Handy revision guide for John Donne's Song Sweetest love I do not go in his Selected Poems Book, useful for any exam board studying John Donne, with insightful and detailed notes on all of the learning objectives {AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4 and AO5}
A-Level Literature: Revision Guide for Song (Sweetest love, I do not go)
AO1: BIG IDEA(s) of the poem?
● Donne consoles his lover as he prepares to depart on a journey where he suggests their separation will be a
practice for their inevitable separation at death and it should not matter since their love is eternal. He develops an
analogy between his journey and the sun’s journey to reassure his lover that he will return. He goes on to
comment on the lack of power man has to control time and represents a change in direction; focusing on the harm
the separation may cause. Donne concludes the poem on a happier note by encouraging his lover to think that
their love is their main essence and can ‘ne’re parted be’, because they will always be together in spirit.
AO2: Top 5 form/structure/language methods used to communicate meaning to the reader?
1. Form and Structure-
It is a lyric poem which expresses emotion and is inspired by music or song
The metric and rhythmic structure is mostly steady following a somewhat consistent pattern of unaccented and accented
syllables and line lengths; therefore reflecting their stability in their relationship and Donne’s confidence in his lover.
2. Juxtaposition-
“sweetest love” endearing language giving the immediate impression that their relationship if strong and full of love, and
implying a sweet and optimistic tone.
“But since that I Must die at last”- immediately switches the tone of the poem to a morbid tone due to the Donne
introducing the idea that the journey is a conceit for his eventual death and he wants her to make the best use of it so that
she’ll be able to survive without him when he actually dies.
3. Conceit-
“yesternight the sun went hence/here today”- the sun is used as a metaphor for his journey to reassure his lover by
commenting on how the sun went down ‘yesternight’ but is ‘here today’ and the same will happen to him; his return is
inevitable. He suggests that he is even more reliable that the sun due to his ‘desire’ and ‘sense’
‘fear not’, ‘believe”- repeated imperatives highlight his desperation to assure his lover.
4. Semantic field of powerlessness
‘feeble is man’s power’- use of the adjective ‘feeble’ suggests that the power of man is entirely weak and incompetent in
controlling the passing of time when life goes well. This use of analogy goes beyond the separation of the persona and his
lover. Donne comments how if something bad happens in our lives, we allow it to take over and it has the potential to ruin
our lives.
‘our strength’- Donne suggests that we need to take control and use these bad situations as a strengthening mechanism in
order to overcome the bad situations that we face.
“itself o’er us to’ advance”- directly comparing the bad situation of his departure, and their need to use it to their strengthto
“advance” in their relationship.
5. Oxymoron
“unkindly kind”- emphasises the persona’s pain when he sees his lover crying. Kind because it shows her love for him but
unkind because it is physically killing him to see her cry.
AO3: RELEVANT contextual considerations?
● Donne joined the naval expedition against Cadiz, Spain 1596
● The Age of Discovery
● Geocentric and Heliocentric beliefs
● His love for Anne More
● Neoplatonism- due to the fact that he suggests that the essence of their love is more important than not being
together.
AO5: Possible interpretations and/or useful critical quotations?
● William Kerrigan - ‘Donne's love poetry stems from a frustrated sense of power’
● Feminist viewpoint: Donne is being quite appreciative to his lover through engaging in an emotional way, although
it could be argued he is presenting his lover as weak through expressing her emotions and through him having to
constantly reassure him.
Possible THEMES? Poems to link to:
● Love ● Valediction Forbidding Mourning (departure of
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