The Relic: Poem Summary
John Donne

The Relic: Poem Overview

"The Relic" is a three-stanza poem by English poet John Donne. It was published in 1633 in a posthumous collection of Donne's poetry. "The Relic" was likely written earlier in Donne's career before he became Dean of St. Paul's cathedral. In the poem, a speaker ruminates on the relationship between him and his beloved by imagining that they become relics for another society in the future. The poem is interested in the tension between physical and spiritual love and is critical of the religious ideology of miracles.