The school of John Donne and The school of Jonson

1.     The school of John Donne

It appeared in the 17^th century. The founder of this school is John Donne which contains or includes poet like Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and George Herbert. A metaphysical poets (who are dealing with philosophical) or are the poets who express a philosophical views and thoughts in his poetry. He is interested in presenting his experiences and in presenting the analytical nature of things.

The characteristics of Metaphysical poetry:

1. The Metaphysical poetry appeared as creation against the Elizabethan form and expression. In other words, it appeared against the Elizabethan poetry.

2. The Metaphysical poets were very intellectual and their intellect reveals their awareness of variety of attitude towards their experiences.

3. they were interested in presenting their experiences and they wanted to find a connection between their experience and their feeling.

4. the metaphysical poets were interested in presenting conceit in their poetry, a comparison between two different things or experience.

5. The poetry of metaphysical poetry reflects philosophical views and thoughts.

6. The Metaphysical poets are very wittily and their wit affected their poems too much.

7. The language of Metaphysical poets is direct, natural and conversation.

8. The Metaphysical poems reflect the dramatic qualities in the structure of these poems (they address person like a dialogue or conversation.

9. Love in the Metaphysical poems is different or is treated quite different from the 

    Elizabethan poems, the Metaphysical poets do not treat their beloved as goddess 

    figure or as ideal persons. Instead, they deal with the (beloved) as a human 

    being.

2.     The school of Jonson

The second school is named as the school of Ben Jonson. The members of this school are: Ben Jonson, the master of the school; Robert Herrick, Edmund Walter, Richard Lovelace and Sir. John Suckling.

The characteristics of Jonson's poetry:

1. Jonson's followers are sometime called the "Sons of Ben" or the "Tribe of Ben" because they drew from him their chief guidance in poetry.

2. Jonson's great influence on Seventeenth Century poetry matched and coincided with that of Donne.

3. The poets of this school were also influence to some extent by Donne.

4. Jonson's poetry was another reaction against the Spenserian and Elizabethan traditions.

5. Jonson brought to lyric poetry a new craftsmanship and a new tone, his sense of decorum, clarity, proportion, and classical form was coupled with tough realism and a language which never seemed far removed from colloquial English.   

6. Jonson had assimilated classical influences to develop a personal mode. His adherence to classical forms and styles did not only influence his followers, but also made him the most important forerunner of the Neo-classical movement of the eighteenth century. 

7. These poets were influenced by the major Roman Poets, such as Virgil and Horance Left the Motto of "seizing the day for tomorrow we shall die" This motto is called Carp-diem. These poets search for earthy pleasure and the main subject of their poems is the woman who is to be the beloved.

8. Lovelace, Suckling, and Waller are the Courtiers, or the Cavaliers. They have learned much from Jonson's verse (order and balance, clarity, compression and precision, and restraint of emotion). They described as imitators who standardized and simplified the mode they drew from Ben.

a. Lovelace fought with Charles I. The circumstances of his chivalrous life provided him with a perfect poetic opportunity. He uses Petrarchan imagery that is affected by the Metaphysical.

b. Suckling had the largest potentialities for poetry.

c. Waller's case is different. One may notice in his poetry Jonsonian neatness,  

     Cavalier ease and grace, and streaks of Metaphysical passionate thought. Some       of his poems written in the heroic couplet, illustrates the move toward epigram  

     (short, clever, and musing saying).  

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Sea-Fever by John Masefield's summary and analysis and themes

John Masefield's poem "Sea Fever" is a work of art that brings beauty to the English language through its use of rhythm, imagery and many complex figures of speech. The meter in "Sea Fever" follows the movement of the tall ship in rough water through its use of iambs and hard hitting spondees. Although written primarily in iambic meter, the meter in "Sea Fever" varies throughout the poem. The imagery in "Sea Fever" suggests an adventurous ocean that appeals to all five senses. Along with an adventurous ocean, "Sea Fever" also sets a mood of freedom through imagery of traveling gypsies. Perhaps, the most complex part of this poem is the use of personification and metaphor. These figures of speech go beyond the meter and imagery to compare life to a sea voyage and portray a strong longing for the sea. The two main themes of "Sea Fever" bring the reader closer to the sea and help the reader understand why the speaker must return to the sea. "Sea Fever" not only depicts a strong longing for the sea through its theme, but also through use of complex figures of speech, imagery, and meter.



"Sea Fever" is an excellent example of varied meter which follows the actions of a tall ship through high seas and strong wind. Lines one and two contain the common iambic meter found throughout the poem. "Sea Fever" may be categorized as a sea chantey due to its iambic meter and natural rhythm which gives it a song like quality. This song like quality is created through the use of iambic meter and alliteration. For example, lines three and ten contain the repeated consonant sound of the letter "w".



In line three, the meter becomes spondaic through the use of strongly stressed syllables. These spondees suggest the repeated slapping of waves against the bow of the ship. As a result, John Masefield creates an image of powerful ocean swells. In addition to the meter suggesting the repeated slap of the waves, "the wheel's kick" is a reference to the ship's steering wheel spinning out of control. To further support the theory of the waves slapping against the bow, "The wheels kick" suggests that the tall ship is traversing very storm seas. Through the combining of iambic and spondaic meter, "Sea Fever" not only gains a magnificent rhythm, but gives clues into the location and movement of the tall ship.



Perhaps, the most striking characteristic of "Sea Fever" is the remarkable imagery seen on each line throughout the poem. Images of a "gray mist" and a "gray dawn breaking" bring the poem to life by appealing to the senses. The powerful images bring the reader to the ocean and help the reader understand the strong longing the speaker has for the sea. Through the use of descriptive adjectives, the effectiveness of Masefield's imagery is increased. Specifically, words such as "whetted" and "flung" help create a realistic picture of the sea. Images of a "wild call" and a "clear call that may not be denied" describe a longing that is shared between the speaker and the ocean. Finally, images of a "lonely sea" and a "vagrant gypsy life" bring a mood of freedom and independence to the poem. Through the use of vivid descriptions and strong images of the sea, Masefield helps the reader to understand why the speaker must return to the sea.



Through the use of complex figures of speech, "Sea Fever" is transformed from an ordinary poem to a masterpiece. Masefield adds figures of speech such as, personification, to bring detailed descriptions of the ship and sea to the reader. In line four, the sea is personified when the water's surface is referred to as the "sea's face". In addition to personification, Masefield uses several similes and metaphors that increase the effectiveness of the already strong imagery. The simile "the winds like a whetted knife", appeals to the senses and helps the reader feel the cold wind blowing. The similes and metaphors seen in "Sea Fever" are easily recognized, but their meanings and implications may be viewed as anything but shallow or irrelevant to the poetic style of Masefield. One example of a metaphor is in line nine when the speaker compares "the vagrant gypsy life" to the ocean. "Sea Fever" is dominated by implied metaphors comparing the speakers life to the sea. For example, the word "trick" in line ten implies that the speaker's life has been like a sea voyage. The complex metaphors increase the emotional tone of "Sea Fever" and help the reader relate to the speaker's passion for the sea. Through the use of figures of speech such as personification, simile and metaphor, the poem is enhanced by further development of the theme and the imagery.



From the intensity of the speakers feelings, two themes are created that complement each other. First, a theme of longing for freedom and an adventurous ocean is developed. Although not the only theme, it is very recognizable and easily found after the initial reading of the poem. For example, this yearning for the sea can easily be seen in the refrain "I must go down to the seas again". The title "Sea Fever", shows the speakers hunger for an adventurous and free life. This hunger for life is also seen through references to the freedom of a sea gull and a whale in line ten. Equally important, Masefield uses strong metaphors to create a theme of life resembling a sea voyage. In line twelve, the speakers asks for a "quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over". The speaker is implying that life is a long sea journey and is requesting a peaceful afterlife. These two themes work together to convey the speakers passionate feelings for the sea and help the reader to further understand the sea's importance to the speaker.



"Sea Fever" uses meter, imagery, and figures of speech so effectively that the reader is brought to the sea. The iambic and spondaic meter along with alliteration give "Sea Fever" a natural rhythm that coincides with the movement of the sea. The refrain "I must go down to the seas again" is one of the many poetic devices used to show the strong longing the speaker has for the sea. Equally important, the dynamic imagery is seen practically on each line throughout the poem. The images in "Sea Fever" are strengthened through the use of figurative language. Masefield uses personification and similes to add vivid details of the wind, ship and sea. Perhaps, the most puzzling element of "Sea Fever" is the implied metaphors. Furthermore, the simple themes in "Sea Fever", consist of the longing the speaker has for the sea and the comparison of life to a sea voyage. In conclusion, "Sea Fever" employs meter, imagery, and figurative language to help strengthen the themes and help the reader gain an understanding of the speaker's desire to return to the sea.

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John Keats Ode to Autumn summary and analysis

John Keats‟ “Ode to Autumn”

Type of Work

......."To Autumn" is a romantic ode, a dignified but highly lyrical (emotional) poem in which the author speaks to a person or thing absent or present. In this famous ode, the speaker addresses autumn personified while developing his theme. The romantic ode was at the pinnacle of its popularity in the nineteenth century. It was the result of an author’s deep meditation on his subject. 
.......The romantic ode evolved from the ancient Greek ode, written in a serious tone to celebrate an event or to praise an individual. The Greek ode was intended to be sung by a chorus or by one person. The odes of the Greek poet Pindar (circa 518-438 BC) frequently extolled athletes who participated in games at Olympus, Delphi, the Isthmus of Corinth, and Nemea. Bacchylides, a contemporary of Pindar, also wrote odes praising athletes. 
.......The Roman poets Horace (65-8 BC) and Catullus (84-54 BC) wrote odes based on the Greek model, but their odes were not intended to be sung. In the nineteenth century, English romantic poets wrote odes that retained the serious tone of the Greek ode. However, like the Roman poets, they did not write odes to be sung. Unlike the Roman poets, though, the authors of nineteenth-century romantic odes generally were more emotional in their writing. 
Composition and Publication Dates
.......John Keats completed "To Autumn" in September 1819. The London firm of Taylor and Hessey published the ode in 1820 as part of a collection entitled Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems.
Source of Inspiration
.......Keats explained the source of inspiration for "To Autumn" in a letter to John Hamilton Reynolds (1794-1852), a friend and fellow poet. Keats wrote,

How beautiful the season is now—How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather—Dian skies—I never liked stubble-fields so much as now—Aye better than the chilly green of the spring. Somehow, a stubble-field looks warm—in the same way that some pictures look warm. This struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it. (quoted in Stephens 917)

Work Cited

Stephens, James; Edwin L. Beck, and Royall H. Snow. English Romantic Poets. New York: American Book Company, 1961.








Themes
Season of Fruition
.......Autumn is the season of fruition. It yields the bounty that sustains life—grapes, apples, pumpkins, squash, nuts, and honey—and fills the granaries with the field harvest. Then, to the mournful sound of gnats riding the wind, the sun sets on the season and “gathering swallows twitter in the skies.”
.......People also bear fruit—children, poems, scientific and technological advancements. They teach, build, heal, entertain, and advocate for change; they give time and money.  And then they fall asleep on a furrow as “barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day  / And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue.”
Contentment
.......Because autumn is a season of fulfillment, when the fruits of labor abound, it is also a season of contentment. Personified autumn reflects this contentment when it sits 

                  careless on a granary floor, 
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; 
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies (lines 14-16)

End Rhyme

.......The end rhyme of the first stanza is abab cde dcce. The end rhyme of the second and third stanzas is abab cde cdde.
Internal Rhyme
.......The poem also contains internal rhyme. Here are examples. 

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells (line 7)
Until they think warm days will never cease (line 10)
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (line 12)
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind (line 15)
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep (line 16)
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook (line 17)
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep (line 19)

Meter

.......The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, as the second line demonstrates. 

........1.....................2...............3..............4..............5
Close BOS,..|..om-FRIEND..|..of THE..|..ma TUR..|..ing SUN

Text of the Poem

 
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; 
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; 
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,      
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
To swell the gourd,¹ and plump the hazel² shells 
With a sweet kernel;³ to set budding more, 
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease; 
For Summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells.⁴................ 11

Who hath not seen thee⁵ oft amid thy store?⁶
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find 
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, 
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; 
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,⁷
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook 
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers: 
And sometimes like a gleaner⁸ thou dost keep 
Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
Or by a cyder-press,⁹ with patient look, 
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.................... 22
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— 
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day 
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; 
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river-sallows,¹⁰ borne aloft 
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;¹¹  
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;¹²
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies........................... 33

.

.

Notes
.
1.....gourd: Plant family that includes pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and squash.
2.....hazel: Having to do with trees and shrubs that produce edible nuts, such as hazelnuts (filberts). 
3.....kernel: Nut inside a hazel shell. Hazel shells are referred to in line 7.
4.....their clammy cells: Hexagonal-shaped wax cells that make up a beehive.
5.....thee: Autumn personified.
6.....store: granary; storehouse.
7.....Thy hair . . . asleep: Autumn personified is seen one moment in the granary and in another moment asleep in a field.
8.....gleaner: Gatherer of grains.
9.....cyder- press: Cider press, a machine that extracts juice from apples. The juice is used to make cider.
10...wailful choir . . . sallows: The choir of gnats provides the music referred to in line 24. The gnats' song is a dirge signaling the end of autumn. A sallow is a willow tree. 
11...bourn: boundary.
12...croft: Small plot of land.
.

Figures of Speech

.......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem. (For definitions of figures of speech, click here.)
Alliteration

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (line 1)
Conspiring with him how to load and bless (line 3)
With a sweet kernel to set budding more (line 8)
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (line 12)

Apostrophe

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?  (lines 12)
The speaker addresses autumn.

Assonance

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep (line 19)

Metaphor

                   later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease
Comparison of bees to humans. (Only humans can think.)

Personification

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; 
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run (lines 1-4)
Comparison of autumn and the sun to persons

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn (line 27)
Comparison of gnats to humans. (Only humans can mourn.)

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The Good-Morrow by John Donne summary and analysis

"The Good-Morrow"

 

I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I

Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then?

But suck'd on countrey pleasures, childishly?

Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?

T'was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee.

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dreame of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking soules,

Which watch not one another out of feare;

For love, all love of other sights controules,

And makes one little roome, an every where.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,

Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have showne,

Let us possesse one world; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appeares,

And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest,

Where can we finde two better hemispheares

Without sharpe North, without declining West?

What ever dyes, was not mixed equally;

If our two loves be one, or, thou and I

Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.

The subject.

This is one of Donne's best known poems, and a perfect sample of his way. The subject is love, love seen as an intense, absolute experience, which isolates the lovers from reality but gives them a different kind of awareness; a simultaneous narrowing and widening of reality.

The contents:

The poem is divided in three stanzas:

 -  In the first one the lover rejects the life he led until he met his present love. He describes it as childish ("were we not weaned," "childishly") and unconscious, a kind of sleep ("Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den"?). His past loves must not be considered as serious, since he was not completely aware of himself at the time. So, they are rejected:

. . . But this, all pleasures fancies be;

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

 -  The second stanza is, in contrast, a celebration of the present. Each soul has "awakened" to the other, and has discovered a whole world in it. The union is self-sufficient; the "little room" where they are is all the world, "an everywhere." Consequently, the outer world is rejected, under the symbols of maps and discoverers. Up to now, the poet has cut off his superfluous experience; past time (the first stanza), external space (2nd stanza). He seems to be saying "Here and now."

 -  The third stanza shows the perfect sincerity and adequation of both lovers, and it adds a hope for the future to that assertion of the present we have met in the first stanza. This perfect love is not only immortal: it makes the lovers immortal, too:

If our two love be one, or thou and I

Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.

3. Metrical scheme

1          U  _ U / U  U  _ /_  _  U  _                 10 A

_/ U  U _/ =  U  U  _  U  _ /                10 B

U _  U  _  U  _  U / _  U U /               10 A

U _  U  _  UU_ U  _  U _ /                 11 B

5          _ _/ U _ /  = _  U  _  U _ /                   10 C

            U  _ U  _  U _  U _  U  _ /                  10 C

            U _  U _ /  U _ //_ U  U _  U _ //        12 C

            U _ _ _  U  U UU _ U  _ /                     11 D

            U _  U _  U _ U _ U _ /                         10 E

10        U _ _ _  U _ U _ U _ /                                    10 D

            U _  U _  U _ U _ U _ /                                  10 E

            __  U _  U U  =_ U _ /                                    11 F

            __  U _  U/_ U  _ U _/                                    10 F

            _ U  U _ _ _//_ U _ U_ _//                  12 F

15        U _  U U  = /_ U _ U _/                                  11 G

            U _  _ _ U U U _ U _/                                    10 H

            _ U  U _ _ _ U _ U _/                         10 G

            U  U _ _/ U  U  U _ U _/                                10 H

            U _  U _/ _ U UU_ U U/                                10 A

20        U  U _ U  U _ / U _ U _                                 10 A

            _ U  U _ U _ U _ U // _ _ _//              12 A

I use (/) to mark internal pauses and verse pauses; (//) to mark caesura and strophic pause.

This stanza form is not traditional: it may have been invented by Donne. The decasyllables are used in the sonnet, but Donne adds a 12-syllable line at the end which gives a nice and nearly imperceptible variety to the scheme and rounds off the stanza.

It is worth noting that some of the rhymes have changed sound since the seventeenth century: "one" (line 14) does no longer rhyme with "gone" (line 12) or "shown" (line 13). The rhymes "childishly"/"I" and "equally"/"die"/"I" are now imperfect ones. Although the rhyme in /ai/ resumed at the end of the poem makes Donne repeat one rhyming word, "I" (1ines 1 and 20), the two instances are far apart and this is not a major defect in the rhyme-scheme.

Lines 9 and 11 have no real metrical regularity, unless we pronounce "fear" (line 9) as a monosyllable and "discoverers" (line 11)  in the relaxed form [dis'k_^vr¶z], not suitable to poetic style. But then syllabic regularity is not essential in English verse, which is mainly accentual; foreign schemes must adapt themselves to the characteristics of the English language. Some of the stresses (marked =) would be anomalous in an Italian or Spanish decasyllable (or rather hendecasyllable), but Donne was never too careful with this kind of harmony - in Ben Jonson's words, "for not keeping of accent, he deserved hanging". Donne would not subordinate the idea to the rhythm. Whether this is a vice or a virtue is a matter of opinion.

4. Ornamentation

We are going to examine in the first place those figures of speech that contribute to enhance musicality, not sense; those that could be appreciated on hearing the poem even by a person with no knowledge of English. Of course, the main of these are the metrical scheme and the rhyme, but these are taken almost for granted in a poem of the seventeenth century, and deserve a separate section.

- Alliteration is a device frequently used by Donne. There are several instances in our poem:

            Line 2: ". . . Were we not wean'd till then?"

            Line 4: "Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?"

            Here alliteration has an onomatopoeic character; alliteration in  - s appears in two words related to sleep, "snorted" and "sleepers", helping thus to underline the sense.

- Anaphora in lines 12, 13 and 14; "Let sea-discoverers . . . Let  maps . . . let us . . . "

- Epanadiplosis in line 1 (though perhaps a chance one):

"I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I . . . "

- Parallelism of construction on two occasions:

            Line 18: without sharp north, without declining west

                           PREP    ADJ    N       PREP   ADJ     N

            Line 15: M y face  in     thine   eye,    thine      in    mine . . . "

                         POSS+N PREP POSS+N   POSS.Pron. PREP POSS Pron.

Both parallelisms are strongly emphasized byt the pause in the middle of the line. They appear in association with other figures, such as

- chiasm: Line 15: My face in thine eye, thine in mine . . . "

                        1st p. poss.      2nd. p. poss. 2nd pl. poss. 1st p. poss.

- Reduplication (present too in several other instances):

           

            Line 10: "For love all love of other sights controls"

            Line 13: "Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown"

            The word "world" or "worlds" is also present in lines 12 and 14, but the effect is not so conspicuous.

            Line 14: "Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one"

Line 15: "My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears"

                                                   (1)                 (2)

            It is of no consequence that (1) is an adjective while (2) is a pronoun; the effect is the saqme as far as the ear is concerned.

            Line 18: "Without sharp north, without declining west"

            Line 21: ". . . love so alike that none do slacken, none can die"

Now for the figures of speech which add to the sense: it is in these that Donne's imagination ran more freely:

- Rhetorical interrogative  -  The first four lines are a series of these:

            - "I wonder . . .what thou and I / Did, till we lov'd?"

             Were we not wean'd till then?

            But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?

            Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?"

- Exclamation: Line 1: "by my troth"

- Invocation: In line 8, the poet addresses himself to his soul and his lover's, and wishes them a "good-morrow". In fact, the whole of the poem is a sort of invocation; the poet is speaking to his lady, who doesn't intervene.

- Metonymy: Line 6: "If ever any beauty I did see"

Beauty = beautiful woman. In fact, this is everyday speech. The same occurs in lines 8 (souls = minds, people) and 16 (heart=mind, especially if in love). A far more interesing metonymy is developed in line 14:

"Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one".

So, each lover is a world for the other. If I consider this a metonymy rather than a metaphor, it is because of Donne's cultural background. At that time it was widely held - it was the traditional belief - that man was a "microcosm": everything was ordered in the "macrocosm" or universe just as it was in man; fluids governed the body just as elements governed the macrocosm; man's destiny was already fixed in the stars. Knowledge of the world was knowledge of man, and vice-versa. So it was not difficult for a 17th-century man to think that a person can assume the proportions of a whole world. Love makes the lover's attention focus on a part of that great whole. The part is named with the name of the whole (metonymy).

- Metaphors are fairly frequent:

Implicit metaphor in lines 2-3 "Were we not wean'd till then? But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?" The state of the lovers prior to their falling in love with each other is identified with childhood. The explicit metaphor would be "we were babies before we loved".

There is another implicit metaphor in line 4. It runs much in the same way as the other: "Or snorted  we in the Seven Sleepers' den?"

This time, the previous state of both lovers is identified with sleep. Explicitly: "We were asleep before we loved".

Line 5: "But this, all pleasures fancies be".

Line 6-7: ". . . any beauty I did see . . .was but a dream of thee".

This metaphor is the direct consequence of the one in line 4: if the lover was asleep, it is altogether fitting that anything he saw should be a dream. It is easy to see how these metaphors enhance the contents of the poem.

Line 8: "And now good-morrow to our waking souls".

This is but another extension of the metaphors in lines 3 and 7. We have already seen that the first stanza deals with the past, and that the metaphors were those of unconsciousness (childhood and sleep). The second stanza deals with the present, with the lovers having discovered one another, and, accordingly, this is dealt with with a metaphor of waking in the first line of the stanza. "The "good-morrow" with which Donne addresses the two lovers could be interpreted as a metaphor of the whole of thie poem, if we suppose the latter to be autobiographical and as sincere as as it seems to be; the "good-morrow" in the poem is the lover's rejoicing because of the love he and his lady have found in each other; "The Good-Morrow" (the poem) amouts to very much the same in real life. The title would be fully justified.

Line 11: "Love . . . makes one little room an everywhere".

This is in the same line as the metonymy "lover = world". The outer world is discarded and the little room becomes an "everywhere".

Line 16: "And true plain hearts do in the faces rest".

Sincerity is depicted as a heart "resting" on a face: no secret intentions for the lovers; their faces show their hearts. They are externally and internally just as true to one another.

Lines 17-18: "Where can we find two better hemispheres

                        Without sharp north, without declining west?"

The lovers were called "worlds" in line 14. Now the idea is rounded off; they are not worlds, they are "hemispheres". This adds three notions to the previous idea. First, the lovers aren't complete by themselves, they need each other. A hemisphere is a perfect metaphor for any incomplete thing. Second, once the lovers are together, they form not only a complete body, but a whole world (the word "hemisphere" suggests half of the world). Third, the being they form when they are together is perfect: perfection has been associated with the spheric shape since Greek times (Democritus, Parmenides). So the world they form will have no imperfections, no sharp north or declining west. "Sharp" may stand for quarrels between the lovers, and "declining" for the gradual decay of love because of time. This last metaphor opens the way for the final conceit, which states the idea in a bolder way: immortal love makes the lovers immortal.

This last metaphor is an implicit one. It is quite complicated, for it takes Donne three lines to develop it:

            Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;

            If our two loves be one, or thou and I

            Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.

The first line (19) is, poetically speaking, rather superfluous, but it is necessary to make the reader understand the nature of the metaphor that follows. It is an allusion to a scholastic theory concerning matter, which is based on Aristotle's ideas on heavenly and sublunary bodies. According to that theory, heavenly bodies are eternal, they don't change, while sublunary matter is composed of elements in endless changing combinations and warfare. Sublunary matter cannot reach stability because it is not "mix'd equally". Donne applies this as a metaphor of eternal love in lines 20-21. If the total love which is formed with the love of each of the members of the couple is in perfect poise, that love will be a perfect body, a heavenly being, and it will never die. If love can never cease, it means that the couple will go on living and loving each other forever. This image is very typical of Donne, and a perfect sophism.

So much for the figures of speech. One more thing to note: the overtly hyperbolic character of the metaphors, in accordance with the subject of the poem. In line 4, the hyperbole already present in the metaphor of sleep is rounded out with an allusion to the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus; these were seven Christian youths who slept for two hundred years in the cave where they had been immured during Decius' persecution (AD 251).

5. Conclusion

The general characteristics we attributed to Donne's poetry in section 1 are all present in this poem. In section two, we have seen that it follows one of Donne's two optional views of love, love as a nearly mystical experience which defies mutability, in contrast to the cynical attitude of other poems ("The Flea", or "Woman's Constancy" among the best known). In section 3, the metrical scheme has proved itself to be original, although slightly imperfect. Donne's poems gain nevertheless in conversational directness and sincerity what they lack in rhythm. In section 4 we have observed the imagery to be in perfect tune with the contents of the poem. Even figures of speech such as parallelism or chiasm help to underline a sense of reciprocity between the lovers. As for the metaphors and other figures of thought, they carry Donne's seal. It is interesting to compare the last and most important metaphor of the poem to these lines of "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning":

Dull sublunary lovers love

(Whose soule is sense) cannot admit

Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

The allusion is the same and is used in much the same way. It is not difficult to understand why Donne was termed a "metaphysical" poet.

The poem is a moving one: the emotion it carries can be seen even in the language, which is overtly emphatical; there are three instances of affirmative clauses with "do" in only 21 lines (liness 6, 16, 21). Even the adverb "everywhere" (line 11) is turned into a noun to make the expression stronger. The impression of totality, of closeness and of rejection of the outer world that the poem conveys finds here its perfect expression, although it can be found in other poems by Donne, such as "The Sun Rising", whose last three lines run thus (the poet is also in a room with his lover, addressing the sun):

                        . . . since thy duties be

                        To warm the world, that's done in warming us,

                        Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;

                        This bed thy centre is; these walls, thy sphere.

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The Good-morrow is one of Donne's happy love songs, celebrating the joys of a completely unified love. We can compare it, therefore, with The Sunne Rising and The Extasie. If the lovers are so unchanging in their love, they will achieve immortality, since only what changes, dies. The poem is driven by a central image: that the two lovers make up a complete world. Nothing really exists outside of their world; it is self-sufficient, self-absorbing.

The first stanza

The first stanza of the poem is where the speaker, who is one of the lovers talking to his partner, looks back to when they were not in love. That time seems unreal. They were children, naïve, asleep even. Whatever pleasures they experienced were mere unrealities (‘fancies’) compared to what they have now. Any beauty (we presume any female beauty) was, again, a mere dream to be set against the present intense and concrete reality.

The second stanza

The second stanza of the poem suggests that the lovers have woken now into true reality, out of the shadows of night. In fact, they make their own reality. The room where they are in bed is their world, and nothing exists outside its walls. Yes, the poet says, there may be worlds out there: let discoverers go and find them or map-makers draw them, but let us use our time possessing our own private world.

The third stanza

One complete world suggests that each is a hemisphere perfectly complementing the other. The poet concludes by suggesting that if they can stay totally constant as lovers, then they cannot die, since, according to current thinking, only what is contrary or of different measure can disintegrate. A perfect harmony or completeness will be theirs.

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The good morrow by John Donne is considered to be one of the best poems belonging to the metaphysical school of poetry. This poem is the poet’s words to his beloved after a night of love making. This Good morrow summary will help the readers unravel the beautiful meaning behind the complex metaphysical conceit in this poem and once that barrier is done away with; this poem will come across as one of the most powerful love poetry of all times. Follow this article for complete explanation and analysis of the Good Morrow by John Donne.

Metaphysical Poets

• Metaphysical poems and metaphysical poetry has really become an epitome of english poetry.
• With poets like John Donne, the tentacles of metaphysical poetry has really spread far and wide.
• Some popular metaphysical poets of seventeenth century are DONNE,VAUGHAN, MARVELL and TRAHERNE, and popular figures like ABRAHAM COWLEY are sometimes included in the list.

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.

Understanding the Theme of the poem Good Morrow by John Donne

• This Good Morrow meaning will help the readers in understanding the link which:-
• Donne draws from medieval alchemy towards the end of the poem to explain the immortality of the love which he shares with his beloved.
• The poet says to his loved one that their love is indestructible since it is pure.
• It is the hardest to relax the bonds of pure substances.
• The mixing of two things causes impurity which threatens the longevity of substances.
• The lovers do not feel this threat since their love is not mixed with any selfish demands or intentions of any kind and is perfectly pure.
• With such a strong bond of love between them the poet is convinced that nothing can ever decrease or stop the stream of love which flows between his beloved and him.

The Good Morrow Meaning - Stanza One

• In the beginning of the Good morrow poem, the poet asks his beloved how they used to spend their lives before they had met each other. With his beloved in arms, the poet realizes how empty his life was before he had met her. He considers that phase of their lives to be as meaningless as the ones spent in slumber by the seven sleepers of Ephesus in the den when they were trying to escape wrath of the tyrant Emperor Decius. Being without his beloved was as insignificant as those years which the seven sleepers had spent sleeping. It means that those years bore no importance in his life anymore. During those days when he was yet to discover true love, he would make up for that emptiness by indulging in other pleasures of life but now after understanding the meaning of love he realizes that those pleasures were very artificial. Now it seems to the poet as if he was a small child during those days who was being weaned on these materialistic pleasures of the world in the absence of true love which was like mother’s milk to that child. During those days all objects of beauty that he came across were nothing but her beloved’s reflection. To the poet her beloved was like a beautiful dream which was turned into reality. In this Good morrow analysisit is worth mentioning that through false pleasures the poet might be indicating towards his various liaisons with other women which were just a reflection of the beauty which his true lover filled him with.

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.

The Good Morrow Poem Analysis - Stanza Two

• In the second stanza of “The good morrow” the poet sheds light upon the bliss which envelops the lovers. He says that their souls rise in the light of the new morning of love in their lives. Their hearts are devoid of any kind of fear of commitment, misunderstanding or losing the one they love. Their presence in the each other’s life means so much to them that nothing catches their attention anymore. Donne proposes his loved one to turn their tiny room in which they make love into their only world. He says that he does not care about how much the sea discoverers expand the boundaries of the world with their discoveries. During those times when maritime discoveries were given utmost importance, the new inclusions to the map of the world meant nothing to the poet since his world only comprised of his beloved and him.Their respective worlds have now been fused into one. This drawing of an intellectual parallel from astronomy and geography strengthens the metaphysics of the poem.

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.

Summary of Good Morrow - Stanza Three

• Next the poet talks about theunique beauty of the lovewhich he and his beloved share. Donne says that that sometimes he and his beloved stare into each other’s eyes so longingly that they can see their faces in the other’s eyes. This refection of faces in the eyes reveals the true hearts of the lovers. Their hearts are true and spotless in love. This means that their love for each other enables the lovers to get rid of all their bad traits and harsh feelings towards the world which helps them become better people. The poet further adds that unlike the world which is divided in hemispheres, their world of love knows no boundaries. It does not have a sharp cold northern hemisphere. Nor does it have a western hemisphere which has to bid farewell to the sun. By drawing this reference to Geography again, the poet tries to give us an insight into theunparalleled bliss of his world of love where it is always warm and sunny.

Conclusion to the poem The Good Morrow

Thus through “The Good morrow” we see that love is capable of elevating a person to new heights from where he views his love and the world around him in a different light.

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