Describe three poems by John Donne the theme of love

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Assignment 2

 

 

In this assignment I will be talking about the way John Donne uses the theme of love in three of his poem, The Good Morrow, Break of Day and The Canonization, and how the theme of love develops throughout the poems.

 

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.

 

We can tell that the poet is writing about the past tense on the second line of the first paragraph, “Did, till we loved? were we not wean’d till then?” The reader gets the suggestion that, as he is talking about the past, he use to live on the countryside, “But suck’d on country pleasures.”

This first paragraph has used many rhetorical questions. It comes across to the reader that he is reflecting back on the past. All of the questioning sounds like he is ‘lost’ or confused about something.  

The poet seems to be praising something on line six, “If ever any beauty I did see”. We can not tell whether or not it’s a human being that he is referring to as he does not say in the poem.

The reader may suggest that the poet is trying to put across that the ‘beauty’ is completely out of his league and that he is unable to capture it, “which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee”. Because the poems theme is love, many may argue that the poet is in fact relating to love not beauty. Perhaps its not the beauty that he is unable to get but love; he is referring to the beauty of love itself.

 

The first line of the second paragraph sounds like the author is opening another chapter, “And now good-morrow to our waking souls”. It sounds like the author is preaching on lines 12, 13 & 14, “let sea-discoverers”, “Let maps to other”, “Let us posses”. Some may argue that it seems like the author is trying to lead the path towards love. People have managed to reach their goal so why cant they? He is trying to say that perhaps if you put your mind towards something then you can accomplish it, referring to love. This second paragraph is very different to the first paragraph. The structure and flow of this paragraph makes it sound like the poet is being very straight forward compared to the first paragraph where he used many rhetorical questions.

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The first line on the third paragraph, “My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears” is a metaphor. His face is not in the other person’s eye literally. Some may argue that he is simply explaining how close they may be either emotionally or even physically in a sexual nature. The interpretation of the sexual content may in fact be due to line 16, “And true plain hearts do in the faces rest”. Some may believe that the heart may be disguised as the female breast. It sounds like the author is trying to prove a point on ...

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