John Donne's witty, punny, passionate "The Canonization" was first published in his posthumous 1633 collection, Poems. The poem's speaker, a middle-aged man who has fallen deeply in love, tells a mocking friend to leave him alone and "let him love" already. Love, this poem suggests, is timeless in more than one way: it can strike at any age, and (with a little help from poetry) it can help lovers to attain saint-like immortality.
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The Full Text of “The Canonization”
1For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
2 Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
3My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune, flout,
4 With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
5 Take you a course, get you a place,
6 Observe His Honor, or His Grace,
7Or the King's real, or his stampèd face
8 Contemplate; what you will, approve,
9 So you will let me love.
10Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?
11 What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?
12Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?
13 When did my colds a forward spring remove?
14 When did the heats which my veins fill
15 Add one more to the plaguy bill?
16Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
17 Litigious men, which quarrels move,
18 Though she and I do love.
19Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
20 Call her one, me another fly,
21We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
22 And we in us find the eagle and the dove.
23 The phoenix riddle hath more wit
24 By us: we two being one, are it.
25So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
26 We die and rise the same, and prove
27 Mysterious by this love.
28We can die by it, if not live by love,
29 And if unfit for tombs and hearse
30Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
31 And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
32 We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
33 As well a well-wrought urn becomes
34The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
35 And by these hymns, all shall approve
36 Us canonized for love:
37And thus invoke us: You, whom reverend love
38 Made one another's hermitage;
39You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;
40 Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
41 Into the glasses of your eyes
42 (So made such mirrors, and such spies,
43That they did all to you epitomize)
44 Countries, towns, courts: Beg from above
45 A pattern of your love!
The Full Text of “The Canonization”
1For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
2 Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
3My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune, flout,
4 With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
5 Take you a course, get you a place,
6 Observe His Honor, or His Grace,
7Or the King's real, or his stampèd face
8 Contemplate; what you will, approve,
9 So you will let me love.
10Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?
11 What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?
12Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?
13 When did my colds a forward spring remove?
14 When did the heats which my veins fill
15 Add one more to the plaguy bill?
16Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
17 Litigious men, which quarrels move,
18 Though she and I do love.
19Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
20 Call her one, me another fly,
21We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
22 And we in us find the eagle and the dove.
23 The phoenix riddle hath more wit
24 By us: we two being one, are it.
25So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
26 We die and rise the same, and prove
27 Mysterious by this love.
28We can die by it, if not live by love,
29 And if unfit for tombs and hearse
30Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
31 And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
32 We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
33 As well a well-wrought urn becomes
34The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
35 And by these hymns, all shall approve
36 Us canonized for love:
37And thus invoke us: You, whom reverend love
38 Made one another's hermitage;
39You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;
40 Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
41 Into the glasses of your eyes
42 (So made such mirrors, and such spies,
43That they did all to you epitomize)
44 Countries, towns, courts: Beg from above
45 A pattern of your love!
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“The Canonization” Summary
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“The Canonization” Themes
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The Power and Holiness of Love
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Love, Poetry, and Immortality
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Canonization”
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Lines 1-3
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune, flout, -
Lines 4-6
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe His Honor, or His Grace, -
Lines 7-9
Or the King's real, or his stampèd face
Contemplate; what you will, approve,
So you will let me love. -
Lines 10-15
Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?
What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?
Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?
When did my colds a forward spring remove?
When did the heats which my veins fill
Add one more to the plaguy bill? -
Lines 16-18
Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
Litigious men, which quarrels move,
Though she and I do love. -
Lines 19-22
Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
Call her one, me another fly,
We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us find the eagle and the dove. -
Lines 23-27
The phoenix riddle hath more wit
By us: we two being one, are it.
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love. -
Lines 28-32
We can die by it, if not live by love,
And if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms; -
Lines 33-36
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
And by these hymns, all shall approve
Us canonized for love: -
Lines 37-39
And thus invoke us: You, whom reverend love
Made one another's hermitage;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage; -
Lines 40-44
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
Into the glasses of your eyes
(So made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomize)
Countries, towns, courts: -
Lines 44-45
Beg from above
A pattern of your love!
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“The Canonization” Symbols
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The Phoenix
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“The Canonization” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Conceit
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Pun
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Metaphor
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Rhetorical Question
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Parallelism
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Repetition
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Allusion
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Enjambment
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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“The Canonization” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Hold your tongue
- Chide my palsy, or my gout
- Flout
- State
- Arts
- Take you a course
- Get you a place
- His stampèd face
- What you will, approve
- A forward spring
- The plaguy bill
- Litigious men
- Quarrels
- What you will
- Fly
- Tapers
- Die
- The eagle and the dove
- The phoenix riddle
- Hath
- Neutral
- Unfit
- If no piece of chronicle we prove
- We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms
- Well-wrought urn
- Canonized
- Invoke
- Reverend
- Hermitage
- Rage
- Contract
- Glasses
- Epitomize
- A pattern of your love
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Canonization”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Canonization” Speaker
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“The Canonization” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Canonization”
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More “The Canonization” Resources
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External Resources
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Poems (1633) — See images of the posthumous collection in which this poem was first published.
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The Metaphysical Poets — Learn more about Donne's role as one of the foremost "metaphysical poets."
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to a lively performance of the poem.
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A Short Biography — Learn more about Donne's life and work at the British Library's website.
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Donne's Portrait — Take a look at a famous portrait of Donne. Donne is intentionally playing the part of the melancholy, elegant lover here!
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne
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