WAEC Literature in English 2025 Theory — Question 11

Model answer

In John Donne's 'The Good-Morrow', the poet explores two distinct types of love: a physical, superficial and unawakened love of the past, and a profound, spiritual and all-encompassing love of the present. He describes the past love with scorn and a sense of childishness, using phrases like 'Were we not wean'd till then? / But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?' suggesting immaturity and a lack of true understanding in their previous experiences; he questions, 'Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?', alluding to a legend of Christians who slept for centuries, implying a prior state of dormancy or unconsciousness, and states that any previous desires or conquests 'were but fancies' - simply pleasurable on a basic level but ultimately unfulfilling. In stark contrast, the present love is depicted as profound, spiritual and all-encompassing; the poem's title itself signifies an awakening, a dawning of a new, enlightened state, reinforced when Donne writes 'And now good-morrow to our waking souls', suggesting it is their souls, not just their bodies, that have awakened. This present love is characterised by a mutual and fearless connection - 'Which watch not one another out of fear' - contrasting their trust and openness with the insecurity and suspicion often found in shallow relationships; their 'true plain hearts' are laid bare to each other, symbolising a complete and sincere connection that creates an all-encompassing, self-sufficient world where 'love, all love of other sights controls'. The poet ultimately presents this mature love as eternal and immortal, concluding that if their two loves are one, or if love is alike and neither slackens, none can die, drawing on philosophical ideas of perfect mixture to argue that their perfectly balanced love is immune to decay and death, transcending the physical and becoming eternal.