The Good-Morrow Analysis

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I

Did, till we loved?were we not weaned till then,

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?

Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?

'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.And now good morrow to our waking souls,

Which watch not one another out of fear;

For love all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere.

Let sea discovers to new worlds have gone,

Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown:

Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemishperes,

Without sharp North, without declining West?

Whatever dies was not mixed equally;

If our two loves be one, or thou and I

Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.

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I think Donne presents a specific kind of love, one with partners who are equal and perfectly matched. This kind of love is immortal and more powerful than the deteriorating effects of time. In fact the time spent living without love is compared to our time as infants, or sleep. A semi/sub-conscious state where we aren't really alive. I feel the 'love' in this poem is almost obsessive where the only thing that matter to either of the two lovers is one another.

| Posted on 2009-11-09 | by a guest

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To the person below, from the person below the person below.
Youthful playfulness and flippancy are qualities not usually interpreted as 'arrogance'. My message was simply a procrastination and somewhat of an attempt to liven up this page. You sound quite old...
By 'getting' poetry I simply meant that I marginally understood it.
And you also mistook my appreciativeness of the varity of human life for criticism. I can detect no note of criticism in what I said.
You said my opinions were like something taken from a a York Notes book and that may be because I am 18 years of age and do not need to understand the poem to the depth that you have, perhaps, studied it to. I only need to understand the content of the poem enough to pass my English Literature exam. I also do not own a York Notes book on Donne or have I googled him. I simply read the poem.
Grammar check? Where can I find one of those?
Anyway, I still love this poem. My favourite lines are 'My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,/ And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;'
I once heard a quote about a person's soul lying in their facial features and expressions. These lines immediately made me think of this and I realised how true it was. A person's heart does lie in the face. Donne is saying that they physically appear in each others eyes but I feel he is also saying that they represent each other somewhat characteristically as well. They find parts of themselves in each other.
I also like the way Donne talks about the Alchemy and medical beliefs of the time. There is something so fascinating about the way humans used to think and how far wrong they were from the truth.
We discussed what the 'If' meant in the second from last line and we detected doubts and insecurity in Donne's tone. He seems to be almost convincing himself. 'Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.' 'We are so alike! Our love will never slacken! Our love can ever die!'
Donne also seems to be making a new world for himself and his lover in many of his poems. A new world exempt from time and change. His comment 'Without sharp North, without declining West' seems to be extracting the evil from his world of love and yet how can the world exist and continue without North and West? He also does this in 'The Sun Rising' when he chastises the sun for it's very being. He says that he can obliterate the sun with a wink of his eye and yet while this may be true in a way, Donne comes to realise that the human race including himself and his lover cannot exist without the sun and its warmth.
Donne also seems to swing between being in support of Plato's philosophies and violently against them.
Thank you.

| Posted on 2009-09-29 | by a guest

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The person who has commented below me seems fairly arrogant! Claiming to 'get' the poetry, whatever that means, whilst criticising everyone else. Fair shout, you have your opinions, but posting them as yours is fairly arrogant also, considering that you have simply stated what any York Notes book would say about Donne. Also, consider using a grammar check before you post if you cannot get it right yourself.
On to the poem -
Whilst on the surface, you do see the beautiful love poem, there is also scope to claim that this poem is a criticism of the divided nature of the world as it is today. Donne portrays the two halves of his love (in effect, a Yin and a Yan, or Plato's Symposium - the constant search for the other half and the unity once it is found) as the perfect unity, and then goes on to question why the world itself cannot be such. He criticises the "sharp North" and "declining West", saying that he would lose these and make a world out of two perfect hemispheres. Put in context of the world at the time, Britain was becoming a dominant force and so Donne would not have been making these comments from the point of view of one losing out. It is clear that he is presenting an objective view on the troubles of the world. Donne's poem could be considered a 'pacifist' poem in that sense, using his perfect love as the basis for harmony.

| Posted on 2009-09-18 | by a guest

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Looking at these comments I have to laugh... I know guys who do the commenting crap all the time just for laughs and it is funny. Then you get all the serious people (adults) telling them off. Lol.
Anyhow, I'm doing John Donne in Eglish at the minute and he is fantastic. There are so many layers and meanings behind each idea. You read the poem and get one message then read it again and get an entirely different message and you have to go back to the beginning again and figure it out.
There is a lot of sexual references in his poetry too. Anyone notice the sexual imagry in the first stanza? It's kinda obvious.
Also I think John Donne is very open and somewhat arrogant in his poetry. I think the first stanza is saying like how much 'experience' he has had with women, almost boastfully, but then says 'they are noting to you...' this new girl who is him and he is her.
You gotta love it.
It's so sweet.
I want to give it to my boyfriend but I think he'd look at me as if I had three heads and ask me what it was for. I don't like how regular guys don't get poetry.

They'd get so many more girls if they did. Haha.

| Posted on 2009-09-15 | by a guest

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Thankyou to those who have posted HELPFUL information (the operative word being helpful).

| Posted on 2009-07-10 | by a guest

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Thks for all the analysis of this poem, appreciate. I couldnt understand at first until I read the few analysis provided here. Appreciate.

| Posted on 2009-07-06 | by a guest

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This poem is really a great iove's poem.I think every lovers should compleatly realise this poem.I can realised it hardly (ANJAN 01812031262)

| Posted on 2009-05-26 | by a guest

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Donne's poem is an aubade. In this poem he discarded the platonic tradition of celebrating female faithfulness. The last two lines are the most interesting. The conditional 'if' is the focal point. All love is true and genuine if the two lovers are one in their feelings and thought. So Donne does not blindly subscribe to the apotheosis of the beloved. Love is true only when it is reciprocated by the two souls of the lover and the beloved.
Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee
Dum Dum Motijheel College, Calcutt University.India

| Posted on 2009-04-15 | by a guest

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thanks too much
this poem is very imprtant for me and for my study
thanks to every one analyse this poem

| Posted on 2009-03-22 | by a guest

.: :.

pantek puisi mah...
paniang den ma nela'ah
kanciang
paja pantek ma lo yang mambuek ko,
ancak shakespeare lai
dasar kucir(kumbang cirik)
abal(anjiang balai)

| Posted on 2009-03-03 | by a guest

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this is my altime favorte poem, without a doubt. i have done and read constantly each different analysis people have and each time i learn something new. Now when i come to a site like this it really gets me pissed off to see stupid people trying to start fights over what is supposed to be a message board for people's analysis on this poem. get a life you guys and learn to appreciate good poetry. then maybe one day you might actually used something you learned to get a girl and do something instead of picking fights on the internet.

| Posted on 2009-02-04 | by a guest

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Donne's on biography is reflected upon this poem, although he went thru many financial troubles within his life, he managed to a have a successful marraige. Donne's own life story can tell us his personal thoughts and how he was able to maintain that in his poetry. "Good Morrow" is Donne's perspective of life before he was in love, he imposes questions of how he could have been living this whole time without the aspects of love included in his lifestyle. In addition, the way he describes his life before love indicates that he was incomplete, such as "childishly" which may illustrate that Donne is representing the halfness of his life maybe? childish, to be younger, less mature, conveys incompleteness, not yet an adult. Without his lover he is indicating that he was incomplete, but then later once he finds his love, he unites with her and turns into one sould... i dont know if this is a correct analysis but i was just wondering if this concept can actually be legit, please feel free to comment on this aspect.

| Posted on 2008-12-17 | by a guest

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Thank you so much to the people who posted REAL answers on this board. Your intellect was most appreciated!
:-)

| Posted on 2008-11-13 | by a guest

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Probably one of John Donne's most famous sonnets is "The Good Morrow". A poem written about a love story in which the Donne wonders what he has done in life until finding this great love. He compares his life before his love to that of an infant, he says "Were we not weaned till then?" comparing to being weaned from the bottle or breast, and in a sense growing up, and living as a child. Donne then explains the only other beauty he had gotten was in his dreams. He is telling their souls good morning, which shows how this is a start or a beginning. He compares his new love as an emergence of his soul, and while sea discovers have gone to new worlds, they only need each other. He says, "my face in thine eye, thine in mine appears" as they are looking into each others eyes and seeing each others reflection. Since according to ancient medicine, death was caused by an imbalance of elements of the body, when he says "Whatever dies was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or, thou and I love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die," he is saying that the two of them together should balance perfectly and live forever.

| Posted on 2008-11-12 | by a guest

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RE:Posted on 2008-10-18 | by a guest.
thank you very much for your post, it was very helpful, unlike all that other immature crap posted!

| Posted on 2008-11-07 | by a guest

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hi!this is meenakshi here this is a poem that insist mee to think of my own cojugal affair,of how it would be.I really needed a Good Morrow.
THANKS.

| Posted on 2008-11-01 | by a guest

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i came by this website looking for the exact meter of 'The Good Morrow' and instead found very little analysis and a lot of crap.
In the first three lines, the speaker questions everything before they loved, making constant references to youth and infancy, eg. "Were we not weaned til then?"
The speaker also says "if any beauty i did see, Which i desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee", effectively saying that all his past experiences and pleasures were a dream, in essence, but he now has the real thing which overshadows everything else.
The second stanza is reflective of the present, their adult lives: "And now" which are contained in the "one little room". The male speaker is effectively saying that he is quite contented to remain in this room, which now forms his world. "Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone..." reiterates the speakers disinterest in the outside world as all his world has been condensed to be wherever she is. "Let us possess one world, each hath one and is one" can be seen to say that they are each others world, their love is so dominating of their thoughts that it is inconceivable for either one to imagine a world without the other.
I hope this is of benefit to anyone who legitimately is interested in Donne poetry

| Posted on 2008-10-18 | by a guest

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my God this is so weird i'm looking for truth behind my ears but theres no coins to be seen were have you been i love this poem xxx

| Posted on 2008-10-16 | by a guest

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bunch of wankers get a life
This is art, not something to degrade, something to appreciate...Idiots.

| Posted on 2008-05-25 | by a guest

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i remeber when 2 girls found this cup and had a crap smoothie, then took turns eating it and throwing up in each others mouths, how much where they paid to do this?? this poem reminds me of that

| Posted on 2008-05-16 | by a guest

.: omg :.

i creamed all over a dead homeless man when i first saw this poem, great orgasmifalutios poem bud.

| Posted on 2008-05-12 | by a guest

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i slap the ham to alan black less then one hour ago.
proly too good for your thugh tyler, no affense but ive seen you and you look like cat poo

| Posted on 2008-05-06 | by a guest

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if that is a serious post allan call me
my name is tyler king and my phone number is 780 716 2237 and i live in calgary alberta

| Posted on 2008-04-21 | by a guest

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Alan Black
Beaumont Alberta Canada
Grade 11
16 1/2 years old
1 (780) 935 5042.
P.S. im a very horney bisectual boy :)

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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Im sorry to all you dignified white peoplewho have been righting on this sight but therer has been a report of a ... MEXICAN who has written several things in the coment box. mHis name is Allan Black and lives in Beaumont Alberta and came there on a boat ... good job the john

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: Heyzeus :.

The ghazal (Persian/Urdu/Arabic: غزل) is a form of poetry common in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Bengali poetry. In classic form, the ghazal has from five to fifteen rhyming couplets that share a refrain at the end of the second line (which need be of only a few syllables). Each line has an identical meter, and there is a set pattern of rhymes in the first couplet and among the refrains. Each couplet forms a complete thought and stands alone, and the overall ghazal often reflects on a theme of unattainable love or divinity. The last couplet generally includes the signature of the author.
As with other forms with a long history in many languages, many variations have been developed, including forms with a quasi-musical poetic diction in Urdu. Ghazals have a classical affinity with Sufism, and a number of major Sufi religious works are written in ghazal form. The relatively steady meter and the use of the refrain produce an incantatory effect, which complements Sufi mystical themes well. Among the masters of the form is Rumi, a Persian poet who lived in Turkey.
Other forms
Main articles: Acrostic, Cinquain, Concrete poetry, and Free verse
Other forms of poetry include acrostic poetry, in which letter patterns create multiple messages (such as where the first lettres of lines, read downward, form a separate phrase or word), and concrete poetry, which uses word arrangement, typeface, color or other visual effects to complement or dramatize the meaning of the words used; cinquains, which have five lines with two, four, six, eight, and two syllables, respectively, and free verse, which is based on the irregular rhythmic cadence or the recurrence, with variations, of phrases, images, and syntactical patterns rather than the conventional use of meter.
[edit] Poetic genres
In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of different genres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics.[67] Some commentators view genres as natural forms of literature.[68] Others view the study of genres as the study of how different works relate and refer to other works.[69]
Epic poems are one commonly identified genre, often defined as lengthy poems concerning events of a heroic or important nature to the culture of the time.[70] Lyric poetry, which tends to be shorter, melodic, and contemplative, is another 'commonly identified genre. Some commentators may organize bodies of poetry into further subgenres, and individual poems may be seen as a part of many different genres.[71] In many cases, poetic genres show common features as a result of a common tradition, even across cultures. Greek lyric poetry influenced the genre's development from India to Europe.[citation needed]
Described below are some common genres, but the classification of genres, the description of their characteristics, and even the reasons for undertaking a classification into genres can take many forms.
Narrative poetry

Chaucer.Main article: Narrative poetry
Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a story. Broadly it subsumes epic poetry, but the term "narrative poetry" is often reserved for smaller works, generally with more direct appeal than the epic to human interest.
Narrative poetry may be the oldest genre of poetry. Many scholars of Homer have concluded that his Iliad and Odyssey were comp

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: GOD :.

The meaning of this poem reminds me of the section of memory I have left that was during one of my meth trips, when I kicked a homeless person off a bridge and then payed a small child to write me a sonnet. The imagery seems to portray a minister being touched by the hand of god through his minister. The figures of speech used confuse and infuriate me and are the reason I beat a mexican downtown. Shortly after I got herpes and then ODed on anthrax. This poem is the cause for world hunger and black people. GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME YOU DAM DIRTY APES!

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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i love this poem it makes me feel so god if it were a woman i would make love to it. great poem g

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: omg :.

you know what really grinds my gears is when my woman doesn't learn to shut her mouth after two black eyes
P.S. Good poem BROTHER!!

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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kids these day think this is funny to write joke revues about a unbelievably good poem this poem got me through the time i lost my wife to a freak smelting accident. outstanding poem bro

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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The meaning of this poem signifies a part in my life where i got AIDS from a goat on the side of the road.

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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The meaning of this poem signifies a part in my life where i got AIDS from a goat on the side of the road.

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: omg :.

poetry cuases my stomach to curl, but reading this poem made me doubt humanity. poetry is dumb and your dumb for writing it

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

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Hello my name is logan mcrobb and im not a big fan of "gingers" i also higly dislike redheads and day walkers. theres one kid in my class that i really dont like . his name is tyson skakun . hes a "ginger" and i sorta want to fight him or beat him up in an ally or something without his knowlege. but anyway good poem bud :)

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: waa!! :.

This poem may only be an analysis of the writing. No requests for explanation or general short comments allowed. Due to Spam Posts are moderated before posted.

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest

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Hey my name is tyson skakun and im a young christian ginger boy and im deeply in love with Jaqueline leblanc . SHES A TWIN. i love twins . they just turn my wheel. But anyways im a super serious christian and this poem makes me love twins even more

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest

.: oh no :.

this poem reminds me of the time i shoved a pinaple down certain teachers throat for giving too much homework.

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest

.: oh no!! :.

This reminds me of the time when i beat my wife to bad and i had to burry her under my peach tree.

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest

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this poem reminds me of the time i tied my wife up in my trunk an drove it of a cliff.
thanks

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest

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Your poems great. It reminds me and my eighth wifes relationship
Thank you
Logan McRobb.

| Posted on 2008-04-16 | by a guest