The Good Morrow | A Metaphysical Poem

‘The Good Morrow’ is one of the known metaphysical poems that is being celebrated. The poem deals with such abstract issues as speculation about space like one little room becoming as varied as the entire universe.

Philosophical questions like the indestructibility of the world of love for lack of contraries. These exhibits are certain characteristics connected with the ‘Metaphysical’ way of expression.

the good morrow poem
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the good morrow themes

What is the theme of the poem The Good morrow?

Love and nature are the central themes of this poem ‘The Good Morrow'.

Summary and Analysis

John Donne makes the poem best because it has filled with love. Firstly, the poem is written in a way that much of it sounds like people talking. 

The presence of the speaking voice is clear in the following extract,

“What thou and I

Did till we lov'd?”

the good morrow tone 

Secondly, we observe the use of a great variety of tone in the poem. A light satiric tone is heard when sucking, meaning, and snoring slumber are referred to. 

One of indifference is heard when no curiosity is shown for the new world of sea-discoverers. One of the reassurance is again heard when the lovers declared that their love is ‘so alike'.

              “Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.”

Thirdly, most of the flexibility and expressiveness of metaphysical springs from the freedom of rhythm and of poetic form. Donne, in his poem ‘’The Good Morrow" uses rhymes in such a way that becomes an expression of emotion. 

When harsh-sounding words like ‘sucked', ‘snorted' are added to it, the result is a deliberate roughness that stands precisely opposite to the smooth and facile verse of the Elizabethans.

The metaphysical poem is also notable for its dramatic opening and an element of the argument. 

The poem opens with a question that what the lovers did before their experience of love. It, thus, clears the way to an argument: whether their love is better than other forms of love and whether it is indestructible. 

Tension, conflict with the reasoned discussion, and establishment of one’s point go with an argument. 

In ‘The Good Morrow' tension arises over the question of whether the beloved would agree to that all their pleasures before they enjoy sexual love are childish, immature, and covered in ignorance.

Poet And His Beloved
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Conflict springs from the fear of whether she would consider their ordinary human hemispheres to be as novel and splendid as the geographical hemispheres of the ‘sea-discoverers'. 

Reasoned discussion is found when the lover seeks to prove that their hemispheres are better as they are without ‘sharp north’s or ‘declining west’s. 

The lover finally established his point that their world of love, whether one or two, cannot go slack or die as their love is the same all the time.

“"If our two loves be one, or, thou and I

Love so alike,”

Here the note of persuasion has become another characteristic of metaphysical poetry. 

The note of persuasion is clear when the lover calmly pleads for her acceptance of the human hemisphere instead of the geographic ones about which a lot of hullabaloos (uproar) had been created. 

Then comes another trait of metaphysical poetry that can be found in the employment of false analogy and false logic. 

An instance of false analogy is found when the lover’s faces are likened to two hemispheres.

“"Where can we find two better hemispheres,

Without sharp north, without declining west?”

Finally, metaphysical poetry is known for its conceits that means ‘far-fetched comparison'. 

In ‘The Good Morrow' conceit is used when pre-sexual pleasures are likened to unweaning, sucking, and snoring. 

Again, it is employed when geographical hemispheres are compared to human hemispheres without ‘sharp-north’ and ‘declining west’s. The analogy between microcosm and macrocosm,

“One little room versus everywhere"

the good morrow literary devices 

The metaphor means the former beauties as mere ‘dreams' of the present beloved.

Hyperbole is love, all love of other sights controls and paradox is ‘Love; ‘makes one little room everywhere’’. 

All these poetic devices contribute to the wit and intellectual favor of the poem.

the good morrow rhyme scheme

The rhyme scheme of the poem is 'ABABBC'.

the good morrow questions and answers

Where can we find two better hemispheres?

According to Donne, in love, they can find two better hemispheres.

What does Good morrow mean?

Good Morrow means biding someone, good morning.

Why is John Donne called a metaphysical poet?

Here, John Donne speaks on love by going beyond physicality.

The above discussion leaves us with no difficulty to accept Donne’s poem “The Good Morrow" as a perfect piece of metaphysical poetry.