John Donne
Born 22 January 1572[1]
London, England
Died 31 March 1631
(aged 59)[2]
London, England
Occupation Poet,
priest, lawyer
Nationality English
Alma mater Hart Hall,
Oxford
University of Cambridge
Genre Satire, love poetry,
elegy, sermons
Subject Love, sexuality,
religion, death
Literary
movement Metaphysical poetry
"The
Good-Morrow" is a poem by John Donne, published in his 1633
What Are The Literary Devices in The Good-Morrow?
Alliteration
When
two or more words in close proximity begin with the same consonant:
were we
not weaned...
snorted
we in the Seven Sleepers'...
Which
watch not...
Assonance
When
two or more words in a line have the same vowel sounds:
sucked
on country...
Seven
Sleepers' den...
all
love of other...
tine in
mine...
true
plain hearts do...
Caesura
A pause
in a line caused by punctuation, where the reader has to pause. There are
several in this poem, typified in line 14, where there are two:
Let us
possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
What Is The Metre (Meter in American English) of The
Good-Morrow?
There are five regular
beats and ten syllables in each line except for the last line of each stanza
which has twelve, so count as hexameters.
There are 13 lines of
pure iambic pentameter ( 1,6, 8-13, 16,17,19,20) with a regular daDUM daDUM beat.
I won / der, by / my troth, / what thou / and I
Did,
till / we loved?
/ Were we
/ not weaned / till then?
But sucked / on count / ry pleas / ures, chil / dishly?
Or snor / ted we / in the Sev / en Sleep / ers’ den?
’Twas so;
/ but this, / all pleas / ures fanc / ies be.
If ev / er an / y beau / ty I /
did see,
Which I / desired, / and got, / ’twas but
/ a dream / of thee.
And now /
good-mor / row to / our wa / king souls,
Which watch / not one / anoth / er out / of fear;
For love, / all love / of oth / er sights / controls,
And makes / one lit / tle room / an eve / rywhere.
Let sea- / discove / rers to / new worlds /
have gone,
Let maps / to oth / ers, worlds / on worlds / have shown,
Let us / possess / one world, / each hath / one, and / is one.
My face / in thine / eye, thine / in mine / appears,
And true / plain hearts / do in / the fa / ces rest;
Where can / we find / two bet / ter hem / ispheres,
Without /sharpnorth, / without / declin / ing west?
Whatev / er dies, / was not / mixed e / qually;
If our /
two loves / be one, / or, thou / and I
Love so / alike, / that none / do slack / en, none / can die.
This is a poem written by John Donne.
It is a love poem.
The
poem is important for first-year honors students in English Department.
The poem was written when John Donne was a a student in "Lincoln's
Inn" school.
Its published in 1633.(two years later of his
death)
Lines21
Stanza:3(7
lines per stanza)
The Good-Morrow is
a three-stanza poem,
each stanza has 7 lines (heptet).
The rhyme scheme is unusual :
ababccc
The first four lines of each stanza working together in
alternate
The poem is considered as the first poem of
Donne.
The poem took from "Songs and Sonnets" book of
Donne.
This poem is also considered as the first
poem of "Songs and sonnets "
Theme: Sensual love to
spiritual love
\
The title means good morning (Good-Morrow) is
archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone.
The Good-Morrow
I
wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did
see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
And
now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of
other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye,
thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
Stanza
1
Knowing
that the title means good morning (Good-Morrow is
archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone. Donne liked to join some of
his words with a hyphen) the reader has a clue that the scene is set early in
the day.
The the first line takes the reader into the mind of the first-person speaker, who is
either asking himself or his lover a puzzling question. Note the language, it's
17th century English, so thou means you and by my troth means in
all honesty or truth.
The
first-line runs on into the second (enjambment) and the caesurae (pauses caused
by punctuation) ensure that the reader cannot go too quickly through these
words. This is a carefully phrased question.
And
that small phrase Did,
till we loved? is important because it gives sense to the
previous line and sets the poem off proper. Just what kind of existence did the
pair have before they became lovers before they fell in love?
It's a
question many lovers have asked because when two become firmly entrenched in
love it's as if the time previous to their meeting holds no value. They never
lived, they didn't do anything meaningful.
Were we
not weaned till then? To be weaned is to be
influenced from an early age; to be a baby or an infant gradually given adult
food whilst coming off a diet of mother's milk. The speaker is implying that
they were infants before they loved it.
The
third line reinforces this sense of childish existence the two had to go
through. The country
pleasures are either crude sensualities or immature sexual
pleasures, mere surface experiences.
Or they
lived life asleep as it were. The allusion is to the Seven Sleepers, Christian
youths who fled from the Roman emperor Decius (249-251) and were sealed in a
cave. They slept for nearly two hundred years so the story goes, waking up in a
world where Christianity had taken hold.
So the
implication is that these two lived as if asleep until they fell in love and
woke up - their love became a kind of new religion for them.
These
four lines, with alternate rhymes, form a quatrain. The end three lines
consolidate meaning, have the same end rhymes and have that final hexameter, a
long line.
Twas
so; ...the speaker confirms that, yes, before they were lovers
any pleasures were not real; it was as if they were infants asleep, not really
awake but merely dreaming.
And
Donne being Donne he goes on to say that his desires were fulfilled - he got
what he wanted out of beauty - but even that wasn't real, it was only a dream.
Stanza
2
Having
concluded in the first stanza that the lovers weren't really alive, or hadn't
done anything, until they fell in love and became aware, the speaker wishes
both of them a good morning as they wake.
There
is no fear in their relationship; they are totally devoted, 100% in love, which
is the be-all and end all. They see the world through their love, through love.
And makes
one little room an everywhere....the room the lovers are in
is small, a microcosm, yet because their love is universal, it goes everywhere
their love goes, and is whole, a macrocosm.
This the line reflects the Renaissance idea that an individual held within them the
universe.
The last three lines of this stanza are related to the exploration of new worlds.
Donne's use of metaphor is cutting edge for his time - explorers were
discovering new terrestrial worlds using the latest maps, and astronomers were
beginning to seriously chart the stars.
The
known world was expanding rapidly. Donne connects this fact with the world the
lovers have created.
Let us
possess one world (in some versions this is our world)...the speaker affirms that they
have their individual worlds but their love world they possess, they totally
own a whole new world which they are free to explore.
Stanza
3
In the
third stanza the speaker initially gets close up and personal.
Donne's
fascination with reflections and imagery comes to the fore. As the lovers gaze
into each other's eyes they see each other reflected. Evidence of more bonding,
of two becoming one.
The
lovers are true and plain - they don't have to pretend or show off or be fancy
- in front of one another.
The
speaker reverts to questioning again, as in the first stanza, and asks Where can we find two better
hemispheres (semi-circles) ...which could be their eyes and
faces.
Without
sharp North....the cold north, relating to a cold relationship
without
declining West...the sun sets in the west, end of the day, end of a
relationship.
So the
speaker in these four lines reinforces the idea that the lovers are a single
entity; their relationship isn't cold or about to end, it is warm and rising.
Whatever
dies was not mixed equally....In the medical theory of the time death was
thought to be the result of imbalances in the body's elements.
If our
two loves...the speaker suggests that their two loves are not at all
imbalanced, their loves are so
alike that they can never die.
This is
an idealistic end to the poem but Donne's original take on what love is remains
with us today in popular musical lyrics for example.
Stanza
1
Knowing
that the title means good morning (Good-Morrow is
archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone. Donne liked to join some of
his words with a hyphen) the reader has a clue that the scene is set early in
the day.
The
first-line takes the reader into the mind of the first-person speaker, who is
either asking himself or his lover a puzzling question. Note the language, it's
17th century English, so thou means you and by my troth means in
all honesty or truth.
The
first line runs on into the second (enjambment) and the caesurae (pauses caused
by punctuation) ensure that the reader cannot go too quickly through these
words. This is a carefully phrased question.
And
that small phrase Did,
till we loved? is important because it gives sense to the
previous line and sets the poem off proper. Just what kind of existence did the
pair have before they became lovers before they fell in love?
It's a
question many lovers have asked because when two become firmly entrenched in
love it's as if the time previous to their meeting holds no value. They never
lived, they didn't do anything meaningful.
Were we
not weaned till then? To be weaned is to be
influenced from an early age; to be a baby or an infant gradually given adult
food whilst coming off a diet of mother's milk. The speaker is implying that
they were infants before they loved it.
the third line reinforces this sense of childish existence the two had to go
through. The country
pleasures are either crude sensualities or immature sexual
pleasures, mere surface experiences.
Or they
lived life asleep as it were. The allusion is to the Seven Sleepers, Christian
youths who fled from the Roman emperor Decius (249-251) and were sealed in a
cave. They slept for nearly two hundred years so the story goes, waking up in a
world where Christianity had taken hold.
So the implication is that these two lived as if asleep until they fell in love and
woke up - their love became a kind of new religion for them.
These
four lines, with alternate rhymes, form a quatrain. The end three lines
consolidate meaning, have the same end rhymes and have that final hexameter, a
long line.
Twas
so; ...the speaker confirms that, yes, before they were lovers
any pleasures were not real; it was as if they were infants asleep, not really
awake but merely dreaming.
And
Donne being Donne he goes on to say that his desires were fulfilled - he got
what he wanted out of beauty - but even that wasn't real, it was only a dream.
