Jonne Donne
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The Good Morrow
by John Donne
John Donne was born in 1572 in Elizabethan England into a Catholic family. A very religious man, he was persecuted for being Catholic and was not allowed to go to either Oxford or Cambridge to become a priest, so in order to achiev
an ironic riddle of chopped logic.
In the third and last verse, the poet looks into his lover's eyes, and sees his own face reflected in it;
My face in thine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest,
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
What ever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
The place of the word appears at the end of the first line clarifies the image of each person's face reflected in the other, but the word could also carry with it a suggestion of falseness, or appearance rather than reality. Also, as the poet describes how his lover's eyes are better than any hemispheres, he suggests that the earth is not in fact a perfect globe. However, the words north and west carry with them another meaning; north is a traditional symbol of coldness, and west of things in decline. Donne is maybe stating that in their future relationship, his lover will not be cold and his powers will not decline. The line What ever dies, was not mixed equally is explained by medieval medicine; according to this ancient science, death occurs when the elements that make up living things are unequally mixed.
The overall mood of the poem is celebratory, as the poet celebrates his love and unity with his lover...