The poem “The Relique” is a metaphysical poem written by John Donne. Donne uses the metaphysical writings of colloquialism, unification of sensibility, wits, analogy and metaphysical conceits. These elements makes up the poem as a metaphysical poem. Metaphysical poetry explores the realm of the world which science is unable to explore and it is the metaphysical poets who delve deeper into such realm and gives insights into its existence.
The poem itself opens with a colloquial language. It is a language which is conversational in its tone or in a form of a monologue where a speaker is trying to say something address in a formal language. The speaker states “When my grave is broke up againe…” is a colloquial statement addressing to the readers about his grave which has been broken again by the diggers to plant a new body on its grave.
Metaphysical poets uses puns in their poems. Donne has used a pun where the “graves” in the poem is not ordinarily a cemetery or resting place of a dead person but he means to address it as a “bed” for sexual intimacy. The speaker highlights that since the grave is being opened again and again to another “ghest” , the grave has become “more than one a Bed” which means a metaphysical realm for the existence of spiritual union or platonic love for the couples.
Donne also uses many metaphysical conceits in the poem. The analogies in the poem are dissimilar but is stretched to give a meaning out of it. A digger in the cemetery finds inside the grave of the speaker the “bracelet of bright haire about the bone”. The “haire” and the “bone” are two analogies which is far fetched stretched to give a meaning of a couple lying in bed inside a grave where the digger will “thinke that there a loving couple lies”. The metaphysical idea of platonic love is explored insight where the digger thinks that these two entities are some kind of a “device” for the couples “soules” to reunite at the “grave” of their bed and make them enjoy the final moment before they are separated by the “last busie day” which is an implications towards the revelation in the Bible.
The another analogy that Donne used as a conceit is the allusion to “Mary Magdalen, and I”. Here, the speaker is suggesting that the digger will bring the relic of “haire” and “bone” to the Bishop and the King where they will consider it as a miracle. The conceit is exaggerated to give the idea of sainthood. The paradox is at play in the poem where the religious superstitious of the time in Donne seems questionable since they believe in false doctrine and devotion which is parallel to the belief of Mary Magdalen who was a true devotee to Jesus Christ. It is a paradox since Mary Magdalen became a sole representative of Jesus’s devotee and the present religious beliefs and doctrine is false and devoid of Jesus’s devotee.
However, the extreme use of wits and intellect is at the play in the poem. The speaker is talking about the “miracles” the two couples actually did. It is ironical or a pun that he brings in the poem. It is already mentioned that the couples were ordinary making love and making the most of their time in the grave but the speaker wonders if their bones and hair was found in the speaker’s time , they would be considered as a relic. The speaker suggests that if they were considered what “miracles” they have sought, he said that they would “lov’d well and faithfully” and not discriminate or give bias opinion of the “sex” which is evident with the “Guardian Angells”. It is irony because he is making a mockery at the superstitious beliefs of the Church stating that the relic that they consider is nothing precious but a couple making the most of their time. The speaker further stretches that in the midst of their departure, they would be chastise enough but not between “those meales”. Here , the “meales” is a pun for sexual consummation. The speaker is extremely witty and is highlighting that their “hands” never break any of their chastity or “seales” but also states that they consummate not while they depart away from one another. The “miracles” or the relic that the speaker suggests of their existence falsely construed in the church was the miracle of being chastened again which is “injured by late law, sets free” the sexual consummation of the “miracles wee did”. It is extremely witty because the speaker highlights that they has sexual intimacy but the law or the beliefs of the church has chastened them again which became a miracle they were able to perform.
Donne’s The Flea as a Metaphysical Poem – https://getsetnotes.com/donnes-the-flea-as-a-metaphysical-poem/
