ve images, referring to the motions or changes of the earth and spheres. Donnes contemporaries believed that the heavens were perfect(reflecting the perfection of God). Everything sublunary-- below the moon, on this earth -- was imperfect, subject to decay and death. Furthermore, the planets moving in orbit around the earth in the geocentric, earth-centred Ptolemaic view of the universe were attached to spheres of crystal that often moved or shook (Damrosch et al. 238-9). In line 6, the tear-floods and sigh-tempests move refers to the moving of the earth. In the third stanza, the speaker again refers to the unrefined love of ordinary people in contrast with the love between he and his lady. The upheavals in the lives of ordinary lovers on earth are earthquakes (Moving of thearth) that bring harms and fears (line 9). In contrast, in a more refined love such as that between the speaker and his lady, any disturbance is above the reach of such earthly upheavals. It is like the far-off trembling in the heavens. It is as if their love resided in the heavens, among the crystal spheres of the Ptolemaic universe. Even when there is trepidation or trembling of the spheres, it is innocent -- it will cause no harm or damage in the world below (lines 11-12). Donne continues to refer to the Ptolemaic universe in the fourth and fifth stanzas. In the fourth stanza, ordinary earth-bound lovers are caught up in the physical presence of the other person, which like all material things in this sublunary sphere below the moon, is subject to change and decay (line 13). Their soul is sense and cannot admit absense (lines 14-15) because the only way to express their love is through their five senses. Their relationship depends on the physical act of love, which cannot occur in the absense of each other. The speaker explains that the refined love between he and his love doesnt need the presence of the physical body because it is Inter-assured of the mind (line ...
