John Donne- Negative Love

I never stoop'd so low, as they
Which on an eye, cheek, lip, can prey ;
Seldom to them which soar no higher
Than virtue, or the mind to admire.
For sense and understanding may
Know what gives fuel to their fire ;
My love, though silly, is more brave ;
For may I miss, whene'er I crave,
If I know yet what I would have.

If that be simply perfectest,
Which can by no way be express'd
But negatives, my love is so.
To all, which all love, I say no.
If any who deciphers best,
What we know not—ourselves—can know,
Let him teach me that nothing. This
As yet my ease and comfort is,
Though I speed not, I cannot miss.

John Donne’s poem, written in the early 17^th century, is a comment on the inferiority of physical love when compared to spiritual, metaphysical love. In the opening of the poem Donne writes that “I never stoop’d so low, as they/which on an eye, cheek, lip, can prey”. Donne is stating that he was never satisfied by the physical attractions in a woman. Plato defined this physical love as Eros and the entire poem is about the pursuit of a more Divine love- appreciating female beauty not because of sexual desire but because it is a close imitation of the Gods.

A popular theory when attempting to define God’s attributes was designed originally by Saint Thomas Aquinas, and called via negativa. Via negativa attempts to define God by saying what he is not, rather than what he is, and I think Donne had this theory in mind when writing ‘Negative Love’. Via negativa is speaking about God using only negative terms to emphasise the difference between God and humanity. For example, God is not finite; he does not have material qualities, and is therefore infinite. Donne says in his poem that if his love is one “which can by no way be express’d/ But negatives, my love is so” and I think this is a direct link to the indescribable God who is beyond human understanding that the via negativa attempts to define because he can be described by no way but negatives.

Donne understood that searching for Divine love was completely different to actually finding it, because no one can ever reach the Divine love and therefore fully understand God. However pursuit of this unreachable love is necessary for intellectual fulfillment because once you know it is there, you cannot want anything else, because it is so extraordinary.  Therefore Donne says that “My love, although silly, is more brave” because compared to Eros love, which is easy to find, it is “silly” to search for something more spiritual, but also more “brave” because you learn so much more on the way.

I think the poem ends of a negative note, because Donne admits that he can never reach the Divine love he shrives so hard for, and therefore will in the end be dissatisfied. Donne says that “If any who deciphers best, /What we know not, ourselves, can know”- in other words if any one understands this negative love- “Let him teach me that nothing; This/ As yet my ease and comfort is,”- then this is at yet his only comfort. The irony is that his only comfort is not a comfort at all because no one, apart from the Divine Himself, will ever “decipher best” the love he is searching her. However, as he says in the last line: “Though I will speed not, I cannot miss” and I interpreted this as him saying he will not slow down or stop his search, because he cannot accept missing the aim of devotion, the Divine love he wants so badly, and the claim “I cannot miss” is a desperate cry. Therefore Donne has been gripped by Divine obsession, and pursuit of the Perfect, which he will forever search for in vain, making the ending very sinister indeed.