emphasizes that all the modern gods of
today are trying to influence as many people as Jove, the king of
the Roman gods, had power over. These modern gods could be
love’s disguises such as lust or use. The speaker does not want
this convoluted view of love to come back and again advocates the
impossibility of love that is not mutual.

5. STANZA 4
“Rebel and atheist too, why murmur I,
As though I felt the worst that Love could do?
Love might make me leave loving, or might try
A deeper plague, to make her love me too, 25
Which, since she loves before, I am loath to see.
Falsehood is worse than hate, and that must be,
If she whom I love should love me.”
Summar y: The speaker claims that Love could do two even worse
things to him: Let the love die between he and his lover because
the love is not mutual or make the lover love him back even though
the feelings are not sincere. The speaker believes that this would
be worse than to have him hate his lover. He ultimately decides
that true love is the ideal yet acknowledges that loving someone
who does not love back happened whether he wanted it or not.

6. ANNOTATION
 Mythology imagery:
 “god of love” (l.2,18)
 “god” (l.5,8)
 “godhead” (l.9)
 “modern god” (l.15)
 “Jove” (l.16)
 “ungod” (l.20)
 Uses this imagery to emphasize his powerlessness
 The “gods” are controlling and facilitating this distorted view of love
that the ideal is to pursue someone that is unattainable
 Figuratively- the “gods” could symbolize false perceptions of love like lust
or use
 Mentions Jove who was the king of the Roman gods to demonstrate
the far-reaching power that the new view of love has gained

7. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Angry/melancholy diction:
 “died” (l.2)
 “sunk so low” (l.4)
 “scorn” (l.4)
 “vice-nature” (l.6)
 “to rage, to lust” (l.17)
 “tyranny” (l.19)
 “rebel and atheist” (l.22)
 “deeper plague” (l.25)
 “hate” (l.27)
 Purpose is to underscore the speaker’s unhappiness that love is no longer
viewed as mutual love but that the ideal is chasing the unattainable
 Interesting that there is no blatant melancholy diction in Stanza 2 when
he talks about mutual love thus reiterating his advocacy for mutual love

8. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Inverted sentence structure:
 “Correspondency/ Only his subject was” (ll.12-13)
 “why murmur I/ As though I felt the worst that Love could do?” (ll.22 -
23)
 Backwardness of the lines could mirror the backward view of love
that love’s goal is not to be mutual, but rather its goal is to drive one
lover to chase the unattainable

9. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Repetition:
 Repeats final line of each stanza in a slightly altered way
 Precedes each final line with an assertion with a being verb
 “lets it be” (l.6)
 “It cannot be” (l.13)
 “It could not be” (l.20)
 “that must be” (l.27)
 He asserts a slightly different idea each time he repeats these lines
 These differences reflect his progression in admitting that loving
someone who does not love back is possible and can be true

10. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Repetition (cont.)
 Last lines of Stanza 1:
 “And that vice-nature, custom, lets it be,/ I must love her that loves not me” (ll.6 -7)
 Stresses that this new way of viewing love makes him love someone that does not
love him back
 Last lines of Stanza 2:
 “It cannot be./ Love till I love her that loves not me” (ll.13 -14)
 Suggests that it is impossible to have any other love but mutual love
 Last lines of Stanza 3:
 “To ungod this child again, it could not be,/ I should love her who loves not me”
(ll.20-21)
 Expresses his disappointment in his growing realization that mutual love is a far -
gone concept
 Last lines of Stanza 4:
 “Falsehood is worse than hate, and that must be/ If she whom I love should love me”
(ll.27-28)
 Cedes to the fact that love of the unattainable is a form of true love as well and that
he has engaged in it

11. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Contrasts:
 “Correspondency” (l.12)  vs. “Tyranny” (l.19)
 Harmony  vs. Oppression
 Donne uses  Donne uses “tyranny” to
“correspondency” to describe loving the
describe mutual love unattainable
 Demonstrates his belief  Demonstrates his
that mutual love is good disliking for this new kind
by depicting it in a of love by depicting it in a
positive, harmonious light negative, oppressive light
 Emphasizes that by  Emphasizes that by
having mutual love, one having love that is not
can attain peace and mutual, one will
happiness experience cruelty

12. ANNOTATION (CONT.)
 Theme: Ambivalence
 Donne asserts one idea, then either doubts it or contradicts it
 “I cannot think that he who then loved most/ Sunk so low as to one
which did scorn” (ll.3-4)
 “Falsehood is worse than hate, and that must be/ If she whom I love
should love me” (ll.27-28)
 In first stanza, he condemns loving someone that does not love back
 In the last stanza, he admits that he has done so and he would rather it be
that way then to have her falsely love him
 His contradictions suggest that he may truly believe in mutual love, but has
found that the alternate view of love has crossed his path
 Therefore, he does not want to admit it but he falls into the same trap as
the “old lover’s ghost” who died loving someone that did not love him back
(l.1)

13. Great or
EVALUATING THE POEM not so
great?

14. EVALUATION
 Three questions to consider:
 1. What was its central purpose?
 2. How fully has this purpose been accomplished?
 3. How important is this purpose?
 1. Central purpose of “Love’s Deity” – to differentiate between mutual
love and loving the unattainable
 To persuade readers that mutual love is better because it represents
harmony and that love that is not mutual is cruel and oppressive
 2. Fully accomplished? Yes. He uses effective organization. Each
stanza represents a slightly different thought.
 Indenting the last lines of each stanza draws the readers attention to his
progression in accepting love of the unattainable
 His diction is carefully selected to persuade us to love mutually or to
dissuade us from loving someone that does not love back

15. EVALUATION (CONT.)
 3. Important? Very.
 Love is universal to humankind
 Love is what makes people happy and what causes people to be sad
 The joys and sorrows of love unite humans
 His experience with love is not only important to him, but can serve
readers in two ways:
 1. If readers have experienced a similar feeling of loving someone that
does not love back, this poem allows them to relate to Donne and realize
they are not alone.
 2. It provides readers with a wake-up call to rethink what they consider
love to be and decide whether or not they want to find someone who loves
mutually, or chase the unattainable.

16. EVALUATION (CONT.)
 Is it excellent?
 Yes:
 Though Donne’s poem is sad in that he loves someone that does not love
him back, the poem is by no means tear -jerking. Therefore: it is not
SENTIMENTAL.
 He does not use grandiose language that takes away from the beauty of
the poem itself. He uses straightforward language and gets to his point.
Therefore: it is not RHETORICAL.
 Though he holds the belief that love should be mutual, he does not force
this idea on readers. He explains why he thinks so, but does not make his
poem a lesson for readers. Instead, it is more a reflection of his internal
mindset. Therefore: it is not DIDACTIC.

17. EVALUATION (CONT.)
 “If I read a book and it  Donne’s poem moves
makes my whole body readers to empathy. After
so cold no fire can reading the last line, I felt
warm me, I know that as if my heart had been left
is poetry. If I feel loving.
physically as if the top  In reading the second
of my head were taken stanza, I found myself
off, I know that is smiling as I pictured two
poetry. These are the lovers huddled around a
only ways I know it. Is small, but warm candle
there any other way?” flame.
– Emily Dickinson

18. EVALUATION (CONT.)
 “If I read a book and it  I felt myself connecting
makes my whole body on an emotional level
so cold no fire can because of his choice to
speak in the first person.
warm me, I know that In reading aloud, I felt as
is poetry. If I feel if I was the only
physically as if the top experiencing this love
of my head were taken dilemma.
off, I know that is  His choice of words like
poetry. These are the “tyranny” caused me to
feel betrayed and
only ways I know it. Is oppressed. Thus, his
there any other way?” diction made me feel as
– Emily Dickinson if I were a part of the
poem.

19. EVALUATION (CONT.)
 In her quote, it is obvious that Dickinson believed that poetry
should leave a permanent and dramatic impact.
 Donne’s poem leaves a permanent impact in that
experiencing love is permanent in society
 Generations before us and generations after us have experienced and
will experience these two forms of love . Therefore, his message is
one of permanence in that mutual love is what one should strive for,
yet sometimes one cannot help loving someone who does not love
him or her back.
 His poem leaves a dramatic impact in that readers can
empathize with him
 It also may stir something inside of us to turn inward and think about
the distorted views our society today views love just as he did.

20. Conclusion
 Overall, I vow that this poem is great. It
has achieved its purpose, has caused
readers to re-evaluate their views of love, THANK
and has left them feeling as if they were YOU!
the lover in the poem.
 His conversation with himself relates to
conversations we may have with ourselves
when stuck in a problematic situation.
 His poem is not four stanzas arguing why
mutual love is the only love. Instead, each
stanza represents his fluctuating attitude
towards the views of love. This
ambivalence and soul-searching relates to
us readers because as we mature and
grow, our ideas change.