CRE 1: Good Morrow by John Donne

John Donne was a metaphysical poet who lived during 16th century. As a metaphysical poet
he often tackled themes regarding love and religion. In his poem entitled “Good Morrow”, the
persona reflects on his life before his relationship, and how it has been transformed afterwards.
In this poem John Donne highlights the theme of love through his use of tone and imagery ;
which is supported through his use of metaphysical techniques.

The tone is of poem of excitement as the persona speaks of his love. This is emphasized
through the use of the metaphysical technique of asking question in the poem. In the first
stanza, the persona is seen to be asking questions such as in the second line where he asks
“Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ?” followed by “But suck'd on country pleasures,
childishly ?”, until the fourth line. The persona was asking himself a rhetorical question,
questioning his life before meeting his lover. The use of multiple and successive question
creates a childish and exciting tone in order to highlight the emotions of persona. Aside from his
use of questions in the poem, he also makes strong use of enjambment to further highlight the
tone. The use of enjambment create the context of the persona stuttering which emphasizes the
persona’s excitement. The poem’s tone of excitement, is used to highlight the persona’s love
because by merely speaking about it, he is filled with excitement and stutters while doing so.

Another aspect of the poem the helps highlight the theme of love is the use of imagery in the
poem. The persona likens himself to be like a child in the third line, calling himself “childishly”
before meeting her. The use of diction here is to show how his love had been immature and
childlike. In the sixth and seventh line, Dunne his simplistic diction to direct show the love the
persona has for his woman. In these lines the persona says that everything that he had desired
was merely a dream of her. While the first stanza focused on a more physical type of love, the
second focuses on a more spiritual type of love. This is seen at the second line of the first
stanza where the persona says “good-morrow to our waking souls”. The image that is portrayed
is that love as more than just physical but also spiritual. Afterwards the poem portrays their love
as “one little room an everywhere”, this is to show how their love is simply all that matters;
Focusing only on their love, while everything else does not seem to matter. In the lines to follow
he likens their love to be like an adventure as images of maps, sea discoverers and world are
portrayed. In the last stanza, imageries of hemispheres are given and this is to highlight the
lovers as a perfect match and when combined creates the world.

Overall this poem highlights the theme of love, as portrayed by the imageries used in the
poem. Furthermore it is also supported through the use of the tone of the poem which is created
through the use of metaphysical features such as questions and enjambment. In this poem John
Dunne is able to display the love between the couple and show that love is not just physical but
also spiritual.