Poet's Background

John Donne was born on 22nd January, 1572 and died on 31st March, 1631. He was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England. In his early life, he was a Roman Catholic and later became an Anglican in 1615. He was appointed Dean of St. Paul Cathedral from 1621 until his death in 1631. He spent three years each, at Oxford and Cambridge but could not obtain a degree because he was a Catholic. In 1601, he married Ann More, the niece of Sir Thomas Egerton secretly.

Account of the Plot/Subject Matter

The poet started by asking questions based on the reckless pleasures that governed his past life and his beloved before they got married. What was their previous existence like? ‘’I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I,’’ Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?’’ The answer to the question was that they were involved in immoralities which were an imagination of enjoyment. In second stanza lines 8-14, the poet sets out for a new life and bids good morning (good-morrow) to their past experiences. ‘’And now good-morrow to our walking souls’’. He promised to give special attention to his lover. He ignored the world around him and intimate his lover that they have no interest in things of the world ‘’Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,’’Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one’’. In the last part of the poem; lines 15-21, the poet pays maximum attention to his lover and closes his eyes to any other thing in life. ‘’My face is thine eye, thine is mine appears.’’ Above all, the poet summed it up that his love for his lover can never die ‘’Whatever dies, was not mixed equally’’; ‘’Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die’’
 

THEMES FROM THE POEM:

1. True love: A true love that existed between the poet and his lover is not based on their past pleasures until they fell in love. This is presented in ‘’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 faces rest’’.
2. Childhood love experience: The rhetorical questions in the poem demonstrate that the past lives of the lovers before they embarked on love are nothing but ‘’country pleasures’’. Their past lives are like a suckling child on his mother’s breast for survival. The suckling child is ignorant, innocent and unaware of the world situations.

    Immortality of love: The poet believes that true love cannot die. ‘’Whatever dies, was not mixed equally.’’ ‘’Love so alike that do slacken none can die.’’ A love that dies is the one where the two lovers do not love each other with equal strength.
    Evolving love: The love is evolving because the lovers move from pure lust, mere shadow, and childish ignorant to spiritual love. ‘’Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.’’ That means the lovers would stay.
    

POETIC DEVICES FROM THE POEM:

1. Allusion: This is when reference is made to a person, place, or event which is expected to be understood or recognized by audience. The allusion here is made to ‘’the seven sleepers’ den.’’ The seven Christians were persecuted by Emperor Decius in the third Century A.D. The Christians were reported to have slept for some two hundred years. It compares the past lives of the lovers before they met to the persecuted sevens Christians sleepers( line 14).

2. Contrast: It is an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startling different. The poet uses conceit of ‘’hemispheres’’ to paint the picture that his lover was his ‘’other half’’ and the poet is the half world of her lover. The poet believes that true love knows no boundaries. ‘’Where can we find two better hemisphere,’’ Without sharp north, without declining west?’’ lines 18-19.

3. Rhetorical questions: This is a question that demands no answer. The poet examines the past adventures before their spiritual and mature love as childish and unconscious. ‘’Did, till we loved? ‘’ Were we not weaned till then?, ‘’Without sharp north, without declining west? All these questions were asked to emphasize the old lives of the two lovers.

4. Flashback: It is when reference is made to the past in order to explain the present situation of things. The poet made reference to the past lives of the lovers. All the four questions in stanza one compare their past lives to ‘’seven sleepers and suckling infants’’ lines 2-4, ‘’Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?…seven sleepers den?

5. Hyperbole: This is an overstatement. The poem is full of exaggeration. Line 4, ‘’or snorted we in the seven sleepers den? ‘’The poet believes the lovers had slept for over two-hundred years before they embarked on real love. Line 11. ‘’And makes one little room everywhere’’ which means that love has converted their small room into an entire world.

6. Imagery: This is the creation of mental picture in the minds of the readers or listeners. One can see how men voyage across the sea to other lands. Lines 12-13. ‘’Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown’’. The poet did not bother about the activities of sea-discoverers and cartographers.

7. Alliteration: It is the repetition of same sound in a poem. Examples of alliterated words are: ‘’were we not weaned’’(w.w) ‘’Or snorted we in the seven sleepers.(s.s). This indicates that their past lives were shadow of joy and darkness of sleep.

8. Dramatic monologue: This is when a person acts alone in poem or any literary text. The poet addresses his beloved and shows the presence of passive listener, just in line 8 where he addresses himself and his lover’s soul; wishes them a ‘’good-morrow’’. The lover did not interrupt in the discussion. ‘’what thou and I, ‘’Did, till we loved?’’

9. Synecdoche: This is when a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa. The lovers represent each other as ‘’souls’’ line 8, ‘’face’’ line 15, ‘’eye’’ line 15, ‘’hearts’’ line 16, ‘’loves’’ line 20.

10. Language: The poet choice of words conveys the theme of the poem apart from old worlds like ‘troth’(truth, loyalty, faith), thou (you), ‘’snorted’’ (snored) , ‘’Good-morrow’’ (good morning or good day). Simple words like ‘’hemisphere, souls, little room, maps, sea-discoverers etc. were used.