“The Relic” Introduction

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“The Relic” Summary

“The Relic” Themes

• 

  The Miraculous, Enduring Power of Love

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• 

  The Foolishness of Worshipping Relics

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• 

  Spiritual Love vs. Physical Love

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Relic”

• Lines 1-4

  When my grave is broke up again
         Some second guest to entertain,
         (For graves have learn'd that woman-head,
         To be to more than one a bed)

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

                  And he that digs it, spies
  A bracelet of bright hair about the bone,
                  Will he not let'us alone,
  And think that there a loving couple lies,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  Who thought that this device might be some way
  To make their souls, at the last busy day,
  Meet at this grave, and make a little stay?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-16

           If this fall in a time, or land,
           Where mis-devotion doth command,
           Then he, that digs us up, will bring
           Us to the bishop, and the king,
                  To make us relics;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-22

  then
  Thou shalt be a Mary Magdalen, and I
                  A something else thereby;
  All women shall adore us, and some men;
  And since at such time miracles are sought,
  I would have that age by this paper taught
  What miracles we harmless lovers wrought.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-30

           First, we lov'd well and faithfully,
           Yet knew not what we lov'd, nor why;
           Difference of sex no more we knew
           Than our guardian angels do;
                  Coming and going, we
  Perchance might kiss, but not between those meals;
                  Our hands ne'er touch'd the seals
  Which nature, injur'd by late law, sets free;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 31-33

  These miracles we did, but now alas,
  All measure, and all language, I should pass,
  Should I tell what a miracle she was.

  

  

  

  

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“The Relic” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Conceit

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“The Relic” 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.

• Entertain
• Woman-head
• Let'us
• Device
• The last busy day
• Make a little stay
• Mis-devotion
• Relics
• Mary Magdalen
• A something else thereby
• Sought
• This paper
• Perchance
• Seals
• Injur'd by late law
• Pass

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Relic”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Relic” Speaker

“The Relic” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Relic”

More “The Relic” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Portrait of Donne — See a portrait of Donne made when he (like this poem's speaker) was a dashing young lover.

  • Donne's Poems — See images from the 1633 first edition of Donne's Poems, the posthumous collection in which "The Relic" was first published.

  • Donne's Legacy — Read a review of a recent Donne biography that discusses his continuing influence.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Donne's life and work via the British Library.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

• 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 Good-Morrow

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed