Student Question
What is your comment on the title of John Donne's "The Good Morrow?"
Quick answer:
The title "The Good Morrow" reflects the speaker's anticipation of a new day filled with deeper love. It signifies a transition from past trivialities to a profound, awakening love. In the poem, the speaker dismisses past experiences as insignificant and highlights the completeness and self-sustaining nature of their love, suggesting that for the lovers, the wonders of the world are encapsulated in their relationship, promising a bright future together.
The "good morrow" is always to be anticipated, for the speaker's love is so consuming that the promise of another day brings the prospect of more intense love.
First, the speaker dismisses past actions and lovers as inconsequential:
I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I
Did, till we lov'd Were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd on countrey pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?
T'was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dreame of thee.
The second stanza argues for letting others discover the mysteries of life. For the lovers, all the wonders of the world are found in the lovers embraces.
And now good morow to our waking soules,
Which watch not one another out of feare;
For love, all love of other sights controules,
And makes...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
one little roome, an every where.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have showne,
Let us possesse one world; each hath one, and is one.
Finally, their love is complete and self-sustaining, a promise for the "morrow":
...
Without sharpe North, without declining West?
What ever dyes, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.