“The Triple Fool” Introduction

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“The Triple Fool” Summary

“The Triple Fool” Themes

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  The Danger of Making Art About Heartbreak

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Triple Fool”

• Lines 1-3

          I am two fools, I know,
  For loving, and for saying so
          In whining poetry;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  But where's that wiseman, that would not be I,
          If she would not deny?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-9

  Then, as the earth's inward, narrow, crooked lanes
  Do purge sea-water's fretful salt away,
          I thought, if I could draw my pains
  Through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-11

  Grief brought to numbers cannot be so fierce;
  For he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

          But when I have done so,
  Some man, his art and voice to show,
          Doth set and sing my pain,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  And, by delighting many, frees again
          Grief, which verse did restrain.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  To love and grief tribute of verse belongs,
  But not of such as pleases when 'tis read;
          Both are increasèd by such songs:
  For both their triumphs so are publishèd,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-22

  And I, which was two fools, do so grow three;
  Who are a little wise, the best fools be.

  

  

  

  

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“The Triple Fool” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“The Triple Fool” 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.

• Deny
• The earth's inward, narrow, crooked lanes
• Fretful
• Vexation
• Allay
• Numbers
• Fetters
• Art and voice
• Doth
• Set and sing
• 'Tis

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Triple Fool”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Triple Fool” Speaker

“The Triple Fool” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Triple Fool”

More “The Triple Fool” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Celebration of Donne — Watch a celebration of Donne (during which, appropriately enough, some of his poems are set to music) from St. Paul's Cathedral in London, of which Donne was a famous Dean.

  • A Donne Rediscovery — Read about a recently rediscovered volume of Donne's poetry, written by hand—and learn about why he didn't want his poetry widely published during his lifetime!

  • Poems (1633) — Learn more about John Donne's book Poems, the collection in which "The Triple Fool" was first posthumously published.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to actor Richard Burton reading the poem aloud.

  • A Short Biography — Learn more about John Donne's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

• 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 Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed