This poem uses medieval science as an analogy to love, drawing a parallel between the two.
Alchemy was a ‘science’ which aimed to find the Elixir of life. Its practitioners hoped to find a mysterious substance that could cure disease and prolong life, and turn base metal into gold. The Alchemists, despite lifelong devotion to their practice, failed to discover the magic substance.

Though some alchemists may claim to have discovered ‘where his centrique happiness doth lie’, the poet has failed to discover love’s ‘hidden mysteries’, though he has had considerable experience of love. Donne believes that those who claim to understand the true nature of love are cheats and liers.

The title is ironic and sets the tone of the poem; there is, of course, no alchemy in relation to love, just as there is no alchemy in relation to the elixir of life. However, Donne is referring sardonically to the idea of Platonic love — an ideal spiritualised exalted love — about which which the Italian poet Petrarch wrote his eloquent sonnets. Donne clearly believed this ideal was stupid and impractical, while his own definition of love involved a blend of spiritual and physical intimacy.

In this poem Donne uses sarcasm to satirise spiritual love which the Elizabethan poets who, compared the experience of human love with God’s act of creation order and beauty of the cosmos. In scholastic theology, love was thought as a manifestation of the impulse to seek a relationship with God and with the hidden mysteries of the universe.

This poem has been criticised as being negative and cynical, and Donne himself castigated for his misogynistic attitude to love and women. Yet he is justified in emphasising the complex nature of love.

Structure
The poem comprises two twelve-line stanzas. Lines are of uneven length within the stanzas, but both match. The rhyme scheme is complex, both stanzas following the pattern AABBA CDDCC EE. There is a complex, rhythmic beat to the poem, which adds to the challenge of deciphering it.

Language and Imagery
The voice is that of a speaker, probably the poet in a cynical, negative mood. The dominant metaphysical conceit is that of love as alchemy. The tone is sarcastic and, in the last stanza, blatantly misogynistic.

What Does Metaphysical Mean?
The word ‘meta’ means ‘after,’ so the translation of ‘metaphysical’ is ‘after the physical.’ Metaphysics deals with questions that can’t be explained by science, and explores the nature of reality in a philosophical way.

Common metaphysical questions include the following:
•Does God exist?
• What is the difference between reality and perception?
•Is everything that happens already predetermined? If so, then is free choice non-existent?
•Is consciousness limited to the brain?

Of course, there is no one correct answer; Metaphysics is about exploration and philosophy, not about science and mathematics.

Characteristics
One common characteristic is that Metaphysical poetry is clever and witty. The poets examined serious questions with humour and inventiveness.

Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock and challenge the reader; to question the unquestionable. The poetry often mixed ordinary speech with intellectual paradoxes and puns. The results were strange, comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew. These bizarre comparisons were called ‘conceits’.

Metaphysical poetry also explored a few common themes — religion; the theme of carpe diem (seize the day) and the nature of humanity and emotions.