'The Anniversary' Flashcards
All ____, and all their ______,
All glory of _____, beauties, wits,
The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,
Is ___ by a year now, than it was
When thou and I first one _____ saw.
All kings, and all their favourites,
All glory of honours, beauties, wits,
The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,
Is elder by a year now, than it was
When thou and I first one another saw.
All other things to their _______ draw,
Only our love hath no ____;
This no _______ hath, nor yesterday;
_______ it never ___ from us away,
But ___ keeps his first, last, _______ day.
All other things to their destruction draw,
Only our love hath no decay;
This no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday;
Running it never runs from us away,
But truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.
What is ‘The Anniversary’about?
The Anniversary by John Donne is a dramatic lyric in which the poet celebrates his love which is now one year old.
The central theme of The Anniversary is the immortality of true love which transcends death itself.
Explain the first half of the beginning stanza:
All kings, and all their favourites,
All glory of honours, beauties, wits,
The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,
Is elder by a year now, than it was
When thou and I first one another saw.
Donne makes a magnificent list but the list is given in order to belittle it.
The contents of the list are subject to the passing of time.
Everything on Donne’s magnificent list has been changed over time. All splendour fades.
The list is not a fanfare but a requiem, a funeral song.
What contrasts Donne’s ‘funeral song’ type list in the beginning of the first stanza?
Contrasting this is the lover’s undying love that not even time can tarnish (Only our love hath no decay)
Explain the paradox: Running it never runs from us away
This paradox highlights the unchanging love and how it survives. The ongoing love can never cease.
What does the second stanza deal with?
The poet faces up to life’s stark reality and the inevitability of death.
What is the first image of the 2nd stanza?
Donne pictures the two lover’s bodies lying in separate graves (unmarried couples were not permitted to share a grave in Donne’s time).
Two ____ must hide thine and my ___;
If one might, ___ were no _____.
Alas! as well as other _____, we
—Who _____ enough in one _____ be—
Must leave at last in ____, these eyes and ears,
Two graves must hide thine and my corpse;
If one might, death were no divorce.
Alas! as well as other princes, we
—Who prince enough in one another be—
Must leave at last in death, these eyes and ears,
Oft fed with true ___, and with sweet ___ ____;
But souls where nothing ____ but love
—All other thoughts being _____—then shall prove
This or a love ______ there above,
When _____ to their graves, ____ from their ____ remove.
Oft fed with true oaths, and with sweet salt tears;
But souls where nothing dwells but love
—All other thoughts being inmates—then shall prove
This or a love increasèd there above,
When bodies to their graves, souls from their graves remove.
What metaphor is extended throughout the poem?
extended royal conceit
What is the purpose of the grave imagery in the second stanza?
That death will not separate the lovers.
The couple’s love is so strong that even death cannot separate them on a spiritual level.
Death will free their loving souls from the prison of physical life.
They will be reunited spiritually (‘where nothing dwells but love’) in heaven (‘love increased there above’)
How is a regretful tone created in the 2nd stanza?
The mood is suddenly regretful at the thought of leaving behind love’s ‘true oaths, and with sweet salt tears’
And then we shall be ______ blest;
But now no more than all the ___.
Here upon ___ we’re ____, and none but we
Can be such ____, nor of such ______ be.
And then we shall be throughly blest;
But now no more than all the rest.
Here upon earth we’re kings, and none but we
Can be such kings, nor of such subjects be.
Who is so ___ as we? where none can do
______ to us, ____ one of us two.
True and false ___ let us ____,
Let us love ____, and live, and add again
____ and years unto years, till we attain
To write ______; this is the second of our ___.
Who is so safe as we? where none can do
Treason to us, except one of us two.
True and false fears let us refrain,
Let us love nobly, and live, and add again
Years and years unto years, till we attain
To write threescore; this is the second of our reign.
