The Good-Morrow

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-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, 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 hemispheres,
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

Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza by Stanza

Stanza 1

Knowing that the title means good morning (Good-Morrow is archaic, an old-fashioned way of
greeting someone. Donne liked to join some of his words with a hyphen) the reader has a clue that
the scene is set early in the day.

 The first line takes the reader into the mind of the first-person speaker, who is either asking
himself or his lover a puzzling question. Note the language, it's 17th century English,
so thou means you  and by my troth means in all honesty or truth.

The first line runs on into the second (enjambment) and the caesurae (pauses caused by
punctuation) ensure that the reader cannot go too quickly through these words. This is a carefully
phrased question.

And that small phrase Did, till we loved? is important because it gives sense to the previous line and
sets the poem off proper. Just what kind of existence did the pair have before they became lovers,
before they fell in love?

It's a question many lovers have asked because when two become firmly entrenched in love it's as if
the time previous to their meeting holds no value. They never lived, they didn't do anything
meaningful.

 Were we not weaned till then?  To be weaned is to be influenced from an early age; to be a
baby or an infant gradually given adult food whilst coming off a diet of mother's milk. The
speaker is implying that they were infants before they loved.

The third line reinforces this sense of childish existence the two had to go through. The country
pleasures  are either crude sensualities or immature sexual pleasures, mere surface experiences.
Or they lived life asleep as it were. The allusion is to the Seven Sleepers, Christian youths who fled
from the Roman emperor Decius (249-251) and were sealed in a cave. They slept for nearly two
hundred years so the story goes, waking up in a world where Christianity had taken hold.

So the implication is that these two lived as if asleep until they fell in love and woke up - their love
became a kind of new religion for them.

These four lines, with alternate rhymes, form a quatrain. The end three lines consolidate meaning,
have the same end rhymes and have that final hexameter, a longer line.

Twas so; ...the speaker confirms that, yes, before they were lovers any pleasures were not real; it
was as if they were infants asleep, not really awake but merely dreaming.

And Donne being Donne he goes on to say that his desires were fulfilled - he got what he wanted out
of beauty - but even that wasn't real, it was only a dream.

Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza 2

Stanza 2

Having concluded in the first stanza that the lovers weren't really alive, or hadn't done anything,
until they fell in love and became aware, the speaker wishes both of them a good morning as they
wake.

There is no fear in their relationship; they are totally devoted, 100% in love, which is the be all and
end all. They see the world through their love, through love.

And makes one little room an everywhere....the room the lovers are in is small, a microcosm, yet
because their love is universal, it goes everywhere their love goes, and is whole, a macrocosm.

This line reflects the Renaissance idea that an individual held within them the universe.

 The last three lines of this stanza are related to exploration of new worlds. Donne's use of
metaphor is cutting edge for his time - explorers were discovering new terrestrial worlds
using the latest maps, and astronomers were beginning to seriously chart the stars.

The known world was expanding rapidly. Donne connects this fact with the world the lovers have
created.

Let us possess one world (in some versions this is our world)...the speaker affirms that they have
their individual worlds but their love world they possess, they totally own a whole new world which
they are free to explore.

Analysis of The Good-Morrow Stanza 3

Stanza 3

In the third stanza the speaker initially gets close up and personal.

Donne's fascination with reflections and imagery comes to the fore. As the lovers gaze into each
other's eyes they see each other reflected. Evidence of more bonding, of two becoming one.

The lovers are true and plain - they don't have to pretend or show off or be fancy - in front of one
another.

The speaker reverts to questioning again, as in the first stanza, and asks Where can we find two
better hemispheres (semi-circles) ...which could be their eyes and faces.

Without sharp North....the cold north, relating to a cold relationship

without declining West...the sun sets in the west, end of the day, end of a relationship.
  So the speaker in these four lines reinforces the idea that the lovers are a single entity; their
relationship isn't cold or about to end, it is warm and rising.

Whatever dies was not mixed equally....In medical theory of the time death was thought to be the
result of imbalances in the body's elements.

If our two loves...the speaker suggests that their two loves are not at all imbalanced, their loves
are so alike  that they can never die.

This is an idealistic end to the poem but Donne's original take on what love is remains with us today
in popular musical lyrics for example.

What Is The Metre (Meter in American English) of The Good-Morrow?

The Good-Morrow has a basic iambic pentameter template, that is, there are five regular beats and
ten syllables in each line except for the last line of each stanza which has twelve, so count as
hexameters.

 But there odd exceptions here and there - some lines with an extra beat for example (11
syllables), others with trochees, spondees and anapaests, which alter rhythm and so bring
added interest for the reader.

 The syntax (the way clauses and grammar work together) is also complex in some places.
Extra pauses are needed here and there which together with enjambment mixes up the
rhythm within the lines.

The second stanza has six of them but Donne's syntax, use of punctuation and diction, is creative
enough to disturb the plodding rhythm and adds tension and interest for the reader.

 Note that in all stanzas the end line is longer, forming a hexameter (six feet) which
underlines what has gone before.
The first stanza has only two lines of pure iambic pentameter so is the most mixed when it comes to
rhythm and beat. The syntax too is complex, with many commas and sub-clauses. Each question
posed by the speaker also has a tendency to slow the reader down, which deepens the careful
reflection shown by the hesitant speaker.

What Are The Literary Devices in The Good-Morrow?

There are several literary devices in The Good-Morrow, including:

Alliteration

When two or more words in close proximity begin with the same consonant:

were we not weaned...

snorted we in the Seven Sleepers'...

Which watch not...

Assonance

When two or more words in a line have the same vowel sounds:

sucked on country...

Seven Sleepers' den...

all love of other...

tine in mine...
true plain hearts do...

Caesura

A pause in a line caused by punctuation, where the reader has to pause. There are several in this
poem, typified in line 14, where there are two:

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

What Is The Structure/Form of The Good-Morrow?

The Good-Morrow is a three stanza poem, each stanza having 7 lines (heptet).

The rhyme scheme is unusual : ababccc the first four lines of each stanza working together in
alternate pairs, the last three lines being a conclusion or affirmation. All twenty one lines have
mostly full rhyme, except for these near rhymes: I/childishly...fear/where...gone/shown..equally/I.

John Donne and A Summary of The Good-Morrow

The Good-Morrow is one of Donne's metaphysical love poems, specifically an aubade, a morning
love poem or song. It is one of many secular poems he wrote, contrasting heavily with his later
sacred works.

It was first published in 1633, a little after the poet's death but was probably written when he was a
young man and recently married.

It is a three-stanza poem with a deceptively simple opening. In the first stanza the speaker is asking a
conversational question to another person, a lover, about what they did till we loved?

In typical Donne fashion it takes the reader right into the bedroom, which is the crucible of passion
and thought.

The two lovers are waking up first thing in the morning. The speaker wants to examine the state of
their relationship and so asks more questions, reflecting on this time prior to their loving, pleasure
and beauty, and alluding to historical events.

This inspires further explanation in the next two stanzas. The poem:

 implies that the love the two share is like a new religion (allusion to the Seven Sleepers,
persecuted Christian youths sealed up in a cave who woke after nearly two centuries to find
Christianity had spread).

 progresses into a series of images that relate to travel, the world and cartography (map
making), an extended argument for the unity of their love.

 uses these metaphors to relate to exploration, discovery and conquest.

The language is plain enough but it is wrapped up in quite a complex syntax (the way clauses and
grammar work together) which has to be carefully navigated by the reader.

 This method of expanding a reasoned argument using strong imagery and metaphor to
effectively control emotions and feelings, has been given the label of a metaphysical conceit,
making Donne the prime mover of what has become known as the metaphysical school.

John Donne is now considered the master of the conceit, a figure of speech that relies on metaphor
and imaginative contrasts to argue a point. In this poem he uses it to articulate his feelings about
love and the relationship he's in.
He wrote many love poems when a young man, covering a range of emotions and passions.
According to author Adam J. Smith in John Donne, Essays in Celebration, Methuen, 1972, these
poems:

construct and elucidate desire, affection, fondness, closeness, tenderness, certainty, loving
identification, yearnings, grief, scorn, contempt, loathing, hostility, frustration, jealousy, spite,
revulsion, delight, excitement, bliss, rest (Smith 1972: 73).

For Donne, love is heat, fire, growth, unity, alchemy - a living organism - and in his love poems he
sought to intellectually express his passion by using all manner of image and metaphor.

T.S. Eliot in his own inimitable manner called this process a 'dissociation of sensibility'  in which
emotional sensitivity is expressed in logically understandable ways - fresh images creating new
perspectives.

 The Good-Morrow employs images of a little room, sea-discoverers, maps, worlds, eyes,
faces, hemispheres, North and West.

 The language/diction used is simple enough - Donne's creative use of syntax and
employment of parallel lines of persuasion make for fascinating reading, add to the meaning
and help deepen understanding.