Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO MR. R.W. [ROWLAND WOODWARD] (1), by JOHN DONNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If, as mine is, thy life a slumber be Last Line: Vertue, our formes forme and our soules soule, is. | ||||||||
If, as mine is, thy life a slumber be, Seeme, when thou read'st these lines, to dreame of me, Never did Morpheus nor his brother weare Shapes soe like those Shapes, whom they would appeare, As this my letter is like me, for it Hath my name, words, hand, feet, heart, minde and wit; It is my deed of gift of mee to thee, It is my Will, my selfe the Legacie. So thy retyrings I love, yea envie, Bred in thee by a wise melancholy, That I rejoyce, that unto where thou art, Though I stay here, I can thus send my heart, As kindly'as any enamored Patient His Picture to his absent Love hath sent. All newes I thinke sooner reach thee then mee; Havens are Heavens, and Ships wing'd Angles be, The which both Gospell, and sterne threatnings bring; Guyanaes harvest is nip'd in the spring, I feare; And with us (me thinkes) Fate deales so As with the Jewes guide God did; he did show Him the rich land, but bar'd his entry in: Oh, slownes is our punishment and sinne. Perchance, these Spanish businesse being done, Which as the Earth betweene the Moone and Sun Eclipse the light which Guyana would give, Our discontinued hopes we shall retrive: But if (as all th'All must) hopes smoake away, Is not Almightie Vertue'an India? If men be worlds, there is in every one Some thing to answere in some proportion All the worlds riches: And in good men, this, Vertue, our formes forme and our soules soule, is. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A HYMN TO CHRIST, AT THE AUTHOR'S LAST GOING INTO GERMANY by JOHN DONNE A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER by JOHN DONNE A LECTURE UPON THE SHADOW by JOHN DONNE A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY'S DAY, BEING THE SHORTEST DAY by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF MY NAME IN THE WINDOW by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF THE BOOKE by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF WEEPING by JOHN DONNE AN ANATOMY OF THE WORLD: THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY by JOHN DONNE ELEGY: 11. THE BRACELET; UPON THE LOSS OF HIS MISTRESS'S CHAIN by JOHN DONNE |
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