John Donne Poem 1

John Donne "The Good-Marrow"

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.

And now good morrow to our waking soules,
Which watch not one another out of feare;
For love, all love of other sights controules,
And makes 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.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appeares,
And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest,
Where can we finde two better hemispheares
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.

"The Good-Morrow" by John Donne is a sonnet in which the speaker discusses the love he has since childhood and over time it has awakened and grown and that in any love both parties must be equal participants in order for the love and relationship to grow and be everlasting. The form of the poem is three verses. When breaking down the poem into each verse it that the mood Donne creates is that of desire and acceptance of the love between the two individuals discussed in the poem. The first verse begins with multiple rhetorical questions that one lover purpose to the other that speak of certainty, as in how could they not love each other. The first verse describes the initial attraction between the two since childhood. Donne alludes to "seven Sleepers" representing the youth and also the idea of salvation and refuge within each other. Furthermore he relates the need of the lovers as children discussing how they "weaned"; and "sucked on country pleasures" implying a childish first love and yet in the final couplet between "see ..and thee" the speaker foreshadows that there is more between them as all he ever wanted was his lover, which he got.
In the second verse, Donne describes the current relationship built on each others wants and needs, this is interpreted because the speakers say "now good morrow" (i.e present time) Furthermore the speaker implies that the love between them has awaken by the "waking [of their] souls" and that they are each others soul mates. Donne also uses the repetition of "Let" to imply a fierceness to their relationship, such that its new and they are exploring it to the world but as one- "posses one world"
The final verse recognizes the stability in their relationship and the everlasting desires and wants they will have for each other noted by the first line when they see each other in each other's eyes. Donne uses a metaphor of the tow lover two the two half of a hemisphere to demonstrate how they work easily together and can become two halves of a whole. Also he alluded to the scholastic doctrine when he says "whatever dies was not mixed equally" and later says that "non can die" implying that in love they are both equal participants and have equal say and that is why there love shall survive and be everlasting.
John Donne in "The Good-Morrow" uses these techniques to exemplify the theme of the everlasting love built upon equality and develops a calming and hopeful atmosphere within the reader that they too have the chance of finding a relationship of equal halves.