Reading Against The Grain: Love and Sexulaity in John Donne’s Poems

Abstract

Though spirituality and sexuality are generally understood as the binary oppositions, John Donne, in his poetry, presents spirituality and sexuality as complementary phenomenon. The concept of binaries about sexuality and spirituality is merely a social construct. Without the blend between spirituality and sexuality, no love, as his poems prove,is possible. In all, Donne’s representation of spirituality and sexuality as complementary phenomenon goes against the contemporary grain.