metaphysical elements in the good morrow by john donne, stanza wise summary, analysis and metaphysical elements and conclusion.

1. Metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared
an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work
was characterized by inventiveness of metaphor (these involved comparisons being known
as metaphysical conceits). These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even
know or read each other. Their poetry was influenced greatly by the changing times, new
sciences and the new found debauched scene of the 17th century.
Metaphysical poetry usually involves Love, Science, Geology, Romance, Sensuality
and man’s relationship with God. Metaphysical poetry means poetry that goes beyond the
physical world of the senses and explores the spiritual world. Metaphysical poems are
lyrical poems usually containing intense meditations, characterized by striking use of wit,
irony, and play on words. Metaphysical poetry usually contains conceits, which is an image
which you extend, which you develop; an extended metaphor. The Metaphysical poetry
follows the structure of a strong first line; these “strong lines” brings attention to other
elements in metaphysical poetry.
John Donne is a Metaphysical poet because every element of metaphysical poetry exists in
his poems .In metaphysical poetry, if someone’s name is alive even today than it is of John
Donne. Every critic appreciated the contribution of John Donne in metaphysical poetry.
Metaphysical Elements in “Good Morrow”
Introduction
The good morrow poem consists of 21 lines and 3 stanzas. It 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.
The title of poem 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.
Stanza 1:
John Donne in this poem is not only a poet but also a lover. As a lover, he expresses his
gratitude towards the life, which he currently is spending. He along with his beloved laments
his previous life. Before falling in love, they were leading a tasteless life. They were unaware
about the beauty of life, which is only possible if they have the power of love in their hands.
Past days of their lives were rustic and childish. Donne then quotes the incident of “seven
sleepers of den?”. It is an incident from the myth but is also mentioned in the Bible that seven
persons took shelter in a cave. Donne is putting his life and the life of seven sleepers in
juxtaposition. He compares his life with theirs and finds no dissimilarity in them. Thus, in first
stanza of “The Good Morrow”, John Donne has begun his love analysis along with scrutiny of
his past life.
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?

2. 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.
 An Alliteration is used in “Were we not weaned till then?” and “snorted we in the
seven sleepers’’
 The Biblical reference 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.
 Characteristic of metaphysical poetry is the use of conceit, i.e. a comparison which is
more obviously ingenious than either true or appropriate. The Good Morrow abounds
in the use of conceits. Donne compares between the unaware lovers and the breastfed
babies; between the unconscious lovers and the seven sleepers who slept for two
hundred years; between two lovers and two hemispheres. Now these unusual
comparisons are a signature mark of metaphysical poetry and The Good Morrow has
this mark.
 Metaphysical poetry are closely related to this use of a quasi-logical structure. One is
that the poems are often compressed and difficult. Each line is intended to help the
argument of the poem and the reader is not allowed to relax. There is very little writing
in metaphysical poetry that is purely ornamental or descriptive. The Good Morrow also
bears the mark. In the second line there poses a question: “were we not wean’d till
then?
 The tone of the speaker in the poem is conversational and easy. We can easily sense
the surprise of the speaker when he recognizes they are in love. Beginning in the middle
of the conversation, the poem also has dramatic effect. Besides, the language and
movement of the poem are dramatic in that they are vivid, colloquial, and often
suggestive of the rhythm of ordinary speech. The vocabulary is at once affectionate and
dismissive: ‘not wean’d’, ‘sucked’, ‘childishly’, ‘snorted’ etc. are the colloquial words
that bind the poem to the metaphysical poetry tradition. A disregard for a regular rhyme
scheme in The Good Morrow is also a trait of metaphysical poetry.
Stanza 2
In the second stanza, Donne bids good morning, or good day (hence ‘The Good-Morrow’) to
his and his lover’s souls, now waking from their ‘dream’ and experiencing real love. They look
at each other, but not through fear or jealousy, but because they like to look at each other.
Indeed, the sight of each other far exceeds any fondness they have for other pleasant sights,
and the bedroom where they spend their time (they are newly loved up, after all!) has become
their world: the real world beyond their bedroom is of little interest to them. Men may voyage
across the sea to other lands, and men may even chart the locations of other worlds beyond our
own – that is of no concern to us, Donne tells his lover. We don’t need those other worlds,
because our bodies are a world in themselves, ready for the other to explore. This is what Donne
means by ‘worlds on worlds’ and ‘each hath one, and is one’: he and his lover, he urges, should
enjoy a bit of ‘world-on-world action’. His body is a new world for his beloved to explore, and
her body is a world for him to possess and explore.
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.

3. And makes one little room 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 .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.
The second stanza Geographical Imagery in the poem are straightforward. Donne lived in an
age of sea voyages undertaken in order to discover new lands. Map makers were kept busy
drawing routes or making globes on which the maps were fastened. The lovers worlds does not
contain these directions.
Stanza 3
In this stanza poet says to his lover that my face appears in your eye and your face appears in
my eye .Our faces are witness of our love, and the truth of our hearts is visible in our faces.
And the world of our love is immortal Where can we find two better globes, without the cold
of the north or the darkness that comes when the sun sets in the west? When something dies, it
dies because its parts were not appropriately mixed. But our loves are so perfectly matched that
we have become one, and thus our love will not lose its power, and we will not die.
In the third stanza the speaker initially gets close up and personal. It’s range of intellectual
imagery from the worlds of theology, geography, chemistry and cosmology.
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.
 The two hemispheres are related to the geography of the world and symbolizes the
relationship of love.
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.

4. The idea of one lover being reflected in the other's eyes is an important one. Donne combines
this with the preceding image of globes.
Donne used extended metaphor or conceit to compare the lovers to two hemispheres that
have no flaws
No cold north, nor declining west, where the sun set
Donne used geographical imagery in this stanza North symbolizes bitterness and
discord and West symbolizes dying
The lovers' world does not contain these directions. This is Donne's conceit. It is based on
hyperbole taking an idea to its limit so it becomes an outrageous exaggeration.
Whatever dyes, was not mix equally ;
In these lines the concept of immortality of love comes from the poet knowledge of
chemistry..
Hyperbole is used in following lines
If or two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none doe slacken, none can die
Naturally, metaphysical poetry includes argumentative expression of emotional content. “The
Good Morrow” presents love in an argumentative manner, and is developed through a series
of seemingly logical stages, and the connections are marked by the words like “But”, “If”, “Or’,
“And”, “For” etc. The poem also moves logically from past to present to future. The lovers’
belief and doubt about the immortality of their love is logically presented:
“If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.”
In the first stanza, there is the regret for past doings, in the second stanza the pleasure of
discovering something in the last stanza, the prospect/hope of doing better/using the discovery.
The abrupt beginning of the poem, the use of conceits form everyday life and myth in the first
stanza, the geographical reference of stanza two, the use of scholastic philosophy in stanza
three, and ultimately the emphasis of spiritual love continue to make it one of those poems of
Donne which combine intellect and emotion.
Thus, the sudden beginning, the abstract theme (love), its logical and argumentative
development using conceits, use of colloquial words in a conversational tone, and an absence
of rhythmic pattern certainly places The Good Morrow in the category of metaphysical poetry.