John Donne's alchemical vision.

Abstract

From the earliest of times, many have pursued the goals of alchemy, a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy in which advocates attempted to discover an elixir of lite and a method for converting base metals into gold. To the true alchemist, the "Great Work" was more than a science or a philosophy--it was a religion. The seventeenth-century poet, John Donne, though not a practicing alchemist, was himself interested in alchemy's religious connotations. In his poetry, he indicates his concern with man's spiritual transcendence which parallels the extraction of pure spiritual essences from any form of base matter. In addition, the presumed sequence in which he writes his poems (precise dates of composition are, as yet, not established) reveals his growing fascination with the spiritual message suggested by alchemy. In "Loves Alchymie," likely written before Donne's marriage to Ann More, Donne is pessimistically questioning man's ability to transcend his base physical nature and, therefore, doubts the validity of spiritual alchemy. Then, during his love affair with and marriage to Ann More, he feels his new experiences with love and recently acquired understanding of love prove man is capable of obtaining spiritual purity. At this time, he writes "The Extasie," "The Good-Morrow," and "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," employing basic alchemical imagery to support his notion that a union of body, soul, and spirit between man and woman is possible. Finally, as seen in "A Nocturnall Upon S. Lucies Day," his belief in his alchemical vision becomes most crucial when the alchemical bond between him and his wife is severed, and he is left to deteriorate in the physical world alone. Rather than remaining in utter and unqualified despair, Donne recalls the alchemical premise of regeneration, rebirth, resurrection, spiritual reunion. Because he sincerely trusts that something more remarkable will be created in heaven than existed when he and Ann were lovers on earth, he is able to find the courage to endure a miserable existence that allows him no sensual contact with her. Thus, he miraculously views their separation not as a destruction of love, but rather as a regeneration of love in God's image. Alchemy is, for Donne, a religious vision that provides him with an understanding of life and the promise of a sacred reunion with his beloved Ann in the glory and splendor of heaven.