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 lines 17 & 18. It comes across like the figure is desperate for the other figure to love in return. Some may say that he is solely trying to say that they are a perfect match for one another. The author has chosen to end this poem say that their love would have been, “mixed equally”. “Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die”.
It may come across to the reader that in this final paragraph the author is explaining how perfect their love could be. The theme of love in this seems to build up by each paragraph. At first the author seems to reflect to the past perhaps on a previous love one. It then changes quite dramatically, he seems to be trying to lead the way into love and it then finished by him explaining how perfect the love could be.
Overall the figure in the poem comes across like he is desperate to love; we get the sense of desperation.
Break of Day
'TIS true, 'tis day ; what though it be?
O, wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise because 'tis light?
Did we lie down because 'twas night?
Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither,
Should in despite of light keep us together.
Light hath no tongue, but is all eye ;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst that it could say,
That being well I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honour so
That I would not from him, that had them, go.
Must business thee from hence remove?
O ! that's the worst disease of love,
The poor, the foul, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
He which hath business, and makes love, doth do
Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.
The poet has used rhetorical questioning in the beginning og the poem, “…what though it be?”, “…rise from me?”, “…because ‘tis light?” , “…because ‘twas night?” Already it comes across that the poet is again trying to prove a point as he did in the previous poem. We find that the point he is trying to prove is that of love, “Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither, should despite of light keep us together”. Although it was dark, love brought them together therefore whether light or not they should stay together. Some may interpret this in another way; they had sexual intercourse during the night so they can also have sex during the day.
The poet has used metaphors to begin the second paragraph, “light hath not tongue, but is all eye”. The poet is trying to say that the sun can not talk but it can see. “If it could speak as well as spy”, the poet is attempting to say that only if the sun could speak as well as it sees. Some may argue that from here we find that the poet is talking about a gay relationship as there is no female figure but a male one, “him”. If this were the case then some would believe that line 9, “This were the worst day it could say”, means that it were a sin to have a gay relationship at the time and he wanted no one to know. We strengthen the idea that this is about a gay relationship on line 12, “That I would not from him, that had them, go”.
The first two lines of the final paragraph may be speaking sexually perhaps of prostitution, “Must business thee from hence remove? O! That’s the worst disease of love”. ‘Business’ may be relating to paying the prostitute. Or it may even be interpreted that being gay is much of a sin as prostitution, whilst love is being interpreted as sex. The poem becomes upbeat on line 15, “The poor, the foul, the false”. Some may believe that lines 15 &16 basically say that love can admit many things but not the ‘busied man’, where busied is interpreted as the prostitution. The last two lines of the poem seem to sum up what the poet has been trying to say, “He which hath business, and makes love, doth do such wrong, as when a married man doth woo”. Some may argue that paying for sex is wrong just as a married man paying for sex is wrong. Yet again married or not, paying for sex is still wrong.
The theme of love seems to be a different type of love to that of the first poem. At first the poet tries to prove a point with the use of his rhetorical questioning. It then goes on to the reader believing that the love is in fact revolved around a gay relationship. Finally we find that the poet uses love as a figure of prostitution and perhaps he is trying to tell someone that he knows of their sins, then again he could be talking about himself. Overall the theme of love in this poem seems to confuse the reader slightly but don’t think there is a definite ending.
The Canonization
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five grey hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout,
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his Honour, or his Grace,
Or the King's real, or his stamped face
Contemplate, what you will, approve,
So you will let me love.
Alas, alas, who's injur'd by my love?
What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd?
Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground?
When did my colds a forward spring remove?
When did the heats which my veins fill
Add one more to the plaguy bill?
Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
Litigious men, which quarrels move,
Though she and I do love.
Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
Call her one, me another fly,
We'are tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us find the'eagle and the dove.
The phoenix riddle hath more wit
By us; we two being one, are it.
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit,
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love.
We can die by it, if not live by love,
And if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
And by these hymns all shall approve
Us canoniz'd for love;
And thus invoke us: "You, whom reverend love
Made one another's hermitage;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
Into the glasses of your eyes
(So made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomize)
Countries, towns, courts: beg from above
A pattern of your love!"
The poem begins by the poet asking the second figure in the poem to be quiet and let him love. If the other figure cannot be quiet, the poet tells him to criticise him for other faults, other than his tendency to love, his palsy, his gout, his "five grey hairs," or his ruined fortune.
He cautions the other figure to look to his own mind and wealth and to think of his position and copy the other nobles, "Observe his Honour, or his Grace, Or the King's real, or his stamped face Contemplate". The poet does not care what the other figure says or does as long as he lets him love.
The poet asks rhetorically, "Who's injured by my love?" He says that his sighs have not drowned the ships,” What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd?” His tears have not flooded land, “Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground? “ His colds have not chilled spring, “When did my colds a forward spring remove? “ The heat of his veins has not added to the list of those killed by the plague, “When did the heats which my veins fill Add one more to the plaguy bill?” Soldiers still find wars and lawyers still find litigious men, regardless of the emotions of the speaker and his lover, “Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still Litigious men, which quarrels move, Though she and I do love.”
The poet tells the other figure to "Call us what you will," for it is love that makes them so. He says that the other figure can "Call her one, me another fly," and that they are also like candles, "tapers", which burn by feeding upon their own selves, "and at our own cost die". In each other, the lovers find the eagle and the dove, and together, "we two being one", they illuminate the riddle of the phoenix, they "die and rise the same," just as the phoenix does. Although unlike the phoenix, it is love that slays and resurrects them.
He says that they can die by love if they are not able to live by it, and that if their legend is not fit "for tombs and hearse," it will be fit for poetry, and "We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms." The poet says that a well-wrought urn does as much justice to a dead man's ashes as a gigantic tomb, “As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs” By this the poems about the poet and his lover will cause them to be "canonized," admitted to love. All those who hear their story will invoke the lovers, saying that countries, towns, and courts “beg from above A pattern of your love!"
The poet has used many spiritual words such as “mysterious”, ” hymn”, “canonized”, “reverend” and “hermitage” as imagery suggesting that love is spiritual.