Light and Sight in The Good-MorrowJohn Donne's poetry deals with themes of creation and discovery. In his work “The Good-Morrow,” these questions are addressed through the use of poetic symbols. Donne places great importance on the sense of sight as a means of discovering pure love. The first stanza contains images of sleep and, more generally, ways in which we can turn a blind eye to the world. Donne uses expressions like "unweaned" (2), "childishly" (3), and "dream" (7) to suggest the idea that when the eyes are closed, there is more than light that is denied to meaning. of view. In the visual example given, its imagery goes beyond what is normally associated with the absence of light. Figuratively, the narrator speaks of the light that comes from knowing the ways of the world. In this sense, having a “dream” of someone is looking at an illusion (7). This presents an interesting paradox. When we talk about blindness and sight, we necessarily assume that some kind of light is present. Sight only comes into play when one is denied vision or granted the privilege of vision in the material world. For the speaker, a world without the presence of light has no concept of fundamental form. The last two lines of the first stanza deal with this question. These lines state: “If ever I saw beauty,/Which I desired and obtained, it was but a dream of thee.” » (6-7) Although the speaker is in a place where there is no light, in the sleeping dream world, shades of "beauty" came to him, and he confused them with true light of beauty introduced in the following stanza. Throughout the second stanza, images waking up in the world of daylight replace the dark images of sleep...... middle of paper ...... Through the act of looking, the outside world can be seen as a direct manifestation of the power of true love. The first line of this stanza reads: “My face in your eyes, yours in mine appears” (15). Giving the reader an image showing the circular reflection of a face in an eye suggests the shape of a world existing in the speaker's gaze. The reflected image is actually a world of potential, filled with the hope of love, that creates its own light. The final lines of the poem allude to this: “If our two loves are one, or if you and I/Love are so alike that neither slackens, neither can die. » (20-1) The speaker, and perhaps Donne himself, receive the power of eternal life through the love he finds in the eyes of his partner. Their “two loves” truly become “one” if through the grace of their emotions for each other, they can imagine a life together where “neither can die ».”