John Donne's notoriously complex poem "Air and Angels" explores the connection between spiritual and material love, as well as the contrast between male and female love. The speaker argues that love, like a soul, needs a body in order to enter the physical world and act. He initially says that love itself has come to live in his beloved's body, but goes on to reject this idea. Love is like an angel, he argues, building on Renaissance theologians' belief that angels are beings of pure thought who can only appear to people by taking on bodies made of air (considered the purest of the traditional elements, though not quite as pure as angels themselves!). Likewise, love can't just take on mortal flesh, but rather needs a body that's nearly as pure as love itself in order to walk the earth. Exactly how such a miracle might come about becomes the theme of this brain-twisting poem. Like the vast majority of Donne's verse, this poem wasn't published until after his death; it first appeared in the 1633 collection Poems.
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The Full Text of “Air and Angels”
1Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
2Before I knew thy face or name;
3So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
4Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
5 Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
6Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.
7 But since my soul, whose child love is,
8Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
9 More subtle than the parent is
10Love must not be, but take a body too;
11 And therefore what thou wert, and who,
12 I bid Love ask, and now
13That it assume thy body, I allow,
14And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.
15Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
16And so more steadily to have gone,
17With wares which would sink admiration,
18I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
19 Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
20Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
21 For, nor in nothing, nor in things
22Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
23 Then, as an angel, face, and wings
24Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
25 So thy love may be my love's sphere;
26 Just such disparity
27As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
28'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.
The Full Text of “Air and Angels”
1Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
2Before I knew thy face or name;
3So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
4Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
5 Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
6Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.
7 But since my soul, whose child love is,
8Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
9 More subtle than the parent is
10Love must not be, but take a body too;
11 And therefore what thou wert, and who,
12 I bid Love ask, and now
13That it assume thy body, I allow,
14And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.
15Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
16And so more steadily to have gone,
17With wares which would sink admiration,
18I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
19 Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
20Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
21 For, nor in nothing, nor in things
22Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
23 Then, as an angel, face, and wings
24Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
25 So thy love may be my love's sphere;
26 Just such disparity
27As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
28'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.
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“Air and Angels” Summary
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“Air and Angels” Themes
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Spiritual and Physical Love
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Women's Love vs. Men's Love
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Air and Angels”
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Lines 1-6
Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
Before I knew thy face or name;
So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
Some lovely glorious nothing I did see. -
Lines 7-14
But since my soul, whose child love is,
Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
More subtle than the parent is
Love must not be, but take a body too;
And therefore what thou wert, and who,
I bid Love ask, and now
That it assume thy body, I allow,
And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow. -
Lines 15-20
Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
And so more steadily to have gone,
With wares which would sink admiration,
I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
Is much too much, some fitter must be sought; -
Lines 21-25
For, nor in nothing, nor in things
Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
Then, as an angel, face, and wings
Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
So thy love may be my love's sphere; -
Lines 26-28
Just such disparity
As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.
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“Air and Angels” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Conceit
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Metaphor
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Imagery
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Repetition
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Personification
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“Air and Angels” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thee, Thou, Thy
- Affect
- Wert
- Else could nothing do
- Subtle
- Bid
- Assume
- Fix
- Ballast
- Pinnace
- Overfraught
- Scatt'ring bright
- Then, as an angel, face, and wings / Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear
- Sphere
- Disparity
- 'Twixt
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Air and Angels”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Air and Angels” Speaker
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“Air and Angels” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Air and Angels”
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More “Air and Angels” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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A Portrait of Donne — See a famous portrait of Donne in which he poses as the ideal Renaissance lover.
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A Brief Biography — Learn more about Donne's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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Donne's Legacy — Read a review of a recent Donne biography that discusses his enduring influence.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne
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