Please note:
The poem in question
Stand still, and I will read to thee
A lecture, love, in love's philosophy.
These three hours that we have spent,
Walking here, two shadows went
Along with us, which we ourselves produc'd.
But, now the sun is just above our head,
We do those shadows tread,
And to brave clearness all things are reduc'd.
So whilst our infant loves did grow,
Disguises did, and shadows, flow
From us, and our cares; but now 'tis not so.
That love has not attain'd the high'st degree,
Which is still diligent lest others see.
Except our loves at this noon stay,
We shall new shadows make the other way.
As the first were made to blind
Others, these which come behind
Will work upon ourselves, and blind our eyes.
If our loves faint, and westwardly decline,
To me thou, falsely, thine,
And I to thee mine actions shall disguise.
The morning shadows wear away,
But these grow longer all the day;
But oh, love's day is short, if love decay.
Love is a growing, or full constant light,
And his first minute, after noon, is night
1. Donne is LinkedIn!
linkedin.com
As a sailor, soldier, secretary, clergyman, poet and member of Parliament Donne has a varied and rich employment history. Check out his LinkedIn page above!
As a clergyman he specialised in giving lectures with moral themes, however in "A Lecture Upon A Shadow" despite the word "Lecture" in the title many argue that he moves away from his religious background. Moreover, it has been said that the focus is instead on his controversial marriage to 16-year-old Anne More, the niece of his employer Sir Egerton. Indeed the disapproval of both Lord Egerton and Anne’s father, George More, seems to be reflected by the language of "disguises" and "shadows" which highlights the secretive nature of their "infant loves".
Comparatively avid Donne critic, Jonathan Kanholtz argues that it is time that was more important to Donne than love. He even went as far as to say that “Donne is fascinated by the smallest units of time, in the moments that cannot be sustained, when a tiny flux in time has the most profound consequences - noon, the break of day, the turn of the season, the year's midnight, the instant of death. Donne seems determined to test the flexibility of time at those moments when it is least supple.” (Imminence and Emminence in Donne, 1982).
We propose that in "A Lecture Upon a Shadow" Donne is concerned about both love and time. By drawing on his own experiences with love and relationships, Donne expertly uses the metaphor of shadows to vividly illustrate how time is both love's friend and foe.
2. Two sonnets - not quite Donne
View this video on YouTube
The form of Donne’s `A Lecture upon the Shadow` echoes its content.
•The poem is divided into two incomplete Petrarchan sonnets, each consisting of thirteen (rather than the traditional fourteen) lines. This may reflect Donne’s critical tone towards love throughout the poem, as the loss of one line may reflect the idea of something being missing in love itself – something which is only realised after the passing of time.
•The poem’s presentation itself mirrors the shadow described in the poem as the first half of the poem is identical to the second half with the break in the middle being ‘midday’, where no shadow is present.
•With the first half describing the growth of love, and the second half describing its decline, the poem’s physical structure follows the rise and fall of the sun with the passing of time, as Donne describes. The regular line length and stanza length of the poem perhaps reflects the organised, unmoveable structure of the day, which must come to an inevitable end.
•The rhyme scheme which connects each line works in a pattern of 4+4+3+2, thus showing a decline, similar to Donne's description of the nature of love fading over time. It may also resemble the course of the sun as it rises before falling during the day, therefore paralleling the themes described in the poem.
#notquitedonne #funwithdonne
3. Let It Grow, Let It GROW! (the love not the shadows)
View this video on YouTube
Here is a video explaining the first stanza of the poem! Hooray!
All love needs is time to grow 💜#FunWithDonne
4. Love fading in time... So Donne with this love
•In the second stanza, where the second incomplete sonnet is about to begin, there is a change in tone from Donne. It seems as though love is no longer about to grow but is about to 'make the other way'. The idea of the 'new shadow' doubling back on the couple leaves the reader, whether it is us or the other part of the couple, in a state of unease about the future. Words such as 'work upon ourselves', 'decline', 'falsely' and 'disguise' all give a sinister and closed approach to love, talking as if it is already soon to be over.
•Donne makes note that when the shadows start to form behind the couple, the sun 'blinds our eyes' and leaves them to walk without being able to see clearly. Darkness, 'these grow longer all the day', is overpowering the light 'the morning shadows which wear away' which could signify the doubts and secrets growing behind them are overpowering the new found love they have discovered for each other earlier that day.
•The shadows getting longer and bigger, as the day comes to an end, and the light disappearing is symbolic of the love fading as the darkness grows behind them. In the morning the shadows had been getting shorter with them learning more and more about each other, eliminating any fears, doubts secrets, but Donne presents imagery of love growing with a determination to fail. The shadows growing behind them as the day moves towards night shows the couple drifting apart, things growing behind them and between their love.
•As time heads towards the night, the ending of a day, it creates the sense of an ending love emphasised by the final line of the 'first minute, after noon, is night' shows how short lived love can be no matter how bright it gets during the day.
Sometimes it can all come to an end...
5. Time stops for no man (no, not even you, Donne)
Before anything, here's a quick video of David Bowie who says it best: face the changes. Time will change us and our situations, and trying to avoid this is futile.
Likewise the tone of Donne's speaker resonates with the futility of love. We've all been there; we've felt the stone cold fist of short-lived love thump our hearts, perhaps seeing the passing of time as a major contributing factor to love's "decay". If only time could have just stood still, just whilst everything was perfect and nothing damaging could be said or done. But time doesn't work like that, as Donne's poem tragically enlightens us...
•Donne's speaker's first word is an imperative: "stand". We see that he demands power, authority and attention immediately from his addressee, as well as from the reader.
→ This is also transferred to his desire to control time, as we see in his second word…
•"Still". The anonymous speaker is now attempting to stop time and movement of his lover with his restrictive command to "stand still" and thus preserve a moment in time.
•Nevertheless, Donne's attempts to pause time are proved futile by his lines to follow. He soon introduces the idea of movement to his lover, whom he originally aimed to oppress, when his speaker was "walking here" with her.
→ This breaks the momentary stillness and leads to the continuation of the passing of time; it appears inevitable and unstoppable.
•There is also a near-constant stream of movement throughout the poem which refutes the possibility of Donne freezing time, which he sees as the only way to preserve love ("his first minute, after noon, is night").
→ Love is described as a thing which can "grow", and shadows as things that "flow"; the poem contains many other verbs of movement.
•The speaker also tries to suggest "our loves at this noon stay", with the use of "stay" suggesting inactivity and a pausing of time. The fact that the speaker wants his love to stay at noon, the brightest part of the day, suggests that love can only be fullest and untainted when in a stable, or static, state.
•However, the passing of time does not allow this state to exist for more than a fleeting moment. In the next line, Donne's speaker and his lover will "make the other way" along with their newly produced shadows, suggesting that they have moved away from this perfect state.
•"Love is a growing, or full constant light,
And his first minute, after noon, is night."
The last heroic couplet rings with a lasting sense of finality. It depicts Donne's feelings about the futility of love in the face of time as doubts and fears creep into the speaker's relationship (metaphorically presented as shadows and darkness).
→ Donne introduces the idea that a minute after 'noon' is night. He perverts time here to imply its damaging effect on perfect (but fleeting) love, as it only takes a minute, or a word, or an action, to destroy a relationship.
→ The final word is "night". This represents the futility of love that the speaker is experiencing perfectly; after the first doubt creeps in, there is no hope left for the relationship to resume its state of perfection. Night is the darkest state of the sun's cycle, and ending on this word suggests that there is no escaping it, as there is no escaping time.
#DonneAndDusted #AJobWellDonne
John Donne taught me that there's no avoiding time: it will always catch up with you (see profile picture..) 🕚🕛🕐🕑🕒🕓
Share This Article
