Separation Anxiety and Desire for Union in John Donne’s “Lovers’ Infiniteness”, “The Apparition”, and “The Dream”

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 3, 1296 - 1304, 18.07.2025

Seher Aktarer

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1603305

Öz

This article aims to thematically and stylistically examine the tension experienced between the desire for union and separation anxiety in John Donne’s “Lovers’ Infiniteness,” “The Apparition,” and “The Dream” from his poem collection Songs and Sonnets (1635). It proposes that in these three poems, Donne’s speakers do not resolve this tension between desire and separation; rather, they dramatize it to reveal the emotional contradictions that are inherent in love. Thus, they seem to navigate the instability of love, instead of clarifying it. The three poems in this article are specifically selected in parallel with Donne’s complex and occasional contradictive dynamics of love in his two collections Holy Sonnets (1633) and Songs and Sonnets. Donne’s speakers employ puns, paradoxes, and metaphors that are characteristic of Metaphysical Poetry to dramatize the contradictions at the core of love by putting a special emphasis on the physical dimension of it. Through these elements, Donne’s speakers illustrate peculiar portrayals of lovers. In “Lovers’ Infinitiness”, the lover/speaker is in pursuit of total possession of the lady’s physical or spiritual being. In the dark tone of the poem “The Apparition”, feelings of revenge and longing are conflated. In “The Dream”, the lover/speaker’s tone oscillates between reality and dream, seeking physical unity with the lady in both. The analysis in this article underscores the use of Metaphysical techniques by Donne to dramatize a fundamental contradiction in love.

Anahtar Kelimeler

John Donne , Songs and Sonnets , “Lovers’ Infiniteness” , “The Apparition” , “The Dream”

Separation Anxiety and Desire for Union in John Donne’s “Lovers’ Infiniteness”, “The Apparition”, and “The Dream”

Öz

Bu makale, John Donne’ın Şarkılar ve Soneler (1635) adlı şiir derlemesinde yer alan “Aşıkların Sonsuzluğu”, “Tezahür” ve “Rüya” adlı şiirlerinde birleşme arzusu ile ayrılık kaygısı arasında yaşanan gerilimi tematik ve biçimsel olarak incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Makale, bu üç şiirde Donne’ın konuşmacılarının arzu ve ayrılık arasındaki bu gerilimi çözmek yerine, aşkın doğasında var olan duygusal çelişkileri ortaya çıkarmak için dramatize ettiklerini öne sürer. Böylece, aşkı açıklığa kavuşturmak yerine, aşkın istikrarsızlığında geziniyor gibi görünürler. Bu makaledeki üç şiir, Donne’ın Kutsal Soneler (1633) ve Şarkılar ve Soneler adlı iki derlemesindeki karmaşık ve zaman zaman çelişkili aşk dinamiklerine paralel olarak özellikle seçilmiştir. Donne’ın konuşmacıları, aşkın fiziksel boyutuna özel bir vurgu yaparak aşkın özündeki çelişkileri dramatize etmek için Metafizik Şiir’in karakteristik özellikleri olan kelime oyunları, paradokslar ve metaforlar kullanır. Donne’ın konuşmacıları bu unsurlar aracılığıyla aşıkların kendine özgü tasvirlerini ortaya koyar. “Aşıkların Sonsuzluğu” nda aşık/konuşmacı, kadının fiziksel ya da ruhsal varlığına tamamen sahip olmanın peşindedir. “Tezahür” şiirinin karanlık tonunda intikam ve özlem duyguları iç içe geçmiştir. “Rüya” şiirinde ise aşığın/konuşmacının tonu gerçeklik ve rüya arasında gidip gelmekte, her ikisinde de kadınla fiziksel bir birliktelik aramaktadır. Bu makaledeki analiz, Donne’ın aşkta temel bir çelişkiyi dramatize etmek için Metafizik teknikleri kullandığının altını çizmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

John Donne , Şarkılar ve Soneler , “Aşıkların Sonsuzluğu” , “Tezahür” , “Rüya”

Kaynakça

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