Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
Structure and versification in The Good-morrow
Stanza form
The stanza form is regular, each stanza consisting of seven lines, and rhyming ababccc. The c-rhyme is a little suspect at times- ‘gone', ‘showne', ‘one' are more eye rhymes than sound ones. English pronunciation has changed somewhat since Donne's day, so that a final ‘-ly' did actually rhyme with ‘I'.
Metre
- The last line of each stanza is an alexandrine, i.e. it has twelve syllables
- The remaining lines are all pentameters, having ten syllables.
- Donne frequently avoids any smoothly flowing rhythm: the ‘I' voice is too changeable to allow that. Even though a line like:
Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
is technically an iambic pentameter, the number of monosyllables and the consonant clusters make it a clumsy line to read, but that is deliberate: the world outside is a clumsy place, in contrast to a smooth world
Without sharpe North, without declining West?
which is perfectly balanced in the middle by the comma.
Investigating The Good-morrow
- Consider Donne's use of stanza form and metre in The Good-morrow:
- What is the effect of the longer last line in each stanza?
- A seven line stanza is not usual; six is more common. What does Donne achieve by having seven lines? Or twenty-one lines in all?
A pair of words or final syllables that are spelled similarly but which are in fact pronounced differently.
A line of verse containing twelve syllables.
A line containing five stressed syllables or feet.
The smallest sound fragment of a word, consisting of one vowel sound, with attached consonants if any.
A term used of speech rhythms in blank verse; an iambic rhythm is an unstressed, or weak, beat followed by a stressed, or strong, beat. It is a rising metre.
A word containing only one syllable; this may be contrasted with a polysyllabic word ' that is, a word containing several syllables.
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