Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BROKEN HEART, by JOHN DONNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: He is stark mad, who ever says / that he hath been in love an hour Last Line: But after one such love, can love no more. Subject(s): Love - Complaints | ||||||||
He is stark mad, who ever says, That he hath been in love an hour, Yet not that love so soon decays, But that it can ten in less space devour; Who will believe me, if I swear That I have had the plague a year? Who would not laugh at me, if I should say, I saw a flask of powder burn a day? Ah, what a trifle is a heart, If once into love's hands it come! All other griefs allow a part To other griefs, and ask themselves but some; They come to us, but us Love draws, He swallows us, and never chaws: By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die, He is the tyrant Pike, our hearts the Fry. If 'twere not so, what did become Of my heart, when I first saw thee? I brought a heart into the room, But from the room, I carried none with me: If it had gone to thee, I know Mine would have taught thine heart to show More pity unto me: but Love, alas, At one first blow did shiver it as glass. Yet nothing can to nothing fall, Nor any place be empty quite, Therefore I think my breast hath all Those pieces still, though they be not unite; And now as broken glasses show A hundred lesser faces, so My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore, But after one such love, can love no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TALKING RICHARD WILSON BLUES, BY RICHARD CLAY WILSON by DENIS JOHNSON THE BRIDGE by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE RABBI'S SON-IN-LAW by SABINE BARING-GOULD MISGIVINGS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS THROUGH AGONY: 1 by CLAUDE MCKAY HEMATITE HEIRLOOM LIVES ON (MAYBE DECEMBER 1980) by ALICE NOTLEY QUICK AND BITTER by YEHUDA AMICHAI A HYMN TO CHRIST, AT THE AUTHOR'S LAST GOING INTO GERMANY by JOHN DONNE |
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