The Anniversary John Donne Analysis

John Donne’s ‘The Anniversary’ is all about the love that the narrator and his wife share together. The narrator assures his wife that although a year of marriage has passed, and everything has grown older, their love hasn’t. He says that when they both die, their bodies will decay, but their love won’t because their souls will reunite in heaven. He goes on to say that until they die, they are kings, secure in their love.
It comes as no surprise that Donne has spoken of monarchs and death in his poem. Being a poet in the Elizabethan era would have meant that religion and the monarchy would have been important aspects of everyday life for all people. Being a clergyman, and not wanting to risk being prosecuted for treason, he doesn’t express any religious views in order to stay safe during the reoccurring religious arguments.
In the form of a three stanza poem, the narrator remembers the first anniversary of seeing his lover. His poem begins with an image of the royal court of “all kings”. This image is then juxtaposed with the supremacy of the “sun” – the ruler of the human race who makes time pass and without it, we would all die. However, he points out that even the …show more content…
He again talks about afterlife and the royal court. He says that he and his loved one will be “thoroughly blessed” in the afterlife but “no more than all the rest”. This contradicts his previous point that love is ageless, however he returns to a positive by saying that while on earth, they are in their own kingdom of love, existing to “none but we”. His references to royalty may have been seen as treason to a Protestant reading this poem at the time it was written. During John Donne’s lifespan (1572-1631), any seeming denial of the monarch being the true monarch would have been questionable to treason. Keeping this in mind, it explains why Donne makes no direct reference to his beliefs despite the focus of religion in his