http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/ecstasy Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:04:56 -0400 Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:04:56 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/938/the-sexual-and-the-spiritual-in-john-donnes-poetry-exploring-the-extasie-and-its-analogues By Basil Thommen - This paper looks at the poet John Donne’s method of incorporating sexual imagery into religious and spiritual contexts. The main features of Donne’s technique arise from his notion of ecstasy. Donne’s ecstasy describes how the souls of two lovers leave their bodies during their physical union and mix together before returning to their original bodies. This experience purifies each of the lovers and grants them spiritual fulfillment. Writers such as Marsilio Ficino, St. Teresa of Avila, and others have proposed similar ideas regarding the transformative experience that sex has... Mon, 10 Nov 2014 10:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/938/the-sexual-and-the-spiritual-in-john-donnes-poetry-exploring-the-extasie-and-its-analogues