2015-2016John Donne Poems

(listed alphabetically)PAGE # TITLE

2 “The Apparition”4 “The Bait”5 “The Blossom”6 “Break of Day”* “The Broken Heart”7 “The Canonization”8 “The Curse”9 “The Dream”10 “The Ecstasy”11 “The Flea”12 “The Good Morrow”13 “Holy Sonnet VII: At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners”14 “Holy Sonnet X: Death Be Not Proud”15 “Holy Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart”16 “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness”* “The Indifferent”

17 “Love’s Alchemy”* “Love’s Diet”

18 “Love’s Exchange”19 “Lover’s Infiniteness”20 “Meditation XVII: No Man Is an Island”21 “The Prohibition”22 “Song (Go and Catch a Falling Star)”23 “Song (Sweetest Love, I Do Not Go)”24 “The Sun Rising”25 “The Triple Fool”26 “Twickenham Garden”27 “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”28 “A Valediction of Weeping”29 “Woman’s Constancy”

*on separate sheets

LA4-IB Zero Period Merry Donne December 2015Mond

ayTuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 Intro John Donne & “Shepherd” &

2 Vocab Test # 10; Discuss

3 Discuss “Sun Rising” “The

4 Discuss “Apparition”,

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“Nymph” poemsHW: Read & prep “The Bait”

“The Bait” “The Flea” & “Break of Day”HW: Read & prep “Sun Rising” “The Dream” & “Good Morrow”

Dream” & “Good Morrow”HW: Read & prep “Apparition”, “Woman’s Constancy” & “The Curse”

“Woman’s Constancy” & “The Curse”HW: “The Prohibition”, “Song”, AP Practice “Broken Heart” & “The Indifferent”

8 Discuss “The Prohibition”, “Song”, AP Practice “Broken Heart” & “The Indifferent”HW: “Love’s Diet” & “The Ecstasy”

9 Vocab Test #11; Discuss “Love’s Diet” &“The Ecstasy”HW: Read & prep “Love’s Alchemy,” “Lover’s Infiniteness,” & “The Triple Fool”

10 Discuss “Love’s Alchemy,” “Lover’s Infiniteness,” & “The Triple Fool”HW: Read & prep“At the Round Earth’s…” & “The Canonization” “The Blossom,”

11 Discuss “At the Round Earth’s…” & “The Canonization” “The Blossom”HW: Read & prep “Love’s Exchange,” “A Valediction: Forbidding….” “A Valediction: of Weeping” & “Song (Sweetest Love…)

15 Discuss “Love’s Exchange,” “A Valediction: Forbidding….” “A Valediction: of Weeping” & “Song…”HW: Read & prep “Twickenham,,,” “Holy Sonnet X” & “Holy Sonnet XIV”

16 Vocab Test #12; Discuss “Twickenham…” “Holy Sonnet X” & “Holy Sonnet XIV”HW: Read & prep “Meditation XVII” & “Hymn to God…”

17 Discuss “Meditation XVII” and “Hymn to God..”

DONNE FINAL PART ONE

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DONNE FINAL PART TWO

“THE APPARITION” by John Donne

WHEN by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead,2

And that thou thinkst thee freeFrom all solicitation from me,Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,And thee, feign'd vestal, in worse arms shall see: 5Then thy sick taper will begin to wink,And he, whose thou art then, being tired before,Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think          Thou call'st for more,And, in false sleep, will from thee shrink: 10And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected thouBathed in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie,          A verier ghost than I.What I will say, I will not tell thee now,Lest that preserve thee ; and since my love is spent, 15I'd rather thou shouldst painfully repent,Than by my threatenings rest still innocent.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe

1599

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields Woods or steepy mountain yields

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh

1600

If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy love.

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And we will sit upon the rocks, 5Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies, 10

A cap of flower, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold 15With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs; And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my love. 20

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold; And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complain of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy bed of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means can move To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed, Had joys no date nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move To live with thee and be thy love.

Madrigal - a secular part song without instrumental accompaniment, usually for four to six voices, making abundant use of contrapuntal imitation, popular especially in the 16th and 17th centuries

Kirtle – a woman’s loose gown worn in the Middle Ages

Philomel – the nightingale

Wanton – in this sense, luxurious, plentiful, and extravagant

Folly - foolishness

Pastoral lyric: Poetry that expresses emotions in an idyllic setting.  It is related to the term "pasture," and is associated with shepherds writing music to their flocks.  The tradition goes back to David in the Bible and Hesiod the Greek poet.

“The Bait” By John DonneCome live with me, and be my love,And we will all the pleasures prove,Of golden sand, and crystal brooks,With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run, 5Warmed by they eyes more than the sun.And there the enamored fish will stay,

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Begging themselves they may betray.

When wilt thou swim in that live bath,Each fish, which every channel hath, 10Will amorously to thee swim,Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, beest1 loath,By sun or moon, thou dark’nest both;And if myself have leave to see, 15I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,And cut their legs with shells and weeds,Or treacherously poor fish besetWith strangling snare, or windowy net. 20

Let course bold hand from slimy nextThe bedded fish in banks out-wrest,Or curious traitors, sleave2-silk flies,Bewitch poor fishes’ wandering eyes.

For thee, thou need’st no such deceit 25For thou thyself are thine own bait;That fish that is not catched thereby,Alas, is wiser far than I.

“THE BLOSSOM” by John DonneLittle think'st thou, poor flower,    Whom I've watch'd six or seven days,And seen thy birth, and seen what every hourGave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise,And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough,5              Little think'st thou,That it will freeze anon, and that I shallTo-morrow find thee fallen, or not at all.

Little think'st thou, poor heart,    That labourest yet to nestle thee, 10And think'st by hovering here to get a partIn a forbidden or forbidding tree,And hopest her stiffness by long siege to bow,              Little think'st thouThat thou to-morrow, ere the sun doth wake, 15Must with the sun and me a journey take.

1 Be – est – emphasizing the verb to be. 2nd person familiar added the –est ending to verb forms in this point of view2 Sleave – separating filaments of silk from a larger piece; in this phrase he’s discussing the creation of a fishing fly

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But thou, which lovest to be    Subtle to plague thyself, wilt say,Alas ! if you must go, what's that to me?Here lies my business, and here I will stay 20You go to friends, whose love and means present              Various contentTo your eyes, ears, and taste, and every part;If then your body go, what need your heart?

Well then, stay here; but know, 25    When thou hast stay'd and done thy most,A naked thinking heart, that makes no show,Is to a woman but a kind of ghost.How shall she know my heart; or having none,              Know thee for one? 30Practice may make her know some other part;But take my word, she doth not know a heart.

Meet me in London, then,    Twenty days hence, and thou shalt seeMe fresher and more fat, by being with men, 35Than if I had stay'd still with her and thee.For God's sake, if you can, be you so too;              I will give youThere to another friend, whom we shall findAs glad to have my body as my mind. 40

“Break of Day” by John Donne'Tis true, 'tis day; what though it be?O wilt thou therefore rise from me?Why should we rise, because 'tis light?Did we lie down, because 'twas night?Love which in spite of darkness brought us hither 5Should in despite of light keep us together.

Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;If it could speak as well as spy,This were the worst that it could say - That being well, I fain would stay, 10And that I loved my heart and honour so,That I would not from her, that had them, go.

Must business thee from hence remove?Oh, that's the worst disease of love!The poor, the foul, the false, love can 15Admit, but not the busied man.He which hath business, and makes love, doth doSuch wrong as when a married man doth woo.

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“The Canonization” by John DonneFor God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,Or chide my palsy, or my gout,My five grey hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout,With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,Take you a course, get you a place, 5Observe his Honour, or his Grace,Or the King's real, or his stamped faceContemplate, what you will, approve,So you will let me love.

Alas, alas, who's injur'd by my love?10

What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd?Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground?When did my colds a forward spring remove?When did the heats which my veins fillAdd one more to the plaguy bill? 15 Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out stillLitigious men, which quarrels move,Though she and I do love.

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;Call her one, me another fly, 20We are tapers too, and at our own cost die,And we in us find th' eagle and the dove.The phoenix riddle hath more witBy us; we two being one, are it.So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit, 25We die and rise the same, and proveMysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,

And if unfit for tombs and hearseOur legend be, it will be fit for verse;

30And if no piece of chronicle we prove,We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;As well a well-wrought urn becomesThe greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,And by these hymns all shall approve

35Us canoniz'd for love;

And thus invoke us: "You, whom reverend loveMade one another's hermitage;You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove 40Into the glasses of your eyes(So made such mirrors, and such spies,That they did all to you epitomize)Countries, towns, courts: beg from aboveA pattern of your love!" 45

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“THE CURSE” by John Donne

WHOEVER guesses, thinks, or dreams, he knows Who is my mistress, wither by this curse;             Him, only for his purse             May some dull whore to love dispose, And then yield unto all that are his foes; 5     May he be scorn'd by one, whom all else scorn,     Forswear to others, what to her he hath sworn,     With fear of missing, shame of getting, torn.

Madness his sorrow, gout his cramps, may he Make, by but thinking who hath made him such; 10             And may he feel no touch             Of conscience, but of fame, and be Anguish'd, not that 'twas sin, but that 'twas she;     Or may he for her virtue reverence     One that hates him only for impotence, 15    And equal traitors be she and his sense.

May he dream treason, and believe that he Meant to perform it, and confesses, and die,             And no record tell why;             His sons, which none of his may be, 20Inherit nothing but his infamy;     Or may he so long parasites have fed,     That he would fain be theirs whom he hath bred,     And at the last be circumcised for bread.

The venom of all stepdames, gamesters' gall, 25 What tyrants and their subjects interwish,             What plants, mine, beasts, fowl, fish,             Can contribute, all ill, which all Prophets or poets spake, and all which shall     Be annex'd in schedules unto this by me, 30

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    Fall on that man ; For if it be a she     Nature beforehand hath out-cursèd me.

“THE DREAM” by John Donne

DEAR love, for nothing less than theeWould I have broke this happy dream;                It was a themeFor reason, much too strong for fantasy.Therefore thou waked'st me wisely; yet 5My dream thou brokest not, but continued'st it.Thou art so true that thoughts of thee sufficeTo make dreams truths, and fables histories;Enter these arms, for since thou thought'st it best,Not to dream all my dream, let's act the rest. 10

As lightning, or a taper's light,Thine eyes, and not thy noise waked me;                Yet I thought thee—For thou lovest truth—an angel, at first sight;But when I saw thou saw'st my heart, 15And knew'st my thoughts beyond an angel's art,When thou knew'st what I dreamt, when thou knew'st whenExcess of joy would wake me, and camest then,I must confess, it could not choose but beProfane, to think thee any thing but thee. 20

Coming and staying show'd thee, thee,But rising makes me doubt, that now                Thou art not thou.That love is weak where fear's as strong as he;'Tis not all spirit, pure and brave, 25If mixture it of fear, shame, honour have;Perchance as torches, which must ready be,Men light and put out, so thou deal'st with me;Thou camest to kindle, go'st to come ; then IWill dream that hope again, but else would die. 30

“The Ecstacy” By John DonneWhere, like a pillow on a bed, A pregnant back swell’d up, to restThe violet’s reclining head,

Sat we two, one another’s best.

Our hands were firmly cemented 59

By a fast balm, which thence did spring;Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread Our eyes upon a double string.

So to engraft our hands, as yet Was all the means to make us one;

10And pictures in our eyes to get Was all our propagation.

As, ‘twixt two equal armies, Fate Suspends uncertain victory,

15Our souls-- which to advance their state, Were gone out--hung ‘twixt her and me.

And whilst our souls negotiate there, We like sepulchral statues lay;All day, the same our postures were,

20 And we said nothing, all the day

He--though he knew not which soul spake, Because both meant, both spake the same--Might thence a new concoction take, And part far purer than he came,

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This ecstacy doth unperplex (We said) and tell us what we love;We see by this, it was not sex; We see, we saw not, what did move:

But as all several souls contain30

Mixture of things they know not what,Love these mix’d souls doth mix again, And makes both one, each this and that.

A single violet transplant, The strength, the colour, and the size-- 35All which before was poor and scant-- Redoubles still, and multiplies.

When love with one another soInteranimates3 two souls,That abler soul, which thence doth flow, 40 Defects of loneliness controls.

We then, who are this new soul, know Of what we are composed, and made,For th’ atomies4 of which we grow Are souls, whom no change can invade.45

But, O alas! So long, so far, Our bodies why do we forbear?They are ours, though not we; we are Th’ intelligences, they the spheres.

We owe them thanks, because they thus 50 Did us, to us, at first convey,Yielded their senses’ force to us, Nor are dross to us, but allay.

On man heaven’s influence works not so, But that it first imprints the air; 55For soul into soul may flow, Though it to body first repair.

As our blood labours to beget Spirits, as like souls as it can;Because such fingers need to knit 60 That subtle know, which makes us man;

So must pure lovers’ souls descend To affections, and to faculties,Which sense may reach and apprehend, Else a great prince in prison lies. 65

To our bodies turn we then, that so Weak men on love reveal’d may look;Love’s mysteries in souls do grow, But yet the body is his book.

And if some lover, such as we,70

Have heard this dialogue of one,Let him still mark us, he shall see Small change when we’re to bodies gone.

“THE FLEA” by John Donne

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,How little that which thou deniest me is ;It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.3 To animate or inspire mutually4 atoms

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Thou know'st that this cannot be said 5A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;    Yet this enjoys before it woo,    And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;    And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare, 10Where we almost, yea, more than married are.This flea is you and I, and thisOur marriage bed, and marriage temple is.Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,And cloister'd in these living walls of jet. 15    Though use make you apt to kill me,    Let not to that self-murder added be,    And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou sincePurpled thy nail in blood of innocence? 20Wherein could this flea guilty be,Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thouFind'st not thyself nor me the weaker now. 'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ; 25 Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

“The Good-Morrow” By John Donne

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and IDid, ‘til we loved? Were we not weaned ‘til then,But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?Or snorted we in the seven sleepers’ den‘Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 5If every 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, 10

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And makes one little room an everywhere.Let sea discoverers to new worlds have gone,Let maps to others, 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, 15And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;Where can we find two better hemispheresWith sharp North, without declining West?Whatever dies was not mixed equally;If our two loves be one, or thou and I 20Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.

“Holy Sonnet VII:At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” by John Donne

At the round earth’s imagined corners, blowYour trumpets, angels; and arise, ariseFrom death, you numberless infinitiesOf souls, and to your scattered bodies go:All whom the flood did, and fire shall, o’erthrow, 5All whom war, dearth, age, agues°, tyrannies, ° illness with flu-like symptomsDespair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyesShall behold God and never taste death’s woe.But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space;For if above all these, my sins abound, 10‘Tis late to ask abundance of thy graceWhen we are there. Here on this lowly ground,Teach me how to repent; for that’s as goodAs if thou hadst sealed my pardon with thy blood.

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“Holy Sonnet X: Death Be Not Proud” by John DonneDeath, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,

5Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

10And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

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“Holy Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart, Three-person'd God” By John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp'd town to another due, 5Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy; 10Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

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“HYMN TO GOD, MY GOD, IN MY SICKNESS” by John Donne

SINCE I am coming to that Holy room,     Where, with Thy choir of saints for evermore, I shall be made Thy music˚ ; as I come ˚part of God’s orchestra or company of musicians    I tune the instrument here at the door,     And what I must do then, think here before ; 5

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown     Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown     That this is my south-west discovery,     Per fretum febris˚, by these straits to die ; 10 ˚through the straits of fever, with a pun on straits

I joy, that in these straits I see my west;     For, though those currents yield return to none, What shall my west hurt me ?  As west and east     In all flat maps—and I am one—are one,     So death doth touch the resurrection. 15

Is the Pacific sea my home ?  Or are     The eastern riches?  Is Jerusalem? Anyan˚, and Magellan, and Gibraltar? ˚Bering Straits    All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them     Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem˚. 20 ˚sons of Noah

We think that Paradise and Calvary,     Christ's cross and Adam's tree, stood in one place ; Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me ;     As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,     May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace. 25

So, in His purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord ;     By these His thorns, give me His other crown ; And as to others' souls I preach'd Thy word,     Be this my text, my sermon to mine own,     “Therefore that He may raise, the Lord throws down.” 30

Notes:1) Donne’s biography Izaac Walton says this poem was written in March 1631, a few days before Donne’s death, but this has been questioned in favour of 1623

2) lines 13-15: In one of his sermons Donne writes: “in a flat Map there goes no more to make West East, though they be distand in an extremity but to paste that flat map upon a round body, and then West and East are all one . . . conform thee to him [Christ] and thy West is East . . . the name of Christ is Oriens, the East . . .

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3) lines 21-22 There is no authority for any precise identity, but appropriate correspondences of this kind are common in early biblical commentaries; place may mean region

“Love's Alchemy” By John Donne Some that have deeper digg'd love's mine than I, Say, where his centric happiness doth lie;          I have lov'd, and got, and told, But should I love, get, tell, till I were old, I should not find that hidden mystery. 5         Oh, 'tis imposture all! And as no chemic˚ yet th'elixir got, ˚ alchemist         But glorifies his pregnant pot          If by the way to him befall Some odoriferous thing, or medicinal, 10         So, lovers dream a rich and long delight,          But get a winter-seeming summer's night.

Our ease, our thrift, our honour, and our day, Shall we for this vain bubble's shadow pay?          Ends love in this, that my man 15Can be as happy'as I can, if he can Endure the short scorn of a bridegroom's play?          That loving wretch that swears 'Tis not the bodies marry, but the minds,          Which he in her angelic finds, 20         Would swear as justly that he hears, In that day's rude hoarse minstrelsy, the spheres˚. ˚the music of the

spheres         Hope not for mind in women; at their best          Sweetness and wit, they'are but mummy, possess'd.

“LOVE'S EXCHANGE” by John DonneLOVE, any devil else but youWould for a given soul give something too. At court your fellows every dayGive th' art of rhyming, huntsmanship, or play,

For them which were their own before ; 5Only I have nothing, which gave more, But am, alas ! by being lowly, lower.

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I ask no dispensation now,To falsify a tear, or sigh, or vow ;I do not sue from thee to draw 10A  non obstante on nature's law ;These are prerogatives, they inhere In thee and thine ; none should forswearExcept that he Love's minion were.

Give me thy weakness, make me blind, 15Both ways, as thou and thine, in eyes and mind ; Love, let me never know that thisIs love, or, that love childish is ;Let me not know that others know That she knows my paines, lest that so 20A tender shame make me mine own new woe.

If thou give nothing, yet thou 'rt just, Because I would not thy first motions trust ; Small towns which stand stiff, till great shot Enforce them, by war's law condition not ;

25Such in Love's warfare is my case ;I may not article for grace, Having put Love at last to show this face.

This face, by which he could command And change th' idolatry of any land,

30This face, which, wheresoe'er it comes, Can call vow'd men from cloisters, dead from tombs, And melt both poles at once, and store Deserts with cities, and make more Mines in the earth, than quarries were before. 35

For this Love is enraged with me, Yet kills not ; if I must example be

To future rebels, if th' unbornMust learn by my being cut up and torn,Kill, and dissect me, Love ; for this

40Torture against thine own end is ;Rack'd carcasses make ill anatomies.

“LOVERS' INFINITENESS” by John Donne

If yet I have not all thy love,Dear, I shall never have it all;I cannot breathe one other sigh, to move,Nor can intreat one other tear to fall;And all my treasure, which should purchase thee, 5Sighs, tears, and oaths, and letters I have spent;Yet no more can be due to me,Than at the bargain made was meant.If then thy gift of love were partial,

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That some to me, some should to others fall, 10    Dear, I shall never have thee all.

Or if then thou gavest me all,All was but all, which thou hadst then;But if in thy heart since there be or shallNew love created be by other men, 15Which have their stocks entire, and can in tears,In sighs, in oaths, and letters, outbid me,This new love may beget new fears,For this love was not vow'd by thee.And yet it was, thy gift being general; 20The ground, thy heart, is mine; what ever shall    Grow there, dear, I should have it all.

Yet I would not have all yet.He that hath all can have no more;And since my love doth every day admit 25New growth, thou shouldst have new rewards in store;Thou canst not every day give me thy heart,If thou canst give it, then thou never gavest it;Love's riddles are, that though thy heart depart,It stays at home, and thou with losing savest it; 30But we will have a way more liberal,Than changing hearts, to join them; so we shall    Be one, and one another's all.

“Meditation XVII: No Man Is an Island”(aka “For Whom the Bell Tolls”)

By John Donne

No man is an island,Entire of itself.Each is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea, 5Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory were.As well as if a manner of thine own Or of thine friend’s were.Each man’s death diminishes me, 10For I am involved in mankind.Therefore, send not to knowFor whom the bell tolls,It tolls for thee.

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“The Prohibition” by John Donne

Take heed of loving me;At least remember, I forbade it thee;Not that I shall repair my unthrifty wasteOf breath and blood, upon thy sighs and tears,By being to thee then what to me thou wast; 5But so great joy our life at one outwears.Then lest thy love by my death frustrate be,If thou love me, take heed of loving me.

Take heed of hating me,Or too much triumph in the victory; 10Not that I shall be mine own officer,And hate with hate again retaliate;But thou wilt lose the style of conqueror,If I, thy conquest, perish by thy hate.Then, lest my being nothing lesson thee, 15If thou hate me, take heed of hating me.

Yet love and hate me too;So these extremes shall ne’er their office do;Love me, that I may die the gentler way;Hate me, because thy love’s too great for me; 20Or let these two, themselves, not me decay;So shall I live thy stage, not triumph be.Lest thou thy love and hate, and me undo,

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O let me live, yet love and hate me too.

“Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star” By John DonneGo and catch a falling star,     Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are,     Or who cleft the devil's foot, Teach me to hear mermaids singing, 5Or to keep off envy's stinging,             And find             What wind Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights, 10    Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights,     Till age snow white hairs on thee, Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee, 15            And swear,             No where Lives a woman true, and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know,     Such a pilgrimage were sweet; 20Yet do not, I would not go,     Though at next door we might meet; Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter,             Yet she 25            Will be False, ere I come, to two, or three.

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“Song: Sweetest Love, I Do Not Go” By John Donne

Sweetest love, I do not go,          For weariness of thee, Nor in hope the world can show          A fitter love for me;                 But since that I 5Must die at last, 'tis best To use myself in jest          Thus by feign'd deaths to die.

Yesternight the sun went hence,          And yet is here today; 10He hath no desire nor sense,          Nor half so short a way:                 Then fear not me, But believe that I shall make Speedier journeys, since I take 15         More wings and spurs than he.

O how feeble is man's power,          That if good fortune fall, Cannot add another hour,          Nor a lost hour recall! 20                But come bad chance, And we join to it our strength, And we teach it art and length,          Itself o'er us to advance.

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st not wind, 25         But sigh'st my soul away; When thou weep'st, unkindly kind,          My life's blood doth decay.                 It cannot be That thou lov'st me, as thou say'st, 30If in thine my life thou waste,          That art the best of me.

Let not thy divining heart          Forethink me any ill; Destiny may take thy part, 35         And may thy fears fulfill;                 But think that we Are but turn'd aside to sleep; They who one another keep          Alive, ne'er parted be. 40

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“The Sun Rising” by John Donne

Busy old fool, unruly Sun,Why dost thou thus,Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide 5Late schoolboys, and sour prentices,Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,Call country ants to harvest offices,Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. 10

Thy beams, so reverend and strongWhy shouldst thou think?I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,But that I would not lose her sight so long:If her eyes have not blinded thine, 15Look, and tomorrow late, tell meWhether both the Indias of spice and mineBe where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,And thou shalt hear: 'All here in one bed lay.' 20

She'is all states, and all princes I,Nothing else is.Princes do but play us; compar'd to this,All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.Thou, sun, art half as happy'as we, 25In that the world's contracted thus;Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties beTo warm the world, that's done in warming us.Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere. 30

“The Triple Fool” By John DonneI am two fools, I know,       For loving, and for saying so           In whining poetry; But where's that wiseman, that would not be I,           If she would not deny? 5Then as th' earth's inward narrow crooked lanes

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    Do purge sea water's fretful salt away, I thought, if I could draw my pains     Through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay. Grief brought to numbers cannot be so fierce, 10For he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

      But when I have done so,       Some man, his art and voice to show,           Doth set and sing my pain; And, by delighting many, frees again 15          Grief, which verse did restrain. To love and grief tribute of verse belongs,     But not of such as pleases when 'tis read. Both are increased by such songs,     For both their triumphs so are published, 20And I, which was two fools, do so grow three; Who are a little wise, the best fools be.

“Twickenham Garden” by John DonneBlasted with sighs, and surrounded with tears, Hither I come to seek the spring,And at mine eyes, and at mine ears, Receive such balms as else cure everything. But O! self-traitor, I do bring 5The spider Love, which transubstantiates5 all,And can convert manna to gall;And that this place may thoroughly be thoughtTrue paradise, I have the serpent brought.

‘Twere wholesomer for me that winter did 10

5 1, To change into another substance, transmute; 2. the act, according to Christian dogma of partaking a sacrament of the bread and wine and having it become the body and blood of Christ

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Benight6 the glory of this placeAnd that a grave frost did forbid These trees to laugh and mock me to my face; But that I may not this disgraceEndure, nor yet leave loving, Love, let me 15Some senseless piece of this place be;Make me a mandrake7, so I may grow here,Or a stone fountain weeping out my year.

Hither with crystal phials8, lovers, come, And take my tears, which are love’s wine, 20And try your mistress’ tears at home For all are false, that taste not just like mine. Alas! Hearts do not in eyes shine,Nor can you more judge women’s thoughts by tears,Than by her shadow what she wears. 25O perverse sex, where none is true but she,Who’s therefore true, because her truth kills me.

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John DonneAs virtuous men pass mildly away,And whisper to their souls to go,Whilst some of their sad friends do sayThe breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise, 5No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,‘Twere profanation of our joysTo tell the laity of our love.

Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears,Men reckon what it did and meant,

10But trepidation of the spheres,Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers’ love(Whose soul is sense) cannot admitAbsence, because it doth remove

15Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refinedThat our selves know not what it is,Inter-assurẻd of the mind,Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

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Our souls therefore, which are one,Though I must go, endure not yetA breach, but an expansion,Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so 25As stiff twin compasses are two;Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if th’ other do.

And though it in the centre sit,Yet when the other far doth roam,

30It leans and hearkens after it,

6 1. overtake with darkness or night 2. envelop with social, intellectual, or moral darkness; "The benighted peoples of this area" 3. make darker and difficult to perceive by sight 7 a Mediterranean plant belonging to the nightshade family which was supposed to have aphrodisiac properties, and a large forked root which has been credited with human attributes and made the subject of many superstitions b the root of this plant was formerly used especially to promote conception, as a cathartic, or as a narcotic and soporific c a solution of mandrake root (as in wine) formerly used as a narcotic d The forked root is thought to resemble a human form and is said to shriek when pulled from the ground; these shrieks, according to legend can kill if one doesn’t protect oneself properly8 Vials (alternate / archaic pronunciation & spelling)

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And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who mustLike th’ other foot, obliquely run;Thy firmness makes my circle just,

35And makes me end where I begun.

“A VALEDICTION OF WEEPING” by John Donne

                LET me pour forthMy tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,And by this mintage they are something worth.                For thus they be 5                Pregnant of thee ;Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more ;When a tear falls, that thou fall'st which it bore ;So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore.

                On a round ball 10A workman, that hath copies by, can layAn Europe, Afric, and an Asia,And quickly make that, which was nothing, all.                So doth each tear,                Which thee doth wear, 15A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,Till thy tears mix'd with mine do overflowThis world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolvèd so.

                O ! more than moon,Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere ; 20Weep me not dead, in thine arms, but forbearTo teach the sea, what it may do too soon ;                Let not the wind

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                Example findTo do me more harm than it purposeth : 25Since thou and I sigh one another's breath,Whoe'er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other's death.

“Woman’s Constancy” by John Donne

Now thou hast loved me one whole day,To-morrow when thou leavest, what wilt thou say?Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow?

Or say that nowWe are not just those persons which we were? 5Or that oaths made in reverential fearOf Love and his wrath, any may forswear*? *to renounce or abandon

emphaticallyOr, as true deaths true marriages untie,So lovers’ contracts, images of those,Bind but till sleep, death’s image, them unloose? 10

Or, your own end to justify,For having purposed change and falsehood, youCan have no way but falsehood to be true?Vain lunatic, against these ‘scapes* I could

*escapesDispute, and conquer, if I would; 15Which I abstain to do,

For by to-morrow I may think so too.

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