Cognitive Mapping and the Utopian Solution in the Metaphysical Poetry of Donne and Marvell

Abstract

This paper examines the metaphysical poetry of John Donne and Andrew Marvell through the lens of Fredric Jameson's theory of cognitive mapping. It argues that both poets, writing amidst political, religious, and existential crises, offer utopian solutions by transcending the immediate conditions of their time through metaphor, paradox, and speculative imagination. Donne’s “Holy Sonnet X” and Marvell’s “The Definition of Love” are analyzed not only for their theological and philosophical content but also for their structural capacity to map a fragmented world into a coherent, albeit imagined, totality. This analysis demonstrates how metaphysical poetry, far from being merely introspective, becomes a site for political and existential resistance, offering a vision of unity that defies the historical limitations of early modern England.