John Donne

The Undertaking

I HAVE done one braver thing

The Nine Worthies

Medieval list of history's greatest heroes—three pagans (Hector, Alexander, Caesar), three Jews (Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus), three Christians (Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey). Donne claims his secret love beats all nine.

{{gap|1em}}Than all the Worthies did;
And yet a braver thence doth spring,
{{gap|1em}}Which is, to keep that hid.
It were but madness now to impart
{{gap|1em}}The skill of specular stone,

specular stone

Transparent selenite (a form of gypsum) used in ancient windows. Pliny claimed the skill to cut it was lost. Donne's analogy: why teach a lost art when the material no longer exists?

When he, which can have learn'd the art
{{gap|1em}}To cut it, can find none.
So, if I now should utter this,
{{gap|1em}}Others—because no more
Such stuff to work upon, there is—
{{gap|1em}}Would love but as before.
But he who loveliness within
{{gap|1em}}Hath found, all outward loathes,
For he who color loves, and skin,

their oldest clothes

Bodies are just the soul's worn-out garments. Loving physical beauty means loving what decays first—the opposite of loving the permanent virtue within.

{{gap|1em}}Loves but their oldest clothes.
If, as I have, you also do
{{gap|1em}}Virtue in woman see,
And dare love that, and say so too,
{{gap|1em}}And forget the He and She;

forget the He and She

Love the virtue itself, not the gendered body. Radical for 1590s—suggesting spiritual love transcends sexual categories entirely.

And if this love, though placèd so,

profane men

The uninitiated, those outside the sacred circle. They either won't believe this kind of love exists or will mock it as impossible.

{{gap|1em}}From profane men you hide,
Which will no faith on this bestow,
{{gap|1em}}Or, if they do, deride;
Then you have done a braver thing
{{gap|1em}}Than all the Worthies did;

The Nine Worthies

Medieval list of history's greatest heroes—three pagans (Hector, Alexander, Caesar), three Jews (Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus), three Christians (Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey). Donne claims his secret love beats all nine.

And a braver thence will spring,
{{gap|1em}}Which is, to keep that hid.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Secret Worth Keeping

Donne structures this poem as a paradox wrapped in secrecy. The "braver thing" he's done is finding true love (loving virtue in a woman, not just her body), but the even braver act is keeping that discovery hidden. Why? Because in stanzas 2-3, he argues that teaching this skill would be pointless—like teaching someone to cut specular stone when the stone itself no longer exists.

The "stuff to work upon" is the crucial phrase. Donne isn't saying his beloved is the only virtuous woman; he's saying most people aren't capable of this kind of love. If he revealed his secret, others would try to practice it on unworthy subjects and end up "loving but as before"—falling back into shallow, physical attraction. The skill requires both the right technique and the right material.

The poem's final stanzas create a conditional: "If, as I have, you also do..." He's addressing a hypothetical reader who has also discovered this secret. If you exist, you've done something braver than the Nine Worthies, and like him, you must hide it from "profane men" who will either disbelieve or mock. The poem becomes a secret handshake between initiates.

Neoplatonic Love and the Body Problem

Stanza 4's "oldest clothes" image draws on Neoplatonic philosophy, where the soul is imprisoned in the body. Physical beauty is just the soul's temporary costume—and a decaying one at that. Someone who loves "color" and "skin" is loving the least permanent part of a person, the part already dying. True love, Donne argues, sees through the body to the "loveliness within."

But Donne complicates pure Platonism in stanza 5: "And forget the He and She." He's not just saying "love the soul, not the body." He's saying love the virtue itself, independent of gender categories. This was philosophically radical—suggesting that spiritual love could transcend not just physical attraction but sexual difference entirely. The virtue he loves exists beyond masculine/feminine binaries.

CONTEXT This connects to Renaissance debates about whether women had souls identical to men's, and whether true friendship (considered the highest love) could exist between genders. Donne's answer: yes, if you love the virtue, not the gendered body. But notice he still says "Virtue in woman"—he hasn't abandoned gender entirely, just claims to see past it to something more essential.