The Good-Morrow
John Donne, 1572 – 1631
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not wean’d till then?
But suck’d 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 mix’d equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.
Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza by Stanza
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.
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 longer 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.
Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza 2
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 line reflects the Renaissance idea that an individual held within them the universe.
The last three lines of this stanza are related to 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.
Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza 3
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 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.
THEMES AND POETIC TECHNIQUES IN THE POEM
“The Good Morrow” is a specially envisioned love poem which is celebrated by modern readers because of its contemporary take on love. Before going through the critical analysis of Good Morrow, it needs to be understood that Love has been defined here as a state of eternal bliss where the body and the soul are not divorced but work as a single orchestrated unit to offer a divine experience to the lovers. Donne has developed this theme by a blend of dramatic progression of thoughts and intensity of feelings. The poem emphasizes upon a spiritual awakening after the lovers wake up from their carnal past which awards “The Good Morrow” with titular justification.
The thematological exploration of the main body of the poem brings to our notice its trio-partite structure where the first part sheds light upon the past of the lovers which was riddled by their encounters with make-believe beauties. The lovers indulged in these meaningless liaisons to make up for the absence of a true love which concertize every abstract entity of human desire. Donne has compared that past to “snorting” in “seven sleeper’s den” and “weaning” on “country’s pleasures childishly” in two separate metaphysical conceits to express his passionate contempt and rejection. The poet’s disgust however diffuses when he realizes that his carnal past led to his divine present which paves way for the second element of the theme.
The theme for the second part of Good Morrow begins in the manner of a traditional aubade – “And now good morrow to our waking souls” where the physical act of waking up has been compared to a spiritual awakening. This is where the title of the poem is viewed in an intricate relationship with the theme. “Good Morrow” refers to the lovers’ acknowledgement of their divine present where the binarization of platonic and physical has crumbled to give a totality of experience that blinds the lovers to the world around as they are completely encapsulated in their “little room”. It is worth noticing here that the “morrow” would not have arrived without the lovers’ act of physical union in the preceding night which establishes that the way to spiritual love is through material fulfillment and not by dismissing the latter. It is this union of sexual and philosophical love as a unified sensibility which is important for a “Good morrow” in the lives of the lovers. The relationship which the poet shares with his beloved is based on the fundamentals of assurance and trust. There is perfect mutuality between the lovers but this mutuality never infringes their individuality – “Each hath one and is one”
The third part of the poem gives us a glimpse of the lovers’ futures which the poet believes will stretch till eternity. This is because he has awarded their love the quintessence of the fifth element of nature owing to its purity. This purity has vested the poet’s love with the powers of immortality such that it can counter and surmount all the destructive effects of death.
Thus we see that by establishing a link between the past, present and the future of the lovers, Donne has succeeded in developing the theme of the spiritual and emotional greatness of a perfectly passionate secular love. The title suggests that a spiritual awakening in love that has been triggered by physical union is responsible for the quintessence of true love.
The Metre (Meter in American English) of The Good-Morrow.
The Good-Morrow has a basic iambic pentameter template, that is, 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.
- But there odd exceptions here and there – some lines with an extra beat for example (11 syllables), others with trochees, spondees and anapaests, which alter rhythm and so bring added interest for the reader.
- The syntax (the way clauses and grammar work together) is also complex in some places. Extra pauses are needed here and there which together with enjambment mixes up the rhythm within the lines.
Let’s get close up to the metrical beat with a full analysis line by line:
I won / der, by / my troth, / what thou / and I
Did, till / we loved? / Were we / not weaned / till then?
But sucked / on count / rypleas / ures, chil / dishly?
Or snor / ted we / in the Sev / en Sleep / ers’den?
’Twas so; / but this, / all pleas / uresfanc / iesbe.
If ev / eran / 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 / erout / of fear;
For love, / all love / of oth / ersights / controls,
And makes / one lit / tleroom / an eve / rywhere.
Let sea- / discove / rersto / 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 / cesrest;
Where can / we find / two bet / terhem / ispheres,
Without /sharpnorth, / without /declin / ingwest?
Whatev / erdies, / 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.
There are 13 lines of pure iambic pentameter ( 1,6, 8-13, 16,17,19,20) with a regular daDUMdaDUM beat.
The second stanza has six of them but Donne’s syntax, use of punctuation and diction, is creative enough to disturb the plodding rhythm and adds tension and interest for the reader.
Note that in all stanzas the end line is longer, forming a hexameter (six feet) which underlines what has gone before.
The first stanza has only two lines of pure iambic pentameter so is the most mixed when it comes to rhythm and beat. The syntax too is complex, with many commas and sub-clauses. Each question posed by the speaker also has a tendency to slow the reader down, which reflects the careful reflection shown by the hesitant speaker.
The Literary Devices in The Good-Morrow
There are several literary devices in The Good-Morrow, including:
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.
The Structure/Form of The Good-Morrow.
The Good-Morrow is a three stanza poem, each stanza having 7 lines (heptet).
The rhyme scheme is unusual :ababcccthe first four lines of each stanza working together in alternate pairs, the last three lines being a conclusion or affirmation. All twenty one lines have mostly full rhyme, except for these near rhymes: I/childishly…fear/where…gone/shown..equally/I.
EVALUATION QUESTION
Examine the theme of love in the work.
GENERAL EVALUATIONS/REVISION QUESTIONS
- Highlights the poetic devices used in the poem.
- Comment on the mood and tone of the poem.
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read the themes of the poem in Exam Focus and summarise.
WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT
- In literary work, verbal irony refers to aA. device in which the speaker means the opposite of what he says. B. situation in which a character speaks or acts against the trend of events. C. difficult situation which defies a logical or rational resolution. D. device in which the actor on stage means exactly what he says.
- In the theatre, words spoken by a character that are meant to be heard by the audience but not by the other characters on stage is called A. aside. B. soliloquy. C. acoustic. D. tone.
- A poet’s use of regular rhythm is known as A. allegory. B. assonance. C. metre. D. onomatopoeia.
- A literary genre which directly imitates human action is A. drama. B. comedy. C. prose. D. poetry.
- The main aim of caricature is to A. describe. B. expose. C. emphasize. D. ridicule.
THEORY
Analyse the metaphysical features of the work..
EVALUATION QUESTIONS
- Comment on the content of the poem.
- Assess the poem as a metaphysical work..
GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS
- How does it capture the main idea?
- What are the dominant ideas in the poem?
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read the poem in Exam Focus and discuss the themes.
WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT
- __ is the location of the action of the plot. A. Setting B. Narrative technique C. point of view D. Characterisation
- A ballad is essentially a _ poem. A. descriptive B. dramatic C. pastoral D. narrative
- The first four lines of Shakespearean sonnet rhyme A. abcd. B. abba. C. abab. D. cdcd.
- A story in which characters or actions represent abstract ideas or moral qualities is A. an epic. B. a legend. C. an allegory. D. a satire.
- The use of imagery in prose or verse A. appeals to the senses. B. develops the plot. C. creates confusion. D. obscures meaning.
THEORY
Comment on the poem.
Read our disclaimer.
AD: Take Free online baptism course: Preachi.com
