Love as Divine Power and Spiritual Gratification: An Analytical Study

This research paper is based on the study of the work of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), John Donne (1572-1631), Michael Drayton (15163-1631), and Kamala Das (1934-2009). Shakespeare, John Donne, and Michael Drayton were contemporary poets. All the four poets mentioned herein have presented very strong views about love in their literary works. Analysis of their literary works establishes love as divine power and source of spiritual gratification. This research paper focuses on various aspects of love - its strength, its purity, its need, and above all its genuineness. Love is an inevitable emotion common to all living beings. It is the path a human being can take to reach out to another and to connect to nature, and to the universe. Love is like a waterfall which flows naturally and unhindered. Simultaneously love flows spontaneously from our heart. Thus we should let it flow uninterrupted. Shakespeare's famous poem ‘True Love' which ranks among the finest products of the lyrical genius of Shakespeare, Donne's one of the masterpieces ‘Present in Absence' which is a protest in favour of absence (absence of beloved), and Drayton's ‘Since There is no Help' which is a realization of power of love, are focused herein. Kamala Das is the queen of love poems. Love is the soul of her poems; thus her various poems are discussed herein to present her viewpoint about love in her life.