The Ecstasy by John Donne (Text & Paraphrase)

The Ecstasy

by John Donne

(Text & Paraphrase)

 

Text

Where, like a pillow on a bed

A pregnant bank swell'd up to rest

The violet's reclining head,

Sat we two, one another's best.

 

Our hands were firmly cemented

With a fast balm, which thence did spring;

Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread

Our eyes upon one double string;

 

So to'intergraft our hands, as yet

Was all the means to make us one,

And pictures in our eyes to get

Was all our propagation.

 

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,

He (though he knew not which soul spake,

Because both meant, both spake the same)

Might thence a new concoction take

And part far purer than he came.

 

This ecstasy doth unperplex,

We said, and tell us what we love;

We see by this it was not sex,

We see we saw not what did move;

 

But as all several souls contain

Mixture of things, they know not what,

Love these mix'd souls doth mix again

And makes both one, each this and that.

 

A single violet transplant,

The strength, the colour, and the size,

(All which before was poor and scant)

Redoubles still, and multiplies.

 

When love with one another so

Interinanimates two souls,

That abler soul, which thence doth flow,

Defects of loneliness controls.

 

We then, who are this new soul, know

Of what we are compos'd and made,

For th' atomies of which we grow

Are souls, whom no change can invade.

 

But oh alas, so long, so far,

Our bodies why do we forbear?

They'are ours, though they'are not we; we are

The 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.

 

On man heaven's influence works not so,

But that it first imprints the air;

So soul into the soul may flow,

Though it to body first repair.

 

As our blood labors to beget

Spirits, as like souls as it can,

Because such fingers need to knit

That subtle knot which makes us man,

 

So must pure lovers' souls descend

T' affections, and to faculties,

Which sense may reach and apprehend,

Else a great prince in prison lies.

 

To'our bodies turn we then, that so

Weak men on love reveal'd may look;

Love's mysteries in souls do grow,

But yet the body is his book.

 

And if some lover, such as we,

Have heard this dialogue of one,

Let him still mark us, he shall see

Small change, when we'are to bodies gone.

 

Paraphrase

Where, like a pillow …. one another's best.

Donne says, that we, two lovers, each thinking of the other as the best person in the world, sat on the riverbank which was raised high like a pillow to enable the reclining heads of violet flowers to rest on it.

 

Our hands were …. one double string;

He says, our hands were firmly grasped and from them a strong perfume emanated. Our eyes met and reflected the image of each other. It appeared as if our eyes were strung together on a double thread.

 

So to'intergraft our hands, …. our propagation.

Our hands were firmly clasped together and this was the means of bringing us close to each other. Our eyes reflected our images and this was the only fusion of our love.

 

As 'twixt two equal armies …. hung 'twixt her and me.

Just as when two equally powerful enemies fight each other while fate holds the victory in a state of balance, undecided which way to turn the scale, in the same way, our souls, which had left our bodies to sublimate to a state of bliss, hung between the two of us uncertain of their future.

 

And whilst our souls …. all the day.

He says, while our souls, communicated with each other in this situation, we lay quiet and motionless like statues built over the monument of the dead. All the day our bodies continued to remain in the same position without movement or speech.

 

If any, so by love refin'd …. purer than he came.

The poet says, if any stranger, whose soul had been purified by a similar process had stood beside our souls, and had been capable of understanding the language of the souls and his purified mind would have forgotten the existence of the body and enlightened and sharpened the faculties of his mind, such a soul may not have understood the conversation of our souls because both our souls meant and spoke the same thing, but that soul might have undergone a fresh process of purification and felt more refined than before.

 

This ecstasy doth …. what did move;

Our souls have reached a state of ecstasy, which revealed to us what we did not know earlier. We realized that love was not sex experience. We discovered the first time that love really is a matter of the soul and not of the body.

 

But as all several souls …. each this and that.

He says, souls are made of various elements of which we have no knowledge. It is love which brings together two souls and makes them one, though, in reality, the two have senate existence.

 

A single violet transplant, …. and multiplies.

When a violet plant is transplanted, it shows a marked improvement in its colour, size and strength. After transplantation it almost doubles itself and also grows more rapidly.

 

When love with …. loneliness controls.

In a similar manner when love brings two souls together it imparts to them a great zeal and life. The stronger (or noble soul) supplements (or removes) the deficiencies of the lesser soul. Love also removes the feeling of loneliness felt by single souls.

 

We then, who are …. no change can invade.

As a result of the union of two souls, so to say, a new soul comes into being. This new soul knows of what elements the two souls are composed. It makes us realize that the substances of which we are made are not subject to any change.

 

But oh alas, …. they the spheres.

The poet says, alas, we have so far and so long ignored our bodies. The bodies are ours, but we are distinct from the bodies. We are souls; we are of spiritual substance; we are like heavenly planets while our bodies are the spheres in which we move.

 

We owe them thanks, …. but allay.

He says, we are thankful to our bodies, because they brought us together in the first instance. Our bodies surrendered their sense in order to enable our love to be spiritual. Our bodies are not impure matter, but they are like an alloy. The body is useful agent for holy love.

 

On man heaven's influence …. body first repair.

Donne says, the influence of heavenly bodies on man comes through the air. So, when a soul wishes to love another soul, it can contact it through the medium of the body. Hence a union of souls may need the contact of bodies as the first step.

 

As our blood labors …. which makes us man,

He says, Just as the blood, which is an important constituent of our bodies labours to produce the essence, which helps in uniting two bodies, in the same way a spiritual love produces a kind of ecstasy which binds the two souls together. This subtle knot of love may not be fully understood.

Just as blood produces elements which brings about the union of sense and soul which constitute a man, in the same way the lover’s soul leaves some linking elements like the sense and the bodily faculties to express their love.

 

So must pure lovers' …. prince in prison lies.

The sense and faculty of the body come to the aid of the soul, which is like a prisoner. Just as a prince who is imprisoned cannot gain freedom unless somebody comes to his aid, in the same way the senses of the body go to the aid of the lover’s soul and secure freedom for it.

 

To'our bodies turn we then, …. body is his book.

We must now turn to our bodies so that weak men may have a test of high love. Love sublimates the soul but it is through the medium of the body that love is first experienced. The body is as important as the soul in the matter of love.

 

And if some lover, …. we'are to bodies gone.

If some lover like us has heard this discourse, let him look carefully at us. After our pure love, when we go back to our bodies he will find no change in us because we shall not revert to physical self again.