The Fusion of Thought and Feeling

Whitehead, John Donne, and Metaphysical Poetry

​"Donne characterizes our natural life in the world as a condition of flux and momentariness, which we may nonetheless turn to our advantage."
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Ian Dagnall / Alamy Stock Photo

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The English writer and Anglican cleric John Donne is considered now to be the preeminent metaphysical poet of his time. He was born in 1572 to Roman Catholic parents, when practicing that religion was illegal in England. His work is distinguished by its emotional and sonic intensity and its capacity to plumb the paradoxes of faith, human and divine love, and the possibility of salvation. Donne often employs conceits, or extended metaphors, to yoke together “heterogenous ideas,” in the words of Samuel Johnson, thus generating the powerful ambiguity for which his work is famous."

The Poetry Foundation

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John Donne can seem to be two poets, the charmed libertine of songs and sonnets and the master of devotional verse, but the same deep and versatile wit profoundly inhabits "The Ecstasy" and the Holy Sonnets and Hymns.

Harold Bloom

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The transformation of Jack Donne the rake into the Reverend Dr. Donne, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, no longer seems bizarre. To impose such clear-cut categories upon a man’s career may be to take too rigid a view of human nature. That the poet of the Elegies and Songs and Sonnets is also the author of the Devotions and the sermons need not indicate some profound spiritual upheaval. One reason for the appeal of Donne in modern times is that he confronts us with the complexity of our own natures.

The Poetry Foundation

Whitehead, John Donne,
​and Metaphysical Poetry

In explaining Whitehead's philosophy to others, many use John Donne's phrase in Devotions from Emergent Occasions: 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent, 
A part of the main.

​Whitehead believed that no human being is an island, no earth is an island, no molecule is an island, and no pulsation of energy in the depths of an atom is an island. Indeed, Whitehead believed that even the Soul of the universe, even God, is not an island. Whitehead thinks relations are key to understanding life, and that the building blocks of the universe are not 'things' but rather 'events in relation." In his philosophy there are individuals, but there are no islands. And yet Whitehead's philosophy is very difficult for people to understand. Would it not be good if it were presented more poetically, in the spirit of a metaphysical poem. Let John Donne be our guide.

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Whitehead's philosophy is often described in words used to describe John Donne's poetry; it is a yoking together of "heterogeneous ideas." The ideas Whitehead yokes together come from philosophy, science, art, poetry, religion, and experience in daily life. He believes that all are connected, and one task of philosophy is to show the connections.

Whitehead also believes, like Donne, that the natural world is a condition of flux and momentariness.  The two also believe that embracing the whole of this momentary and interconnected world, there is a compassionate Spirit, otherwise addressed as God. Yes, Donne probably believed this spirit was all-powerful while Whitehead had his doubts. But both point us toward a way of living in which the life of faith and the momentariness of life, including its eros and afflictions, go together. Whitehead articulated his ideas in prosaic texts, many of them philosophical, and Donne in metaphysical poetry.

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I want to put in a word for metaphysical poetry. Such poetry is very different from poetic metaphysics. 

Poetic metaphysics is an intellectual exploration into the nature and first principles of life and the universe, which, at points, finds itself speaking poetically. Alfred North Whitehead offers a poetic metaphysics in "Process and Reality," especially in Chapter Five on God, and in "Adventures of Ideas," particularly in his chapters on Eros and Peace. However, neither of these books by Whitehead is poetry. Whitehead admires poets and poems and seems to have had a special affinity for romantic poets Wordsworth and Shelley, as well as Milton. He drew upon their poetry as a resource in presenting his understanding of life and the cosmos. But he did not write poems, as far as we know, nor was that his aim.

Metaphysical poetry, by contrast, consists of metaphysical poems, illustrative of a distinctive type of English-language poetry: metaphysical poetry. It emerged in the 17th century, primarily in England. Coined by Samuel Johnson in the 18th century, the term "metaphysical" was used to describe a group of poets who employed complex and intellectual metaphors to explore philosophical and spiritual themes.

John Donne is often regarded as the central figure of this poetic movement, with his intricate conceits and profound meditations on love, religion, and mortality. Other notable metaphysical poets include George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Crashaw. Metaphysical poetry was characterized by its wit, paradoxes, and the blending of the physical and spiritual realms.

​Four characteristics of such poetry are "Whiteheadian" in spirit.

First, true to the Whiteheadian spirit, metaphysical poetry is a unique fusion of thought and feeling, a harmonious integration of heart and mind. Coined as a "unified sensibility" by T.S. Eliot, it encompasses both analytical and philosophical elements, displaying intellectual rigor while expressing profound emotions. This sets it apart from poetry that solely focuses on romanticism, emphasizing excessive sentimentality, or poetry that leans towards intellectualism, fixating on abstract ideas without emotional resonance. This fusion of thought and feeling finds expression in Whitehead's idea that every moment of experience, human or more than human, involves two poles of experience woven together: a physical pole and a mental pole. Whitehead adds that every experience carries within it a subjective aim of weaving them together into a harmonious or satisfying whole. Metaphysical poetry illustrates and embodies this aim.

Second, in keeping with the Whiteheadian emphasis on novelty and novel contrasts, metaphysical poetry thrives on being edgy, linguistically dexterous, and surprising. Like all good poetry, it tries to avoid clichés. It does so by employing far-fetched similes and strained metaphors, known as metaphysical conceits, to convey the intricate nuances of romantic and spiritual longing. One well-known example in Donne would be his poem "The Flea," where he uses the image of a flea that has bitten both the speaker and his beloved to argue for the intimacy between them. The flea becomes a symbol of their union, and the speaker urges his beloved not to kill it, suggesting that their blood is already mingled within it: "This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is." Another example is his poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," where Donne compares two lovers' souls to the points of a compass. Just as a compass remains steady and fixed even when one leg travels far away, the souls of the lovers remain connected despite physical separation: "If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth if th' other do." By employing unexpected metaphors, it delves into the depths of human experience, unraveling the complexities of desire, faith, and the pursuit of meaning. The far-fetched similes and strained metaphors are themselves examples of what Whitehead means by contrast, which function as, in his words, "lures for feeling."

Third, again in the Whiteheadian spirit, metaphysical poetry avoids intellectual silos. It is unapologetically wide-ranging in its scope of influences, drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as science, geology, metallurgy, and mythology. Metaphysical poets weave together disparate fields of knowledge, creating intricate tapestries of thought that explore the intersections between the physical and spiritual realms. Whitehead, too, is ecumenical in just this sense. He drew from many sciences, history, and the arts (especially poetry) in his writings, not simply on the history of philosophy. In "Process and Reality," he tells us that his aim is to draw from four sources: science, aesthetics, morality, and religion. Metaphysical poets are likewise open-minded in this way.

Fourth, metaphysical poetry, especially in Donne's devotional poetry, is both erotic and spiritual, unifying the realms of passion and faith. It blends the fervor of human passion, encompassing eros and sexuality, with trust in the divine, exemplifying the confluence of earthly and spiritual existence. This is in keeping with Whitehead's own idea that the divine reality itself is the Eros of the universe as well as the deep Listening which is faithful to each and every living being with, as Whitehead put it, a "tender care that nothing be lost." In Whitehead's philosophy, every moment of experience begins with physical feelings of the past actual world and, more specifically, a feeling of the feelings in that world. It likewise begins with an eros, an aim, at unifying what is felt and adding its own emphases to what is unified. This eros itself begins with a feeling of divinity, of the divine Eros in the moment at issue. In Whitehead as in metaphysical poetry, the journey of a soul is both physical and spiritual.

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Metaphysical poetry of the seventeenth century is not for everyone. Samuel Johnson himself had reservations about what he perceived as excessive ingenuity and artificiality. He faulted certain poets for their convoluted language and far-fetched metaphors, arguing that they prioritized intellectual acrobatics over genuine emotional resonance. Johnson favored a more straightforward and natural style of poetry, and he believed that metaphysical poetry often crossed the line into obscurity and affectation.

On the other hand, T.S. Eliot favored it and saw himself in its tradition. Eliot admired the intellectual rigor and complexity of metaphysical poetry. He appreciated the way metaphysical poetry combines intellect and emotion. He was drawn to the striking and surprising imagery employed by the metaphysical poets. Eliot himself became known for his innovative and sometimes enigmatic use of imagery, and he found kindred spirits in the metaphysical poets who pushed the boundaries of metaphorical language. In short, Eliot admired metaphysical poetry for its intellectual depth, emotional resonance, and the way it challenged traditional poetic conventions. He saw it as a source of inspiration and a precursor to his own poetic explorations, acknowledging its influence on his own work and championing its enduring significance in the realm of poetry.

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As I read (or try to read) John Donne's poems, I find myself wondering if he doesn't offer a helpful catalyst for those of us in the 21st century who rightly sense the need for a new metaphysic, including a new way of thinking about God but who grow weary and bored with overly abstract presentations of that new metaphysic, whose very ideas - interconnectedness, intrinsic value, mutual becoming - so easily become clichés. On the other hand, we may also grow tired of overly emotional modes of presentation that bypass intellectual rigor and resort to sloganeering. I am not suggesting that Donne's worldview parallels a Whiteheadian worldview. I am saying that his very endeavor, to write metaphysical poems, has value for us today. Whether or not we read Donne and other metaphysical poets with pleasure (and I find it easier to listen to their poetry than to read it), we can take their type of poetry and Eliot's appreciation of it to recognize our own need to fuse rigor and feeling, not just by being "poetic" from time to time but by fusing thought and feeling.

It is said that, in Donne's time, people would "swoon" when they heard his love poems because they found them so compelling, and do something similar when they read his devotional poems and heard his sermons. He was an Anglican priest later in his life and a marvelous preacher. They were deeply moved by much of what he wrote and preached. In our time, for good or ill, it is hard to imagine vast swaths of people swooning over any kind of poetry, much less metaphysical poetry. I wish that they would, but such is wishful thinking. This would not matter to T.S. Eliot. He believed that poetry was only for a cultured elite. As a Whiteheadian, I cannot follow him here. I look for a kind of metaphysical poetry that is presented in many ways, including graphic novels, visual art, music, dance, and film. I suspect that these "other" forms already exist. Perhaps they, too, are part of the future of metaphysical poetry. It is possible that the future of metaphysical poetry is neither with philosophy nor poetry but with other forms of expression.

In process philosophy, we often speak of the hope for new forms of thinking, holistic thinking, which integrates science, philosophy, art, and spirituality; which lend themselves to a way of living in the world that links heart and mind; which invite us to live with respect and care for one another and the natural world; which encourage fidelity to the bonds of relationship and openness to novelty. Would that there would be many kinds of art and modes of communication that embody these new forms. There is indeed a need for metaphysics today, of the poetic kind.

It will be a radically relational metaphysics in which it is clear to all, as it was to Donne, that no man is an island and that the life well-living is lived in relation, in love, in passion, in courage, in trust, and with an openness to surprise.
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• Jay McDaniel

What is Metaphysical Poetry?
Reading Donne's A Valediction
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A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 

John Donne
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As virtuous men pass mildly away,
   And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
  The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,
   No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
​  To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
   Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
  Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
   (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
   Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,
   That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
   Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
   Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
   Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
   As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
   To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,
   Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
   And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
   Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
   And makes me end where I begun.

​John Donne: A Scholarly Discussion
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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Donne (1573-1631), known now as one of England’s finest poets of love and notable in his own time as an astonishing preacher. He was born a Catholic in a Protestant country and, when he married Anne More without her father's knowledge, Donne lost his job in the government circle and fell into a poverty that only ended once he became a priest in the Church of England. As Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, his sermons were celebrated, perhaps none more than his final one in 1631 when he was plainly in his dying days, as if preaching at his own funeral.

With

Mary Ann Lund
Associate Professor in Renaissance English Literature at the University of Leicester

Sue Wiseman
Professor of Seventeenth Century Literature at Birkbeck, University of London

And

Hugh Adlington
Professor of English Literature at the University of Birmingham

​No Man Is an Island

John Donne from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions​

​No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent, 
A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
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Anton Jarvis · No Man is an Island by John Donne