“The Good-Morrow” Introduction

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“The Good-Morrow” Summary

“The Good-Morrow” Themes

• 

  Love as an Awakening

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• 

  Exploration and Adventure

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Good-Morrow”

• Lines 1-4

  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?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-7

  ’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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-11

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  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?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-21

  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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“The Good-Morrow” Symbols

• 

  Morning

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• 

  Little Room

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• 

  Hearts

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“The Good-Morrow” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Chiasmus

  

  

  

  

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“The Good-Morrow” 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.

• Troth
• Thou
• Weaned
• Country Pleasures
• Snorted
• Seven Sleepers' Den
• Fancies
• Morrow
• Controls
• Thine
• Plain
• Hemispheres
• Declining
• Slacken

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Good-Morrow”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Good-Morrow” Speaker

“The Good-Morrow” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Good-Morrow”

More “The Good-Morrow” Resources

• External Resources

  • Richard Burton Reads "The Good-Morrow" — The British actor Richard Burton reads "The Good-Morrow" aloud.

  • Biography of John Donne — A detailed biography of John Donne from the Poetry Foundation.

  • The First Edition of Donne's Poems — Images of the first printing of Donne's poems (which were not published until 1633), including an image of "The GoodMorrow."

  • A Brief Guide to the Metaphysical Poets — A guide to the group of 16th and 17th century poets which Donne lead, the "metaphysical poets."

  • John Donne and Metaphysical Poetry — A guide to metaphysical poetry from the British Library, with a detailed analysis of "The Good-Morrow."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

  • A Hymn to God the Father

  • Air and Angels

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • A Valediction: Of Weeping

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Apparition

  • The Canonization

  • The Dream

  • The Ecstasy

  • The Flea

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed