Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 1

SUBJECT: LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH

CLASS:  SS1

DATE:

TERM: 3RD TERM

REFERENCE

• Exam Reflection in Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
• Exam Reflection in Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.  
• Fences by August Wilson.
• Look Back in Anger by John Osborne.

WEEK SEVEN

THEMES AND POETIC TECHNIQUES IN THE POEM

“The Good Morrow” is a specially envisioned love poem which is celebrated by modern readers because of its contemporary take on love. Before going through the critical analysis of Good Morrow, it needs to be understood that Love has been defined here as a state of eternal bliss where the body and the soul are not divorced but work as a single orchestrated unit to offer a divine experience to the lovers. Donne has developed this theme by a blend of dramatic progression of thoughts and intensity of feelings. The poem emphasizes upon a spiritual awakening after the lovers wake up from their carnal past which awards “The Good Morrow” with titular justification.

The thematological exploration of the main body of the poem brings to our notice its trio-partite structure where the first part sheds light upon the past of the lovers which was riddled by their encounters with make-believe beauties. The lovers indulged in these meaningless liaisons to make up for the absence of a true love which concertize every abstract entity of human desire. Donne has compared that past to “snorting” in “seven sleeper’s den” and “weaning” on “country’s pleasures childishly” in two separate metaphysical conceits to express his passionate contempt and rejection. The poet’s disgust however diffuses when he realizes that his carnal past led to his divine present which paves way for the second element of the theme.

The theme for the second part of Good Morrow begins in the manner of a traditional aubade – “And now good morrow to our waking souls” where the physical act of waking up has been compared to a spiritual awakening. This is where the title of the poem is viewed in an intricate relationship with the theme. “Good Morrow” refers to the lovers’ acknowledgement of their divine present where the binarization of platonic and physical has crumbled to give a totality of experience that blinds the lovers to the world around as they are completely encapsulated in their “little room”. It is worth noticing here that the “morrow” would not have arrived without the lovers’ act of physical union in the preceding night which establishes that the way to spiritual love is through material fulfillment and not by dismissing the latter. It is this union of sexual and philosophical love as a unified sensibility which is important for a “Good morrow” in the lives of the lovers. The relationship which the poet shares with his beloved is based on the fundamentals of assurance and trust. There is perfect mutuality between the lovers but this mutuality never infringes their individuality – “Each hath one and is one”

The third part of the poem gives us a glimpse of the lovers’ futures which the poet believes will stretch till eternity. This is because he has awarded their love the quintessence of the fifth element of nature owing to its purity. This purity has vested the poet’s love with the powers of immortality such that it can counter and surmount all the destructive effects of death.

Thus we see that by establishing a link between the past, present and the future of the lovers, Donne has succeeded in developing the theme of the spiritual and emotional greatness of a perfectly passionate secular love. The title suggests that a spiritual awakening in love that has been triggered by physical union is responsible for the quintessence of true love.

 The Metre (Meter in American English) of The Good-Morrow.

The Good-Morrow has a basic iambic pentameter template, that is, there are five regular beats and ten syllables in each line except for the last line of each stanza which has twelve, so count as hexameters.

• But there odd exceptions here and there - some lines with an extra beat for example (11 syllables), others with trochees, spondees and anapaests, which alter rhythm and so bring added interest for the reader.
• The syntax (the way clauses and grammar work together) is also complex in some places. Extra pauses are needed here and there which together with enjambment mixes up the rhythm within the lines.

Let's get close up to the metrical beat with a full analysis line by line:

I won / der, by / my troth, / what thou / and I
Did, till / we loved? / Were we / not weaned / till then?
But sucked / on count / rypleas / ures, chil / dishly?
Or snor / ted we / in the Sev / en Sleep / ers’den?
’Twas so; / but this, / all pleas / uresfanc / iesbe.
If ev / eran / y beau / ty I / did see,
Which I / desired, / and got, / ’twas but / a dream / of thee.

And now / good-mor / row to / our wa / king souls,
Which watch / not one /anoth / erout / of fear;
For love, / all love / of oth / ersights / controls,
And makes / one lit / tleroom / an eve / rywhere.
Let sea- / discove / rersto / new worlds / have gone,
Let maps / to oth / ers, 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 fa / cesrest;
Where can / we find / two bet / terhem / ispheres,
Without /sharpnorth, / without /declin / ingwest?
Whatev / erdies, / was not / mixed e / qually;
If our / two loves / be one, / or, thou / and I
Love so / alike, / that none / do slack / en, none / can die. 

There are 13 lines of pure iambic pentameter ( 1,6, 8-13, 16,17,19,20) with a regular daDUMdaDUM beat.

The second stanza has six of them but Donne's syntax, use of punctuation and diction, is creative enough to disturb the plodding rhythm and adds tension and interest for the reader.

Note that in all stanzas the end line is longer, forming a hexameter (six feet) which underlines what has gone before.

The first stanza has only two lines of pure iambic pentameter so is the most mixed when it comes to rhythm and beat. The syntax too is complex, with many commas and sub-clauses. Each question posed by the speaker also has a tendency to slow the reader down, which reflects the careful reflection shown by the hesitant speaker.

The Literary Devices in The Good-Morrow

There are several literary devices in The Good-Morrow, including:

Alliteration

When two or more words in close proximity begin with the same consonant:

were we not weaned...

snorted we in the Seven Sleepers'...

Which watch not...

Assonance

When two or more words in a line have the same vowel sounds:

sucked on country...

Seven Sleepers' den...

all love of other...

tine in mine...

true plain hearts do...

Caesura

A pause in a line caused by punctuation, where the reader has to pause. There are several in this poem, typified in line 14, where there are two:

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

The Structure/Form of The Good-Morrow.

The Good-Morrow is a three stanza poem, each stanza having 7 lines (heptet).

The rhyme scheme is unusual :ababcccthe first four lines of each stanza working together in alternate pairs, the last three lines being a conclusion or affirmation. All twenty one lines have mostly full rhyme, except for these near rhymes: I/childishly...fear/where...gone/shown..equally/I.

EVALUATION QUESTION

Examine the theme of love in the work.

GENERAL EVALUATIONS/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Highlights the poetic devices used in the poem.
2. Comment on the mood and tone of the poem.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Read the themes of the poem in Exam Focus and summarise.  

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. In literary work, verbal irony refers to aA. device in which the speaker means the opposite of what he says. B. situation in which a character speaks or acts against the trend of events. C. difficult situation which defies a logical or rational resolution. D. device in which the actor on stage means exactly what he says.
2. In the theatre, words spoken by a character that are meant to be heard by the audience but not by the other characters on stage is called A. aside. B. soliloquy. C. acoustic. D. tone.
3. A poet’s use of regular rhythm is known as A. allegory. B. assonance. C. metre. D. onomatopoeia.
4. A literary genre which directly imitates human action is A. drama. B. comedy. C. prose. D. poetry.
5. The main aim of caricature is to A. describe. B. expose. C. emphasize. D. ridicule.

THEORY

Analyse the metaphysical features of the work..