An Analysis of The Good Morrow by John Donne
ENGLISH ESSAY: PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO LANGUAGE, TONE, AND ACTION WRITE A CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF ‘THE GOOD MORROW’ RELATING IT TO DONNES METHODS AND CONCERNS IN OTHER POEMS IN YOUR SELECTION.
John Donne is renowned for his metaphysical poetry, and his poem ‘The Good Morrow’ is no exception. It is a prime example of one of Donne’s metaphysical poems as it contains many of the characteristics that commonly appear in his other poems of this sort of verse, such as realistic setting, and a theme that follows the development of a being from the physical to the metaphysical. The poems main point of discussion, and in turn, transcending from physical lust to a higher form of love. Donne’s development of thought, covering concepts such as the dawning of true love, the combinations of two hemispheres and his related geographical references, and his superior depiction of the complex nature of love, portrays his aptitude in terms of this form of poetry.
The poem commences with the confusion of early morning consciousness, and the dawning of true love, which reminds the poet of his dissatisfying love life prior to this point, stating “I wonder by my troth what thou and I did till we loved”. Donne suggests that before he met his beloved his approximation of beauty was abstract, focusing only on the physical aspect of women, thus being unfulfilling. The rhetoric aspect of the statement can also be seen as one that is used to capture the attention of the reader. At first instance Donne rejects his past views with passionate contempt but further realizes that if it were not for these carnal ways, his metamorphosis into the spiritual could not have occurred. In an exceptional metaphysical conceit, this imperforate love is compared to that of mothers milk, whereas his indulgence in country pleasures are portrayed as weaning to connote the crucial existence of a relationship existing between the body and the soul – “were we not weaned till then but suck’d on country pleasures
John Donne is renowned for his metaphysical poetry, and his poem ‘The Good Morrow’ is no exception. It is a prime example of one of Donne’s metaphysical poems as it contains many of the characteristics that commonly appear in his other poems of this sort of verse, such as realistic setting, and a theme that follows the development of a being from the physical to the metaphysical. The poems main point of discussion, and in turn, transcending from physical lust to a higher form of love. Donne’s development of thought, covering concepts such as the dawning of true love, the combinations of two hemispheres and his related geographical references, and his superior depiction of the complex nature of love, portrays his aptitude in terms of this form of poetry.
The poem commences with the confusion of early morning consciousness, and the dawning of true love, which reminds the poet of his dissatisfying love life prior to this point, stating “I wonder by my troth what thou and I did till we loved”. Donne suggests that before he met his beloved his approximation of beauty was abstract, focusing only on the physical aspect of women, thus being unfulfilling. The rhetoric aspect of the statement can also be seen as one that is used to capture the attention of the reader. At first instance Donne rejects his past views with passionate contempt but further realizes that if it were not for these carnal ways, his metamorphosis into the spiritual could not have occurred. In an exceptional metaphysical conceit, this imperforate love is compared to that of mothers milk, whereas his indulgence in country pleasures are portrayed as weaning to connote the crucial existence of a relationship existing between the body and the soul – “were we not weaned till then but suck’d on country pleasures