John Donne - Elegy 5 His Picture - Revision Notes in A Level and IB English Literature

It is thought that Donne wrote this poem before he left to join Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition to Cadiz in 1596 and to the Azores in 1597.
The poet did not become secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper of England, until 1598, after he had returned from these expeditions and therefore it is possible that he addresses a previous lover in ‘Elegy 5’ rather than his wife, Anne More.
Donne communicates the speaker’s attempt to exert influence over the female listener. In ‘Elegy 5 His Picture’ he exploits the imperative verb, commanding her, “Here take my picture.”
Donne negates the consequence of their parting, claiming that her picture “in my heart, where my soul dwells, shall dwell.”
This concept, undeveloped here, receives extended treatment through the likening of the two souls to the two legs of the compass in ‘A Valediction: forbidding Mourning.’
Donne elucidates the range of changes that might occur to his physical body: “When weather-beaten I come back; my hand,/Perhaps with rude oars torn, or sun-beams tanned”.
The poet urges his lover to refer to his picture…

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