Page 2: Introduction to John Donne & “The Good-Morrow” Summary
JOHN DONNE: THE GOOD-MORROW
SUMMARY
The poem begins with the speaker’s sudden realization of the nature of his love for his beloved. He addresses her and asks her what they did before they fell in love. He wonders if they were not truly alive or if they were still like children, engaged in childish pleasures. He compares their previous state to the “Seven Sleepers’ den,” a cave where seven Christian youths slept for nearly two hundred years to escape persecution. The speaker implies that their life before love was like a long, unconscious sleep.
Page 3: “The Good-Morrow” Summary Continued
The speaker realizes that all his previous pleasures and desires were nothing compared to his love for his beloved. He says that if he ever saw or desired any beauty before, it was just a dream or a shadow of her. His current love is the only true reality.
In the second stanza, the speaker welcomes their newly awakened souls. He says that their love has made them indifferent to the outside world. They do not need to look at each other with fear or suspicion, because their love is based on mutual trust and understanding.
Page 4: “The Good-Morrow” Summary Continued
The speaker describes their small bedroom as an entire universe. He says that let sea-discoverers go to new worlds and let map-makers show new worlds to others, but for them, their love has created a world of its own. Each of them possesses a world, and together they make one complete world.
In the third stanza, the speaker looks into his beloved’s eyes and sees his own reflection, and she looks into his eyes and sees hers. This mutual reflection shows that their hearts are plain, true, and open to each other.
Page 5: “The Good-Morrow” Summary Conclusion
The speaker asks where they can find two better hemispheres without a sharp north (coldness) or a declining west (setting sun/dying love). He concludes by saying that their love is perfectly balanced and mixed. According to the medical and philosophical beliefs of Donne’s time, things die because their elements are not properly balanced or mixed. Since their love is perfectly balanced, it can never die or decrease. Their love is immortal.
Page 6: “The Good-Morrow” Text (Stanza 1)
THE GOOD-MORROW (TEXT)
STANZA 1
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.
Page 7: Line-by-Line Explanation (Stanza 1)
LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION
- Lines 1-2: > I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
The speaker swears by his faith (“troth”) and wonders what he and his beloved did before they fell in love. He asks if they were like unweaned infants before this love.
- Lines 3-4: > But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
He wonders if they were just enjoying simple, childish, rustic pleasures or if they were sleeping heavily (“snorted”) like the legendary Seven Sleepers in their cave.
Page 8: Line-by-Line Explanation Continued (Stanza 1)
- Lines 5-7: > ‘Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
The speaker admits that it was indeed the case. Compared to their present love, all past pleasures were just illusions (“fancies”). Any beautiful woman he saw, desired, and possessed in the past was merely a dream or a premonition of his true beloved.
Page 9: “The Good-Morrow” Text (Stanza 2)
STANZA 2
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.
Page 10: Line-by-Line Explanation (Stanza 2)
LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION
- Lines 8-9: > And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
The speaker greets their newly awakened souls with a “good-morrow” (good morning). These souls do not watch each other out of jealousy, suspicion, or fear, because their love is perfectly secure.
- Line 10: > For love, all love of other sights controls,
True love eliminates the desire to look at any other attractive sights or people outside of the relationship.