The Good-Morrow Commentary

Pearl S. Buck once stated, "Love dies only when growth stops". To many, love grows and develops as it progresses. To others, love may be captured and maintained in one moment. John Donne uses the structure of his poem "The Good-Morrow" in order to convey the development and progression of love. Consisting of three stanzas, "The Good-Morrow" chronicles the maturity of love and its advancement in three stages. 

The first stanza begins questioning, what was it that humored the narrator before he found love? Words such as "weaned" and "childishly" suggest an immature lust and one involving two inexperienced lovers. This is further demonstrated in the line "But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?", which tells of a sexual past in which he or both of the lovers pleasures themselves childishly.

The second stanza begins, "And now good-morrow to our waking souls", implying that it is a new beginning and that the souls are "waking" or rather the lovers are having their eyes opened to a new understanding of love. "And makes one little room an everywhere", here the narrator feels as if his love is infinite and that it is universal as well as omnipresent. In this stanza the narrator compares his love to that of sea-wanderers and geographers who must search far for their desires as long as they "let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one". 

The third and final stanza of the poem begins with the image of the two lovers admiring their reflections in each other's eyes. "And true plain hearts do in the faces rest". The lovers are now truly and simply in love. They realize that they are perfect for each other; the narrator hopes and truly believes that their love together will balance perfectly and live together everlastingly. "Whatever dies was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or, thou and...none can die". The narrator does not believe their love is mixed unequally or is imbalanced, but rather their love is one; a love that "none do slacken, none can die".

Overall, John Donne successfully portrays a development of love through each stanza. Beginning with the underdeveloped lustful feelings, the narrator is experiencing pleasures and recognizes there is more to what he is feeling. Donne then uses the second stanza as a transitional phase within which his love spreads. And lastly, the third stanza acts as a full-realization and celebration of their love.