Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Form and Meter
Donne himself referred to this poem as a sonnet, which is con-PHEW-using since sonnets are those 14-line critters with a turning point and a rhyming couplet wrap-up. And this definitely doesn't fit...
Speaker
Our speaker today is (we assume from the context clues) a boy who, if we can read between the lines—or should we say, sheets?—just spent a night of nonstop scoring with his lady friend. But now...
Setting
Since they just woke up, these lovers are definitely still in (a pretty rumpled) bed. And, not to hate on marriage or other long-term commitment, but the love that landed them in that bed is so fre...
Sound Check
Donne loves him some similar sounds. "The Good Morrow" is chock-full of alliterative and assonant goodies, especially the first stanza, which rocks some pretty sweet W's, S's, C's, and D's. Let's z...
What's Up With the Title?
The world's getting ready, everybody ready, yeah, for a new day… Just from the title of this poem you could hypothesize that morning's come and things are looking good. The speaker's been cock-a-...
Calling Card
Spiritual and Physical LoveDonne was obsessed with the relationship between body and soul and what that meant about physical versus spiritual love. Was the body separate from the soul? Could they w...
Tough-o-Meter
These lovers wear their hearts on their faces (16), but their feelings are so doggone philosophical and complex that wrapping your cerebral cortex around them is tricky. Allusions to Platonic theor...
Trivia
Donne's fascination with maps also surfaces in his sermons. In a 1622 sermon he preached that "you shall have but two parts out of these words; And to make these two parts, I consider the text, as...
Steaminess Rating
Even though the speaker moves away from the joys of hanky-panky and into the metaphysical realms of true, spiritual love, this poem still packs plenty of naughty. Not only are these lovers just wak...
Allusions
Seven Sleepers (2)