Concept Of Microcosm In John Donnes Poetry English Literature Essay

Later in history, especially in the 17th century , and before the emergent of modern mathematical science , the microcosm-macrocosm concepts were to be considered the main philosophical attempt of understanding the universe or “the large world”. It was commonly believed that the human as a microcosm was a typical representative of the universe which is the macrocosm, “as above , as below” . “Microcosm A small, representative system having analogies to a larger system in constitution, configuration, or development”(William J. Hampton).This way of thinking has showed up in the imagery of Shakespeare. King Lear experienced a mighty storm on a blasted heath that mirrors the chaos of his soul. The metaphysical poets were a microcosm in themselves as they were private, egotistical, and intellectual than other poets. Their poetry were written for the poets or small group of intellectual elite rather than for a common audience. Donne even wrote for himself for he needed to ” intellectualize his thoughts through poetry”. In his love poetry , John Donne has incorporated this notion of the human body as a microcosm. For example, in his poems such as “The Flea”, “The Sun Rising”, “The Good Morrow” he presented the lovers as a whole world by themselves. Here we should pay attention that Donne using this concept is not compressing the whole world into a small space , but he wants to show how pleased and self-sufficient they became to be ,so that they believe they are the only beings in existence . In the last stage of Donne’s life ,he turned out to be more religious and consequently he adopted a new style of writing dealing with more sophisticated dilemmas. He created in himself what can be termed as “a paradise within” , and by using this microcosm as a safe place he put himself in the center of this paradise to be a spectator of mankind. He emphasized on the idea of mediation as an inner spiritual “union of the powers of the soul” (Martz 321) to reach a microcosm within the poet’s mind and the poet’s writing as well. This idea of microcosm of which Martz is talking about is the place were the poet is completely comfortable because of reaching a personal and religious discipline in all ways of his life. This idea is clear in Donne’s religious works such as holy sonnet ‘5’ and his Devotions. In his works , Donne has made use of the idea of microcosm for different functions and in different positions in a way that supports his argumentative style and dramatization .

John Donne has widely used this idea of microcosm in his seduction and love poems ,but in each poem he uses it in different position and for different function in such a sharp technique that helps dramatize his argument and sort of fulfill his desires. In “The Flea”, for example, he tries to seduce some high class honorable lady to go to bed with him , but apparently she refuses his offer regarding her social position and morals. From here , Donne builds his argument in a witty way that makes his bid more rational and considerable. He chooses the flea to be his microcosm where the blood of the two lovers was “mingled”. For him, this incident makes them “more than married are” , and this little creature stands now for their “marriage temple” and “marriage bed” . This choice is actually pretty amazing for a good reason .In choosing such a tiny creature , he is degrading his proposal , he’s like saying what we are going to do is not a big deal , it’s as tiny as this little flea .. no , what this flea did is even “more than we would do” , so it cannot be considered “A sin, nor shame , nor loss of maidenhead”. So , by this technique of ridiculing his offer or his aim , he is certainly playing with the right card, for the reason behind her refusal , as mentioned before , was mainly because she has the manners and the high social rank that is enough to consider his offer a sin or a shame . This concept of microcosm is again used by Donne in “The Sun Rising” , but in different place and for a different purpose. He’s now disturbed by sun beams after a long love night, and he wants to take advantage of this occasion to impress his love in order to give him another chance , so he starts rebuking sun by calling it “BUSY old fool , unruly” “saucy pedantic wretch” and arguing that their love does not obey “the rags of time” so they don’t have to answer it’s call , and that he is much stronger than it for he can “eclipse and cloud” it “with a wink” except he does not want to “lose” his lover’s “sight so long”. At this point , Donne has put himself in trouble ,I mean how is he going to end this argument? He can never make sun go or let night land over again. He smartly uses the microcosm and by it he resolves the whole argument. To be clearer , it’s worthy to emphasize that his argument is built upon humiliating sun , showing it’s weakness and the superiority of love over it. So Donne reveals that he and his lover are a whole world in themselves : … ,”All here in one bed lay”./ She’s all states, and all princes I” , and “since” its “duties be /To warm the world”, his majesty, Donne, will be most kind to the “old” sun and make its job to be reduced into shining just for them , since its “age asks ease”:

Shine here to us , and thou art everywhere;

This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.

So, by this microcosm he resolved the argument and kept the image he drew all throughout the poem , that love is a supreme experience can not be enslaved by time but vice versa. While in “The Good Morrow”, the microcosm issue is mainly used along with the main conceit to celebrate finding his perfect love match and expressing the state of self-sufficient he reached. At the beginning , the poet reveals that before he met his love , his life was not more than a dream , all pleasures he has experienced before was childish fancy not real:

I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I

Did, till we lov’d? Were we not wean’d till then?

But suck’d on countrey pleasures, childishly?

Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?

T’was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee.

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desir’d, and got, ’twas but a dreame of thee.

But his new love has awakened his soul to reality ,” And now good morrow to our waking soules”. For him , the “little room” they are in is all the world, “an everywhere.” Cosequenly , he rejects his past where he was in”seaven sleepers den” and rejects the outer world under symbols of “maps” and dicoveries. His main concern is “here , now”. The microcosm is even clearer in the third stanza when he says ” Where can we finde two better hemispheares/ Without sharp north , without declining west?” . This suggests two ideas : First , is that they are not complete by themselves , they need each othet . The word hemisphere is a perfect mataphor for incomplete things. Second, that their union does not only forms a complete body , but a whole world ( the hemishphere stands for half of the world). So , they form no imperfections , no ” sharp north”, which may suggest quarells between lovers, nor “declining west” , which may mean deacaying love . Love makes their attention on a part of this great world , “a part which is named with the name of the whole”: ” Let us possesse one world; each hath one, and is one”. The last example of usng the image of microcosm in Donne’s love poetry is going to be “A Validection : Of Weeping” . The subject matter and tone is different this time , and the image of microcosm this time helps to form the second conciet in the poem. We shall first explain that in this poem the speaker is saying goodbye to his lover, and they are experiencing a physical and emotional dissension. In the second stanza of the poem he is focusing on the idea of nothing and all; a little ball with no features has no value, but when a mapmaker covers it with leather shaped as the known continents and seas , nothing becomes the whole world:

On a round ball

A workman that hath copies by, can lay

An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,

And quickly make that, which was nothing, all;

Starting from this point, Donne applies this idea in his forthcoming conceit using the image of microcosm . His tiny tear is resembled to the globe with its nothingness and worthlessness , and what gives his tear value is her face stamped on it like the leather on the globe ,” A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,”( Line16). This metaphor is extended throughout the whole poem , showing how much his lover adds value to his life , heart and even grief .

Later in his life , Donne has adopted the religious or mediative style of poetry. He has created for himself what can be termed as a “paradise within” which is , the microcosm in which the poet is completely comfortable because he achieved “personal and religious discipline of all portions in his life”. Martz points out that this microcosm or spiritual center , is an “essential personality that is every man’s unique possession” which is the necessary element to reach this meditative style of poetry. In his religious poetry , Donne started to focus on more complicated universal issues concerned with the relationship between man and God , the resurrection , the concepts of Heaven and Hell ,and then the relationship between man and his fellow man. Thomas Carlyle states that in order to acquire this inner paradise (personal microcosm), we should first fulfill our duty to God by moving in the right direction- God’s direction- and to work while we move. Donne implies this idealism as he went from writer to preacher , and with this position in society , he could be “the godly man he prepared himself for”(Cummings.35). Unlike Herbert , John Donne’s religious poetry still has some kind of doubting nature .In his Holy Sonnet 5 he states that he is “a little world” which is made “Of elements , and angelic sprite” . Well, it’s known that in Christian theology , man is made of material or physical elements and spiritual ones , and that someday the physical part will die while the spiritual one is going up to Heaven . Here , Donne suspects the fact of salvation and points out that “both parts must die”(Holy Sonnet 5.Lines 1-3). This use of the microcosm reflects his affection by the Christian theology with some sort of extra favor of doubt. Later in his religious poetry , Donne starts to deal with more complicated universal dilemmas and his thinking of them gets more mature and rational. At first he insists on the idea of the man as a microcosm to reveal the fact that a man does not need to depend over anyone or thing to survive. He even thinks that the man should not only be a whole dependent and self-sufficient microcosm , but also he is more complicated and has the superiority over the macrocosm the man is living within, in his “Devotions” he states :

“It’s too little to call a man a little world ; except God, man is diminutive to nothing. Man consists of mare pieces , more parts then the world; then the world doeth , nay then the world is . And if those pieces were extended , and stretched out in Man , as they are in the world , Man would be the gyant , and the world the dwarfe , the world but the map , and the man the world”

In claiming that the man is not a little picture of the big world , Donne does not contradict himself or his idea of mankind , but one could consider it as an extension or a higher vision of a more mature balanced man , who , as he advances in age , starts to give more appreciation and love for his kind .This development in thought is to be taken as a natural respond for the progression of Donne’s mind and perspectives. In his “No Man is An Island” ; however, Donne starts to change his idea of a man is able to live by his side. He confesses that a man cannot live separated from others , and a man needs his fellow man in order to survive .

Donne uses the metaphor to liken a man to an island and argues that ” No man is an island entire of itself …”(Line 1) and that “… ; every man /is a piece of the continent, a part of the main “(lines 1-2). Or to say it in other words , Donne’s argument here is built upon the idea of cooperation amongst human beings , no one is a world within him/herself , and there should be a tendency towards interaction and coexistence. He ; moreover, calls us to not only coexistence , but also to sympathizes with and feel for each other , it means that another man’s catastrophe should concern and deeply affect his/her fellow human in the name of humanity ; ” any man’s death diminishes me, /because I am involved in mankind.”(lines 6-7).

In short , Donne’s concept of microcosm can be measured as a reflection of Donne’s state of mind and style of perception .

To sum this argument up, this whole concept of microcosm is applied differently in Donne’s love works and his later religious or meditative ones. In his love works , he uses this metaphor to build a solid concrete argument that shows how complete they are with each other and how self-sufficient they get in their relationship . Donne , throughout his love poetry, is trying to explain how uplifting and benevolent love is and how it cannot be enslaved and measured by religion , social traditions , or even time . He also reveals that the lover is the one who gives value to every aspect of his/her beloved life. If one finds the right match , Donne expresses, their bodies and souls will be pleasantly united representing the perfect and self-contained mixture . It doesn’t matter if they were physically apart , for their souls will eventually find the way to each other and get united again , as Donne expresses in his “The Exstasie” :

But as all severall soules containe

Mixture of things, they know not what

Love, these mixt soules , doth mixe againe

And makes both one , each this and that

As for his religious poetry , it’s a whole different story. At the last stage of his life , Donne has adopted a new style of poetry called the meditative, and he has started dealing with more serious topics and more complicated universal dilemmas. Well , if you shall ask where the microcosmical idea stands from this, you will be first invited to trace the positions in which Donne used it chronologically . By this , a person will notice the development in Donne’s mentality and religious stability. At first in his “Holy Sonnet 5”, a reader can sense the fear and doubt within the lines; the fear of the sin that polluted his soul and the doubt that his soul will not pass to eternity. Then he gets more mature and firm in his beliefs ; he even starts to appreciate mankind more and think of them as superiors to the macrocosm or the bigger world , and this mainly appears in his “Devotions”. Not only that , but if one advances through his poetry , he/she will find that Donne is not just appreciating man in his individuality , but starts to call people to be united , because man cannot live alone and cannot survive without his fellow men , it’s shown in ” No Man is an Island” in particular. So microcosm can be considered as a meter by which a scholar can measure Donne’s mental and spiritual advancement. So , microcosm is a kind of metaphor that Donne has used along with his other literary devices to achieve some certain poetical effect according to the subject matter and the wanted purpose. A microcosm can be a subsidiary metaphor that can exist in the body of the argument and support the extended conceit or it can be in the core of the conceit or just a normal imagery that helps convey an idea. Wherever it was and whatever the purpose was , microcosm was the heart of all science at that time and it helped a lot to explain and understand the workings of man and universe.