Critical Analysis:The Good Morrow by John Donne.

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Critical Analysis:

The Good Morrow

by John Donne

John Donne was born in 1572 in Elizabethan England into a devout Catholic family. A very religious man, he was persecuted for being Catholic and was not allowed to go to either Oxford or Cambridge to become a priest, so in order to achieve his ambitions he converted to Anglicanism. The priesthood inspired some extraordinary religious verse, but he is, if anything, more commonly known for his love songs and sonnets, which are marked by their diversity of moods and attitudes.

Donne is said to be a metaphysical poet. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy which deals with any matter beyond that which can be located through the senses; thus time, the mind, free will, God and in this case love, are all subjects of metaphysical thought. The Good Morrow is a prime example of one of Donne’s metaphysical poems. In common with other metaphysical verse, The Good Morrow has realistic settings and a metaphysical theme, or rather a theme about transcending from the physical to the metaphysical. The transformation is one concerning love; the poem is about transcending from a physical lust to a higher and refined form of love.

The structure of The Good Morrow is based on three interrelated verses. In the first verse, the poet describes the childishness of the previous loves of himself and his lover. In the second, the poet describes how wonderful their new found love is after having been spiritually awakened through each other. In the third verse, the poet describes how this love determines their future together. In other words, Donne has used a chronological structure for this poem; the first verse concerning the past, the second verse concerning the present and the third verse concerning the future. This structure is also implicit in the title of the poem. The Good Morrow describes the lovers’ present physical situation; that is, lying together in bed. They have physically and emotionally woken up from yesterday’s immature relationships, and are looking forward to spending tomorrow, and many more days beside, in love together. Throughout the poem we see Donne’s unique use of different types of conceit and imagery, from religious imagery to that of sea-discoverers and maps and even of masculinity and femininity.

The Good Morrow is a love song or an aubade (morning song). It is set in the morning, and makes the event of joyfully waking up with a loved one into an image of awakening into a new, adult life of love. The theme of awakening to a new type of love, or renaissance is implicit in the imagery, and as since the Renaissance itself was characterised by voyages of exploration and map making, it may be that Donne deliberately used the imagery of sea-discoverers, maps and worlds to act as a contrast to the inner, and more authentic, renaissance, or rebirth, of the lovers into mature love.

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The theme of awakening is also apparent in Donne’s use of religious imagery. However, it is interesting to question whether Donne’s change in religion from Catholicism to Anglicanism may have affected his poetry in terms of his use of visual imagery. For example, the only use of direct Christian imagery in the poem is in the line;

        Or snorted we in the seven sleepers’ den?

This metaphor is derived from the tale of seven Christians who were imprisoned in a cave and slept for hundreds of years, until they were finally awakened. On first sight, if one is ...

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