Donne poems (unfinished)
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1. The Good Mor- This poem was written by John Donne when he was
row context married to Anne Moore. During this period his professions
of love for her were a recurrent theme.
All published in 1633, a love poem where two lovers are
waking up in the morning. Speaker wants to examine the
state of their relationship so asks questions and reflects
on their time before their love - a 'new world' created by
mutual love.
Four Humours - liquids from the body associated with
illness and emotions;
Yellow bile =
liver, choleric temperament,
Black bile from kidney =
melancholic temperament
Red Blood from the heart =
sanguine temperament
White pilgrim from lungs =
phlegmatic temperament.
John Dryden - Donne focuses too much on the nature of
people's ideas of philosophy to describe love, when he
should focus on the feeling of love and how its gentile
2. The Good Mor- Infantile dependency on this first wondrous love - "sucked
row infantile on country pleasures"
reading Seven Sleepers den= cave= image of an undifferentiated
womb continued on through a mother's protection and
care of her infant identifies- through their shared nurtured
past- man with wife-> Donne leans as well on the identi-
fication of wife with mother- or mother with wife.
3. The Seven Sleepers' den is a cave that sheltered some
Christians hiding from Romans, who wake up to be in
, Donne poems (unfinished)
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The Good Mor- Christian Europe-> wake from persecution into an age
row- Seven of righteousness and betterness. This identifies Donne's
sleepers lover with a quasi-divine saviour.
Seven Sleepers den= cave= image of an undifferentiated
womb continued on through a mother's protection and
care of her infant identifies- through their shared nurtured
past- man with wife-> Donne leans as well on the identi-
fication of wife with mother- or mother with wife.
4. Vulnerability in "Were we not weaned till then? But sucked on coun-
the Good Morrow try pleasures, childishly?" -> childlike semantic field->
Donne's vulnerability
5. Effect of con- Puts the addressee in a position of power through their
tinued rhetori- heightened knowledge
cal questions in
Good Morrow?
6. Effect of triadic "Let sea-discoverers to new world have gone... Let...
anaphoras in the Let..."
Good Morrow Creates image of strength through triumphant tone that
the triad of repetition brings. "pomp and strength"-> this
contrasts the vulnerability.
7. Further philoso- Schopenhauer's hedgehog dilemma- potential for pain is
phy: vulnerabili- an inevitable part of human relationships
ty in love
8. Donne trying Donne dreams through abstract language that there is an
to make things equality in the love between them- "What ever dies was
equal- Good Mor- not mixed equally"
row
9. Song: Go and A misogynistic poem- women can't be beautiful and faith-
Catch a Falling ful- Bill Phillips claims Donne is a "misogynistic menace"
Star context
10. Key quotes from "If thou findstone, let me know/ such a pilgrimage were
song: go and sweet"- word pilgrimage fills the line with relief- and al-
though used neutrally in the late sixteenth century, was
, Donne poems (unfinished)
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catch a falling also fraught with Catholic potential. Maybe the emotional
star charge of the word (heightened by the fact it's sandwiched
between sibilance, ominous sounds) may come from
Donne's sweet regression to his childhood of Catholicism-
and this relation back to Catholicism just heightens the
theme of betrayal in the poem. The betrayal he has felt
from the woman is not purely sexual, but spiritual.
It seems there is hope in it all. But it seems that, much like
Ricks' conclusion- the conclusion that the poem seems
to be ramping up to- a forgiving of the woman, or an
exception to the rule- is never stated, disappointing the
reader that the poem's ending seems false to itself.
11. Who is Song: "thou"- it's somewhat accusatory, as if he's addressing the
Go and Catch a woman himself- it is unclear whether his friends would
Falling Star ad- have been intending to read this from the position of a
dressed to? woman or a man. Poems such as the Flea are also meant
to be read in the female voice.
12. John Carey "Song: catch a falling star" is more about self-improve-
ment than women. It commands with the imperative "go"
at the start of the poem and tells the reader/listener to go
and make discoveries.
13. Woman's Con- "one whole day"- "o", assonance, stress upon both o=
stancy opening spondee-> gives off ironic tone-> position of superiority
makes him sound like he's looking down on you
14. Contract law in "wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow?"-> excep-
Woman's con- tion clause
stancy
15. turn around "For by tomorrow, I may think so too"- um? So you
Woman's Con- basically never really loved her then? This kind of ties
stancy into Christopher Ricks' criticism of the poem- the poem's
whole buildup doesn't make sense when looking at its
final conclusion.
16. The girl is a "wh*re"- SANDERS is WRONG
, Donne poems (unfinished)
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Dumb baby
critic: wilbur
sanders
17. Woman's Con- Good lord- reference to male embodiment of love-
stancy "oaths Eros/cupid. also very openly admits that she's been
made in rever- somewhat pressured into sleeping with him.
ential fear/ Of
Love, and his
wrath, any may
forswear?"
18. The Sun Rising- triumphalism of love- invective straight out. THIS is Donne
"Busy old fool, persona- Helen Gardner- his openings "are like the lump
unruly Sun" of gold flung down on the table".
19. The Sun Rises He however is always ruler of the woman. Dominant
"she's all states, misogyny of the time or the result of his arrogance?
and all princes I/
Nothing else is".
20. perfection of "Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime/ Nor hours,
love days, months, which are the rags of time"
21. The Sun Rising "I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,/ But that
and the relin- I would not lose her sight so long"- use of coordinating
quishing of pow- conjunction "but" is the first sign of Donne's loss of power
er in love in the power. He starts off in power- but it is clear that he
relinquishes and abandons this power for his lover.
22. Structure of The 30 line poem in three stanzas, with the poet/lover as the
Sun Rising speaker. The meter is irregular, ranging from 2-6 stresses
per line. However this less rigid structure matches the
theme of the poem- it's about real people, it's about
humanity. One can almost imagine Donne waking and
saying this as he awakens.
23. "Shine here A play on the Ptolemaic astronomical idea that the Earth
to us, and is the center of the universe, with the Sun rotating around
thou art every- the Earth.
, Donne poems (unfinished)
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where;/ This bed
thy centre is,
these walls, thy
sphere"
24. Blasphemous Canonization as a title would be a bit panic-inducing- be-
opening of "The cause Catholics are the ones who decide who Saints are
canonization" based on the process of "canonisation", this, combined
with the blasphemy of "For God's sake" (taking the lord's
name in vain) would have made for a concerning opening.
25. Self destruction "We'are tapers too, and at our own cost die, and we in us
in love, and sub- find the'eagle and the dove. The phoenix riddle hath more
sequent rebirth wit by us, we two being one, are it"-> SEMANTIC FIELD
OF FIRE- the candles show that by the passionate heat
of their love they are destroyed, but simultaneously, in this
same fire, they are reborn.
26. "We die and rise Double entendre, could be referring to the "petit mort"/ the
the same" penis. Bedmates can "die and rise" just like Christ.
27. "we... prove mys- The mystery of love reflects the relationship between us
terious by this and God, which is equally mysterious (not understable by
love" empirical or analytic methods). Love elevates people to
the level of Gods (ooh more blasphemy)
28. the logical struc- it's separated into nice chunks (this is so lawyer-cod-
ture of the can- ed) first stanza deals with the insulting of someone who
onization scorns the love of the two/ second stanza shows the
harmlessness of their love/ three acts as an intensifier of
this, and claims their love to be positive for one another/
four intensifies upon these ideas, considering the legacy
that their love with build after their deaths/ five talks about
the expected triumph over the critic.
29. Song: Sweetest Summary: The speaker consoles his lover before depart-
love, I do not go ing on a journey. He presents this parting as practice for
the parting the couple will suffer when one of them dies.
The first two stanzas are comforting, the third presents
a tonal shift towards pessimism, and the next two have
