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Ciara Kennedy ENGL 356 11 Nov 2011 Of Cinder and Sun: Nature as a Force on Love One of the most recognizable metaphysical poets, John Donne became known for separating the spirit from the body and explaining that love is a bonding of two spirits. Donne professed, through poetry, that the bonds of love remain unbroken, even if nature interferes, or even if one part of the pair should die. One of Donnes most famous love poems, The Sun Rising is about lovers who are interrupted by the sun shining through their window. Another poet, John Wilmot, who was active during the Restoration in seventeenth century England, can also be characterized by his use of the metaphysical. Wilmot, though, came from another school of thought, known as the libertines who professed that free thought should reign above all else. This libertine view led to the surrender to earthly desires and passions. In Wilmots most controversial poem, Imperfect Enjoyment, Wilmot graphically portrays sexual intercourse interrupted by premature ejaculation and impotency. While Donnes the Sun Rising and Wilmots the Imperfect Enjoyment share the theme of the duality of nature and love, Wilmot describes the hindrance nature has on love, and Donne explicates the harmonizing relationship of love and nature. In order to aptly compare John Wilmots the Imperfect Enjoyment with any poems found in Donnes collection, it is important to understand and respect Wilmots point of view coupled with his libertine values. Despite this deserved reputation as a rake, Wilmot should be given more objectivity towards his poetry. In Melissa E. Sanchezs article, Libertinism and Romance in Rochesters Poetry, Sanchez explains a deeper level to this seemingly superficial viewpoint. Sanchez writes:

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Beyond mere shock effect or satiric moralization, the expletives that permeate Rochesters writing depict libertine materialisms doomed endeavor to divest things of the romantic pretensions that inevitably disappoint. Thunderbolts become pricks, nymphs whores, souls sperm, but these rhetorical transformations do not so much unmask a sordid reality as insist on its co-existence with the more spiritualized objects. (442) Instead of being repulsed through reactionary impulses, one must study Wilmots word-usage for deeper meaning. As Reba Wilcoxon writes in, Pornography, Obscenity, and Rochesters Imperfect Enjoyment, the poem fulfills three aesthetic demands that pornography does not: it effects physic distance through complex linguistic devices; it is intellectually and emotionally enriched by a classical and a seventeenth-century literary tradition; and it explores an emotional relationship between human beings and sets up a norm for that relationship (379). If this assertion by Wilcoxon is correct, there is indeed a deeper level to Wilmots poetry than many of his seventeenth century critics might claim. This idea of a deeper meaning in poetry is perhaps much more profound in John Donnes poetry. As Claudia Brodsky writes in her article, Donne: The Imaging of the Logical Conceit, Such images (expressed logical implications) would refer both to the poets experience of explicit circumstances and to the transformation of experience in poetic discourse, by acting as an analogical or metaphoric link between the two (830). This concept of transformation is specifically relevant because it directly relates to Donnes wit in the Sun Rising. As George Williamson writes in The Nature of the Donne Tradition, Now Donne achieved surprise chiefly through wit, appealing both to intellect and to imagination, and his principal means of getting this surprise was the conceit. The close relation of these three things

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in Donne, wit, surprise, conceit, accounts for the nature of his immediate influence and reputation in the seventeenth century (421). This link can also be found in Wilmots poetry. Wilmot, too, uses physical representations as metaphorical devices in his poetry. In Donnes poetry, just as Wilmots, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. One has to simply read deeper than the brutal obscenities to see that Wilmots intent is not simply to convey a sexual pleasure if this were the case, Wilmot would not have written about impotency or premature ejaculation in the first place. As Reba Wilcoxon writes, The entire description of the love scene, which is direct and comparatively unelaborated, is the stuff of pornography; yet the general meaning and the speakers emotional reaction are antithetical to pornography, where every sexual fantasy ends in success and no one ever admits, as the poet does here (381). The lines that highlight that Rochester is not simply narrating a sexual experience are: Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame,/ False to my passion, fatal to my fame,/ Through what mistaken magic must thou prove/ So true to lewdness, so untrue to love? (46-49). Here Wilmot draws a line between his previous sexual encounters and his current one. He refers to them as lewd and goes on to write, Breaks every stew, does each small whore invade,/ But when great Love the onset does command, Base recreant to thy prince, thou darst not stand (59-61). It is clear that Wilmot looks on with reverence toward his current mistress, capitalizing Love and referring to it as great. Wilmots infamous sexuality pervades his poetry; however, a shift comes when Wilmot stops writing about random meaningless sexual encounters and speaks of love. This characterization is heightened when he refers to the other encounters as oyster-cinder-begger-common-whore[s] (50). It is clear that this sexual encounter is unmatched by others, and not simply because the speaker cannot achieve an erection.

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This esteem for love and affront to other, inferior comparisons of love is also illustrated in Donnes poem. Donne writes, Go chide/ Late school-boys and sour prentices,/ Go tell courthuntsmen that the king will ride,/ Call country ants to harvest offices (5-8). Here, Donne, like Wilmot, refers to the outside world as mundane and unimportant compared to his lover. The difference between Donne and Wilmot, however, is that this speaker does not resort to obscenities, and more importantly, he is not belittling others in order to express how great his love is for his mistress. The speaker goes on to say, Shes all states and all princes I;/ Nothing else is;/ Princes do but play us; compared to this,/ All honours mimic, all wealth alchemy (2124). Donne is not comparing his love to common whores; he is comparing it to states and princes in order to say that love is more glorious than what the world considers royalty. Donne draws this comparison to show that nothing under the sun is as important as his love for his partner. Both Wilmot and Donne are attempting to express their love through comparison. The cause for comparison comes when a force of nature interrupts their moments of love. This interference from nature creates a schism between the spiritual longing of love and the physical yearning of physical satisfaction. In Wilmots case, this force of nature is impotency, in Donnes, the sun. Donne directly addresses the sun, writing, Busy old fool, unruly Sun and Saucy pedantic wretch (1, 5). At first, the speaker seems outraged and powerless against the sun, citing reasons why the sun should leave him and his lover alone. However, the speaker does move on to address the sun in a much more reverential tone. Donne writes, Thy beams so reverend and so strong (11). It is clear that Donne has respect for the sun whos duty is to warm the world (29). However, in this moment, the speaker does not appreciate this force of nature, which to so

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many others, is of great value. The sun, according to this poem, is a measurement of time which is of use to individuals who rely on the time to know the seasons and harvest times. In the Imperfect Enjoyment, Wilmot also introduces a form of measurement that impedes his union of lovers. Without the assistance of his sexual organ, Wilmots speaker becomes a most forlorn, lost man alive (25). It is clear that this speaker is largely dependent on sexual responses to fulfill his concepts of love. Before nature fails him, however, the speaker in Wilmots poem is similar in tone to that of Donnes. Wilmots speaker too looks towards nature with reverence. He writes, Swift orders that I should prepare to throw/The all-dissolving thunderbolt below (10). In this case, thunderbolt refers to the speakers penis. Wilcoxon writes about this metaphor, the grandiose all-dissolving thunderbolt, the mighty weapon of Jove transformed into the phallus Rochester begins his address to the male organ on a note of veneration, much as the epic hero would address his trusted spear (380). This moment of reverence leads to the future moment of despair when nature fails the speaker. Rochester writes, Even her fair hand, which might bid heat return/To frozen age, and make cold hermits burn,/Applied to my dead cinder, warms no more (31-33). In this case, the mighty phallus has lost its potency, literally. Rochester goes on to chastise his penis, When vice, disease, and scandal lead the way,/ With what officious haste dost thou obey!/ Like a rude, roaring hector in the streets/ Who scuffles, cuffs, and justles all he meets,/ But if his King or country claim his aid,/ The rakehell villain shrinks and hides his head (52-57). This excerpt from Wilmots poem can be compared to Donnes Saucy pedantic wench description of the sun (5). In both cases, these once glorious forces of nature are personified in a negative way. In personifying these elements of nature, Wilmot and Donne are able to address their oppositions and direct their feelings of resentment

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towards nature. Both poets explain that these forces of nature have the ability to achieve greatness. Donne writes that the sun is responsible for warming the world, and Wilmot explains the penis This dart of love That it through every cunt reached every heart (37, 40). These tools, while useful in other cases, become obstacles to the very love they should be nourishing. Both Wilmot and Donne use an element of nature to express an obstacle that must be overcome in order to achieve harmony with love. The speaker in the Sun Rising is able to reach new limits through the realization that love does not obey the sun because love does not rely on time, nor can it be defeated by time. As Philip Kolin writes in his article, Loves Wealth in the Sunne Rising, Donne fashions a novel response to such charges by showing how his wealth is increased through the joys of love. The way in which Donne describes his central antagonist the sun reveals the marvelous and rich transformations of love (112). Donnes poem is divided into three stanzas, a number commonly employed by Donne. The first stanza is the speakers address to the sun, the following is the interaction between the sun and the lovers, and the third and final stanza is the revelation that the speakers love prevails against time. Donne writes, Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;/This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere (26, 29). Here, not only has the speaker overcome this tremendous force of nature, he has become more important than it as well. Kolin writes, [Donnes poem] take the reader through the stages of loves conquest showing how Donne brings infinite riches into his little room (112). This transformation from a helpless man futilely cursing the sun from his bed, to a man demanding the sun to answer to him shows that this mans holiness is not bounded in nature, but in his ability to love which is more sacred than any earthly pleasure.

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In order for Donne to place love above the use of the sun, he must first put his speaker above the sun and consequently earthly pleasures. Because the speaker is able to do this, he succeeds in the readers eyes. As Barbara Correll writes in her article, Symbolic Economies and Zero-Sum Erotics: Donnes Sappho to Philaenis, If one thing seems to characterize Donnes poetic speaker it is that he is a man who knows what to do with a woman The speakers chiastic, She is all states; all Princes I, forecloses erotic reciprocity and circumscribes the woman as legislated domain within a political and masculinist geography (487). This interpretation is reliant on the notion that the speaker in Donnes poetry is honest, and his woman is truly satisfied due to his unmatched love for her. It is clear that Wilmots speaker also has love for his sexual partner. The speaker explains that he holds love for this woman above any sexual experience he has had or ever will have. He desperately wishes to satisfy her, for no other reason than because he loves her. If he cannot satisfy her, he wishes someone else could. Wilmot writes, And may ten thousand abler pricks agree/To do the wronged Corinna right for thee (71-2). The speakers love is not any less present in the Imperfect Enjoyment it is simply that this love cannot overcome nature as in the Sun Rising. Wilmots love can be seen as weaker because it is so reliant on sexual satisfaction. As Sanchez writes, the speaker rages not because he has failed sexually, but because his collapse demonstrates that spiritual longings are saturated with physical reactions that defy the romantics fables we invent to contain them (448). Wilmot does acknowledge the separation of physical and spiritual, but he does not have the means to satisfy both. His frustration is an example of the emotional complication not unmixed with an ego-drive for power and with male pride (Wilcoxon 388). This sense of pride is not different from the speaker in Donnes poem.

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Both John Donne and John Wilmot shared a reputation of shock and wit, and both used physical representations to portray abstract concepts in their poetry. The Sun Rising and the Imperfect Enjoyment are examples of love threatened by nature. Only one protagonist is able to emerge with his love fully satisfied, and that is the speaker in Donnes poem. The reason his love is satisfied is because it is not fully reliant on sexually satisfaction. Donnes speaker is able to long for a spiritual love, whereas Wilmot completely relies on sex to prove his love. Word Count: 2,342

Works Cited

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Brodsky, Claudia. "Donne: The Imaging of the Logical Conceit." ELH 49 (1982): 829-48. Print. Correll, Barbara. "Symbolic Economics and Zero-Sum Erotics: Donne's "Sapho to Philaenis"" ELH 62 (1995): 487-507. Print. Duncan, Edgar H. "Donne's Alchemical Figures." ELH 9 (1942): 257-85. JSTOR. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Kolin, Philip C. "Love's Wealth in "The Sunne Rising"" The South Central Bulletin 43 (1983): 112-14. Print. Lipking, Lawrence I., and James Noggle. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print. Sanchez, Melissa E. "Libertinism and Romance in Rochester's Poetry." Eighteenth-Century Studies 38.3 (2005): 441-59. Print. Wilcoxon, Reba. "Pornography, Obscenity, and Rochester's "The Imperfect Enjoyment"" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 15 (1975): 375-90. Print. Williamson, George. "The Nature of the Donne Tradition." Studies in Philology 25 (1928): 41638. Print.