Donne - The Canonization

The Canonization

Important Quotations

'For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,'

The opening line to the poem. The monosylabic line along with the acknowledgement of God creates a harsh, forceful and very powerful impact upon its reader. The colloquial and dramatic opening sets the atmospheric mood of emotional torture and create an immediate sympathetic feeling towards the persona.

'Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?'

At the end of the first line in every stanza of the canonization the word love can be found not only does this present the theme of the poem but it also visually resemebles the stuggle to find love and its continuity throughout life. Hopkins choice of the word 'injured' in the above quotaiton also brings an image of reality, a physical object of love whilst questioning its dangers. The persona is trying to say that love is between two people and no one else, telling the character in which he talks to leave his love alone.

'By us; we two being one, are it'

This quotaiton is a prime example of how the steength of a couples love can make them one. This is an occuring theme throughout many of Donne's poetry and it is through this repetition of ideas in which Donne makes a strong statement towrads the physical and emotional sides of love. In reference to the quotation it can be quereied why Donne uses the word 'it'. When used specifically to identify a certain thing 'it' can be very forceful. 'It' is generally used when a person doesnt know how to describe somethign with the correct terminology, in this case 'it' is something in which Donne and his love have experienced through love in which there is no name for, they are simply one, 'it'.