THE BAIT.by John Donne
COME live with me, and be my love,And we will some new pleasures proveOf golden sands, and crystal brooks,With silken lines and silver hooks.There will the river whisp'ring runWarm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun ;And there th' enamour'd fish will stay,Begging themselves they may betray.When thou wilt swim in that live bath,Each fish, which every channel hath,Will amorously to thee swim,Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,And if myself have leave to see,I need not their light, having thee.Let others freeze with angling reeds,And cut their legs with shells and weeds,Or treacherously poor fish beset,With strangling snare, or windowy net.Let coarse bold hands from slimy nestThe bedded fish in banks out-wrest ;Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,For thou thyself art thine own bait :That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,Alas ! is wiser far than I.
Commentary:
In "The Bait" by John Donne, the author uses diction to concentrate on the shifting of the sentiments that the speaker has towards love. Donne uses this poem to portray the idea to the reader that love can be something that is at firs very attracting but in reality is nothing but an illusion of what love truly is.
Through the opening stanzas of the poem Donne uses nice and sweey words to establish a romantic mood towards his lover. The initial format of his stanzas connects his ideas and help express his thoughts. Also the established rhyme scheme serves as a platform for the pattern that the author uses to focus his spectrum on love and its deceitful ways.
Without any doubt the speaker is speaking to a lover or a potential one at that. He is asking the lover to be his and in a way he becomes aware of the deceit that love has. As the thrid stanza comes to an end there is a shift in the authors tone towards the idea of love. He goes from using words such as "amorously" to words like "treacherously" to show his realization that what he believe was so beautiful and pure is nothing but a big lie, in a way.
Donne brings the poem to conclusion when he mentions that "That fish, that is not catch'd thereby, Alas, is wiser far than I" which in my interpretation means that the men that are not attracted to all the glamour and beautiful deceit of the bait are so much better than what he is as he is unable to catch that and escape from it.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
John Donne Commentary (1)
THE GOOD-MORROW
by John Donne
I WONDER by my troth, what thou and IDid, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ? But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ? Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.And now good-morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear ;For love all love of other sights controls,And makes one little room an everywhere.Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one. My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;Where can we find two better hemispheres Without sharp north, without declining west ?Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;If our two loves be one, or thou and I Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.
Commentary:
In "The Good Morrow" by John Donne, the author uses diction to express to the reader the idea that he has found the love of his life. Through his language choice Donne furthers his central idea and emphasize his tone and the mood that the poem tries to establish. The repetition of key words and elements as well as the rhyme used help further develop the poems intensity and emotions. Donne chooses to allude to biblical images when he mentions the Seven Sleppers in the opening stanza of the poem.
Also, the timing of the poem and the tenses used throughout it add to the unique diction that identifies this poem. The poem itself can be viewed as the transitional story of a love-filled soul that has found his true love after having "sucked and country pleasures" and that now sees the "good-morrow". The transition that is stated beneath the surface of the poen add to its value as it is through diction that the authors sense of change shows his maturing into a passionate lover.
The last stanza shows more examples of his use of diction to emphasize his happiness. He talks about the two lovers becoming one and goes on to say that "where can they find two better hemispheres". He concludes by expressing his true feelings when he mentions that "Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die." which is a clear reflection of what he feels for his loved one as he knows that no matter what the love between the two is unbreakable and will forever go on.
by John Donne
I WONDER by my troth, what thou and IDid, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ? But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ? Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.And now good-morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear ;For love all love of other sights controls,And makes one little room an everywhere.Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one. My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;Where can we find two better hemispheres Without sharp north, without declining west ?Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;If our two loves be one, or thou and I Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.
Commentary:
In "The Good Morrow" by John Donne, the author uses diction to express to the reader the idea that he has found the love of his life. Through his language choice Donne furthers his central idea and emphasize his tone and the mood that the poem tries to establish. The repetition of key words and elements as well as the rhyme used help further develop the poems intensity and emotions. Donne chooses to allude to biblical images when he mentions the Seven Sleppers in the opening stanza of the poem.
Also, the timing of the poem and the tenses used throughout it add to the unique diction that identifies this poem. The poem itself can be viewed as the transitional story of a love-filled soul that has found his true love after having "sucked and country pleasures" and that now sees the "good-morrow". The transition that is stated beneath the surface of the poen add to its value as it is through diction that the authors sense of change shows his maturing into a passionate lover.
The last stanza shows more examples of his use of diction to emphasize his happiness. He talks about the two lovers becoming one and goes on to say that "where can they find two better hemispheres". He concludes by expressing his true feelings when he mentions that "Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die." which is a clear reflection of what he feels for his loved one as he knows that no matter what the love between the two is unbreakable and will forever go on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)