The principles of English Metaphysical Poetry through the eyes of John Donne in The Good-Morrow

An Essay on Metaphysical Poetry

 

In 19th century it was Samuel Johnson, who, for the first time, coined the enigmatic term “metaphysical poetry” and acknowledged the works of John Donne and his contemporaries, who, more than by the label of metaphysical poetic school which was not used at the time, were linked by similar distinctive features and approaches. No sooner than in the 20th century was the genre deprived of its undeserved pejorative tinge by the help of T. S. Elliot, an essay of whom brought timelessness and glory of English Metaphysical poets back.

John Donne altogether with other Metaphysical poets was deeply fascinated and influenced by love, be it the love to a woman and sensuality of her body, a man and his achievements or love to God himself. Particularly the love poetry of John Donne is strikingly contemporary which is a reason why I have chosen the poem The Good Morrow whereon I am going to demonstrate fundamental principles of the literary apparatus shared among the majority of Metaphysical poets.

The setting of The Good Morrow starts innocously at the dawn before which the couple spent the night on love making. Immediately at the first stanza the reader is allowed to enter the mind of the character who is contemplating about the impact of the preceding night. Having said that, we are getting deep insight of how Donne studies the consequences of love and sexuality since, as a metaphysical poet, he is in this case more interested in analysing changes of our mind than anything else.

For reinforcing the urgency and directness of the conveyed message, Donne unconventionally starts the first stanza with theatrical and dramatic “I wonder”and continues the monologue by asking rhetorical interrogatives, one of which is “But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?” whereby he suggests that all the past relationships seem platonic, immature as if he were sleeping or a breastfeeded child.

Another element reflected in their works are sophisticated allusions to Bible, historical events etc. As we can observe in the line: “Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?” whereby Donne alludes to the Christian myth of a group of Christian youths hidden inside a cave for more than 300 years in order to escape a persecution. The first stanza ends with another typical feature of metaphysical poets that is making use of a hyperbole. The main character is making an exquisite, yet exaggerated compliment believing the lady to be the soulmate he has been seeking.

In the second stanza, we can notice the shift in time for now Donne is portaying the present.

Not only is the couple awaken and dreamily, with joy observing each other but the main character experiences a blissful state as we can deduce from the phrase “And makes one little room an everywhere”, therefore the main character’s soul seems not to be perceiving the reality and his mind can be everywhere but in the room. On the other hand, same phrase can be as well interpreted from a different point of view. Instead of letting the character’s soul abandon his body and this world, we can understand the phrase as being and living “here and now” since things and particularly a love are perishable and can be easily evaporated—a “carpe-diem-type” view of the world—which is also a feature broadly found across the works of metaphysical poets.

The last three lines of the second stanza are both particularly interesting in terms of the figurativeness of the language and its actual content. Regarding the language, Donne makes use of anaphoric repetitions. Furthermore, my interpration of using anaphoric “Let” is inclined towards an incremental repetition since the begining of the last line “Let us possess one world” is a magnificent statement, possibly the strongest, most persuasive one and resemblances the fact that no voyager or map-reader can find a world more wonderful than they find in each other and their fresh love. The line: “Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone” implies another witty allusion to the era of New World’s exploration and collonization of which Donne was a participant.

Finally, the third stanza serving as the climax and completing the hidden linear logic behind the entire poem that is the concept of division of the time—from the past to the future—portrays one of the key elements of Metaphysical poetry which is questioning of death, life and eternity. Donne makes a reader to be intellectually aware when comparing the relationship to two hemispheres in the line: “Where can we find two better hemispheres”, which either can represent the eyes, faces mentioned above the line or an abstract term whereby Donne says that two parts has to be put together, be as one in order to form the wholeness.

Indeed progressive ideas can be found in the line “Whatever dies, was not mixed equally” for at the time of a patriarchal society, Donne suprisingly states that the relation is to be equal in order to sustain healty and functional. The last couplet summarizes the whole poem by comparing the speakers’s acquired spirituality, the sense of purity of their love which only in heaven can be encountered and thus love is predestined to be eternal, out of the comprehension of the material world: “Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.”.

To summarize the principles of the metaphysical poetry, it is my understanding that the term “metaphysical”borrows a little from the concept of Metaphysics introduced by the greek philosopher Aristotle. On the contrary, as the poem The Good-Morrow shows, the basis for metaphysical poets is predominantely in the usage of visuals images being seemingly straigthforward, yet they are suggestive of larger things. In fact, extraordinary, illogical imagery

and metaphors work exactly in this manner where daily objects are put in a juxtaposition with abstract phenomena being beyond the real world. This literary device of a conceit is intellectually stimulating and much of the signature of the whole Metaphysical poetry aesthetics and logic.

The Good-Morrow

By John Donne

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.

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