The Good-Morrow
By John Donne
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.
Summary of The Good-Morrow
- Popularity of “The Good-Morrow”: This beautiful poem which is also called aubade, or a morning love poem, was written by John Donne, a metaphysical English poet of the seventeenth century. He is the most popular metaphysical poet today who prompted T. S. Eliot to revive the metaphysical movement in English poetic tradition. The poem first appeared in his collection of Song and Sonnets in 1633 and became an instant hit at that time when Donne was still at Lincoln’s Inn, studying law. The poem argues that even erotic love is equal to spiritual love.
- “The Good-Morrow” As a Representative of Sensual Love: The speaker poses several rhetorical questions about where, how, and what they were doing before they got involved in love with each other and responds that he always dreamed about her. His argument starts from this point, at which he presents a premise that now their souls have woken up to the reality of love and that they always look at each other not out of fear but that they do not require it. This is how they create a room of their own where they have their own world for the explorers. He builds his argument that both are now in unison and that both seem like two globes in one place. Therefore, they would continue to be a complex love example as they would never die.
- Major Themes in “The Good-Morrow”: Awakening of love, love of the souls, and love as an exploration are three major thematic strands of this poem. The poet after posing several questions, suddenly realizes that he has come to the point where he and his beloved experience the awakening of their souls. Now they see that they have started loving each other and their love is entirely different from others in that their souls are engaged in each other. This moment of love epiphany that both realize that they appear in each other’s eyes and that they are truly in love with each other in such a way that they seem to be two globes, presenting a perfect model to the adventurers and explorers. The main thematic strand that they will be one appears at the end when Donne says that if they love each other and that they are alike and their love is alike, they will never die.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Good-Morrow
John Donne used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices is analyzed below.
- Anaphora: It means to repeat a word or a phrase in consecutive verses for impacts. For example, the poet used “Let” as an anaphora in the second stanza.
- Allusion: It is a reference to a literary, historical, and social event, incident, or figure to show its importance in the existing context. The poet referred to Seven Sleeper’s den as well as the globe and hemispheres. These are religious and geographical allusions.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ and /i/ in “I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I” and the sound of /o/ in “And now good-morrow to our waking souls.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /w/ in “were we” or /s/ in “Seven Sleepers.”
- Conceit: It is a literary device that shows the use of a highly uncommon or unusual metaphor. The poem shows the use of union in love as a globe and two persons as hemispheres. This is a good use of conceit.
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /l/ in “For love, all love of other sights controls” and the sound of /m/ in “And makes one little room an everywhere.”
- Hyperbole: It means to exaggerate things whether in ironic remarks or reality. The poem shows the use of hyperbole such as the sea discoverers would explorer their world of love which is a hyperbole used to show their love.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. John Donne uses imagery in this poem, such as “My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears”, “And true plain hearts do in the faces rest” and “Where can we find two better hemispheres.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet used different metaphors, such as winds and waves comparing them to musicians and singers.
- Parallelism: It means to use parallel sentences or phrases or clauses. The poem shows the use of parallelism, such as “My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears.”
- Personifications: It means to attribute human traits to inanimate objects and ideas. The poem shows the use of personifications, such as winds, waves, leafy trees and hearts, have some human traits. Hence, they are good examples of personifications.
- Rhetorical Question: It means to use questions not to get answers but to stress upon the main theme. The poem shows the use of rhetorical questions, such as;
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?
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as flowers, bowers, birds, moons, and stars to show the blessings of God.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Good-Morrow
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows very good use of formal and poetic, ironic and loving diction.
- End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. John Donne has used end rhyme in this poem such as then/den, be/see/thee, and souls/controls.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows ABABCCC and this continues in all three stanzas.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem with each comprising seven verses such as given below.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a loving, religious and emotional tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote about intense love.
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.
