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BINSEY POPLARS - Gerard Manly Hopkins

ABOUT THE POET 

Gerard Manley Hopkins, (born July 28, 1844, Stratford, Essex, England and died June 8, 1889, Dublin) He was an English poet and Jesuit priest, one of the most individual of Victorian writers. His work was not published in collected form until 1918, but it influenced many leading 20th-century poets. Hopkins won the poetry prize at the Highgate grammar school and in 1863 was awarded a grant to study at Balliol College, Oxford, where he continued writing poetry while studying classics. 

He was appointed professor of Greek literature at University College, Dublin, in 1884. Hopkins was a devout Jesuit, who wrote about nature as a way to show God’s greatness, through the wonder of creation. His bold advances in poetry were often unappreciated by his Victorian contemporaries, and it was only in the early twentieth century that his genius was recognized. Hopkins died in 1889, aged only forty-four. He died of typhoid fever and was buried in the Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. Gerard Manley Hopkins 

Gerard Manley Hopkins

 BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

 

Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote ‘Binsey Poplars’ in 1879, in response to the feeling of a double row of aspen trees. During the Industrial Revolution swathes of the countryside were destroyed to create railways, and Hopkins was dismayed to discover that the wood from these very trees was used to make brake pads for a local train company, whom he held responsible for carving up much local farmland. 

The poem was inspired by the felling of a row of poplar trees near the village of Binsey, northwest of Oxford, England, and overlooking Port Meadow on the bank of the River Thames. The replacements for these trees, running from Binsey north to Godstow, lasted until 2004, when replanting began again. Binsey Poplars is a lament Hopkins wrote after revisiting a river scene in 1879, close to where he had studied when at Oxford fourteen years earlier. He was shocked to find that a row of aspen trees had been felled, the wood being used for the boom industry of the time, the railways. 

Hopkins was clearly saddened by this, in his eyes, environmental vandalism. It was a sacrilege, an affront to his God, and he set about venting his emotions in a short yet poignant poem. Published in 1918 the poem is full of sprung rhythm, a metric invention Hopkins developed which he thought was closer to common speech and also held more musical energy. There's no doubting his love for and study of phonetics. Hopkins delved deep into the different sounds words make, the quality of the syllable and the weight of the word in the line. S

SETTING OF THE POEM 

The poem “Binsey Poplars” is set in nineteenth century Britain, precisely during the Victorian era. It was both a prosperous and chaotic time for the people of Great Britain. 

The Victorian era was a period where industrialization had just started evolving. The poem is specifically set on the bank of a river that was enclosed by trees. The poetic persona therefore bemoans the felling of trees, seeing it as an ill-treatment of Nature. 

 SUMMARY OF THE POEM

 

The poem relates to the felling of a row of aspen trees or a long line of tall trees along the River Thames, in Oxford, England. The ecological problems associated with deforestation are visible in the lamentation of the poet. The poet mourns the cutting of his “aspens dear,” trees whose delicate beauty resided not only in their appearance, but in the way they created “airy cages” to tame the sunlight. 

These lovely trees, Hopkins laments, have all been “felled.” He compares them to an army of soldiers obliterated. He remembers mournfully the way they their “sandalled” shadows played along the winding bank where river and meadow met. Hopkins grieves over the wholesale destruction of the natural world, which takes place because people fail to realize the implications of their actions. To “delve or hew” (dig, as in mining, or chop down trees) is to treat the earth too harshly, for “country” is something “so tender” that the least damage can change it irrevocably. 

The poet offers as an analogy the pricking of an eyeball, an organ whose mechanisms are subtle and powerful, though the tissues are infinitely delicate: to prick it even slightly changes it completely from what it was to something unrecognizable (and useless). 

Indeed, even an action that is meant to be beneficial can affect the landscape in this way, Hopkins says. The earth held beauties before our time that “after-comers” will have no idea of, since they are now lost forever. It takes so little (only “ten or twelve strokes”) to “unselve” the landscape, or alter it so completely that it is no longer itself. S

Stanza 1 - Here the poem opens with the poetic persona addressing the trees as ‘airy cages'. This gives the pictures of the trees’ intertwined leaves — covered branches, and makes the bright sun more subdued (quelled). It sometimes blocks the sunlight completely. The poet is stirred by the mutilated landscape as he displays a personal bereavement and mourning. He says for emphasis, “All felled, felled, are all felled;”. “Felled “ here means hewed or cut down. 

He compares them with an army of soldiers wiped off at once. He remembers in sorrow, the way trees 'sandalled' shadows dangling along the wind bank where river and meadow met. He compares the lines of trees to a rank of soldiers. The image caught in military points to the fact that the industrial development of the rural area is akin to warfare against the nature and beauty embedded there in leaping. My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled , Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun All felled, felled, are all felled; Of a fresh and following folded rank Not spared, not one The poet’s love of the aspens is instantly obvious as he addresses them as ‘My aspens dear’. 

He immediately paints a strong visual image of the effect the aspens create as they lean over to meet each other over the width of the river. The metaphor of the ‘airy cages’ helps the reader to visualise the sunlight dancing through the leaves and reflecting on the water. It is impossible for the reader to rush reading or speaking these words aloud, again making us slow down and appreciate the scene. This beautiful picture is followed by the monosyllabic line “Felled, felled, are all felled’. The meter here could be identified as spondaic, where every syllable in a line is stressed. This metrical unit is effective in showing his distress at such wanton destruction. 

He likens them to a line of soldiers summarily executed when he uses the word ‘rank’ in the line below, and the use of personification following line: ‘Not spared, not one’ reinforces this idea. Hopkins was famous for his variations on meter and made-up words, and the following lines are a prime example of this: That dandaled a sandalled Shadow that swam or sank On meadow and river and wind-wandering Weed-winding bank. Again, this long alliterative sentence is impossible to rush and conjures the image of one idling by the river, taking in the beauty of nature, perhaps dipping a toe in the gentle current. This is nature at its most benevolent, and thus its destruction is all the crueler. The soft sibilance of ‘shadow that swam or sank’ lends a mellifluous quality which makes us imagine the reflections dancing on the water. He teases out the long ‘a’ sounds and the end rhyme of ‘rank’, ‘sank’ and ‘bank’ adding more musical sounds to complete the stanza. 

Stanza 2 - This last stanza starts with an exclamation of sorrow. He exclaims 'O' if we (human being beings) realize the ecological problems associated with the cutting down of nature, we would have avoided it. He exposes the ignorance of people who engage in deforestation. “When we delve or hew —/ Hack and rack the growing green!" “Since country is so tender/ To touch, her being slender,/That, like this sleek and seeing ball/ But a prick will make no eye at all,”. There is a comparison here between the damaged eyes and the nature that had be been destroyed. The analogy is with the seeing eye which can destroyed with one just one prick, then the light Is lost. The nature is fragile and sensitive and any damage done it, makes It lose its beauty. The poet concludes that, once we destroy the nature by digging it up (like the aspen trees), the upcoming generation (after-comers) will lose track of nature's beauty. The beauty of nature would have been gone, before they grow up. It might only take ten or twelve “strokes of havoc” (the blows of an axe) to “unselve” (damage) the natural beauty. 

He bemoans the fact that the trees created to radiate beauty and for a sweet, special (‘especial’) scene are no more in the country side. O if we but knew what we do When we delve or hew- Hack and rack the growing green! The second stanza of ‘Binsey Poplars’ begins with the apostrophe ‘O’ which instantly summons the readers’ attention. It also mimics Christ on the cross as he calls to God his father, “Forgive them for they know not what they do’. This again shows the strength of emotion Hopkins feels at the loss of these trees, and reflects his strong religious convictions. 

His tone turns to one of anger in the harsh consonance of ‘Hack and rack the growing green!’ The cacophonous internal rhyme of ‘Hack and rack’ stand out sharply from the long vowel sounds of ‘growing green’. He has cleverly used the verb ‘growing’ to emphasize that these trees were living organisms, brutally slain. His use of the exclamation mark here highlights his disgust. Since country is so tender To touch, her being só slender, That, like this sleek and seeing ball But a prick will make no eye at all, The poet has used the techniques of harsh language and repetition to make his point but just in case the reader has somehow missed the intensity of his feelings, he creates the lasting image of an eyeball being pricked, almost causing the reader to wince. Hopkins believed that Christians had a duty and responsibility to care for and protect God’s earth. He thus creates this powerful metaphor of the earth and her delicate infrastructure as ‘a sleek and knowing ball’. By destroying the earth, we are destroying a little of ourselves, and our relationship with God. He refers to nature in the feminine; the pronoun ‘her’ elicits further sympathy from the reader. 

The words ‘tender’ and ‘slender’ conjure up an image of a beautiful young woman, and make the earth sound even more fragile and delicate. He suggests that we, as humans, are incapable of seeing the bigger picture. We may think that we are making advances in technology, but if we are sacrificing the earth in the process it is all in vain. It suggests a lack of care and foresight for those in the future who will never know of this beauty. It is significant that he repeats the words ‘hew and delve’ from earlier in the stanza. 

They have an onomatopoeic quality which suggest digging into the earth and making indelible changes. Where we, even when me mean To mend her we end her, When we hew or delve, After-comers cannot guess the beauty been. Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve Strokes of havoc únselve It pains the poet greatly that it takes such a short time for humans to destroy what has taken a life-time to grow and flourish. The trees have grown in accordance with nature and created this beautiful scene, but are so quickly obliterated. The word ‘havoc’ suggests chaos and a lack of control, for ultimately we humans diminish our own spiritual growth by these actions. 

The sweet especial scene, Rural scene, rural scene, Sweet especial rural scene. The repetitive three final lines create a wistful tone, as though the poet’s rage has subsided to a quiet sadness. They take on the tone of a prayer or incantation as he drifts into a reverie, remembering this ‘Sweet especial rural scene.’ Ultimately the poet wants his readers to treat the earth with respect and awe. For in causing damage to nature, he feels we cause a disconnect with our own true selves

 THEMES 

 The orderliness of nature - The thematic preoccupation of this poem is trees, which is part and parcel of nature. The poem reveals the orderliness in nature. If one takes a look at the natural things abounding in existence and the natural laws guiding them, one will notice a rare resemblance of order and harmony in place. The sun rises and sets at specific times; the rain has a season; trees yield fruits at their seasons. If one goes to the forest, the way trees are arranged and the serene ambience shows as if they were done by a given ‘being’ for his pleasure. Tampering with such an organized setting is what the poet mourns. "Since country is so tender/ To touch, her being so slender, /That, like this sleek and seeing ball”. 

Destruction of nature - The poet mourns deforestation because of its adverse consequences. He laments after revisiting the River Thames side and discovered that a row of aspen trees had been destroyed or felled. He sees this as a sacrilege and an insult to God, so, he alludes to what Jesus said when He was being crucified, that God should forgive those who crucified Him, for they didn't know what they did. 

The poet asserts, “O if we but knew what we do”. This shows the ignorance of those who contribute to deforestation, as regards its negative 

consequences. 

The benefits of nature to man - The poetic persona wails because of the benefits of afforestation (presence of trees). He is preoccupied with the relationship between man and his environment. Human beings cannot live in isolation from the environment. Imagine if there were no grasses or trees. The ‘airy cages’ of the trees keep the sun away from the earth and allow the breeze to pass freely, and so fresh. Trees provide shades to both animals and man. Nature is therefore of benefits to man, and should be preserved. 

The Manifestation of God in Nature - Hopkins used poetry to express his religious devotion, drawing his images from the natural world. He found nature inspiring and developed his theories of inscape and instress to explore the manifestation of God in every living thing. According to these theories, the recognition of an object’s unique identity, which was bestowed upon that object by God, brings us closer to Christ. Similarly, the beauty of the natural world—and our appreciation of that beauty—helps us worship God. 

Many poems, including “Hurrahing in Harvest” and “The Windhover,” begin with the speaker praising an aspect of nature, which then leads the speaker into a consideration of an aspect of God or Christ. For instance, in “The Starlight Night,” the speaker urges readers to notice the marvels of the night sky and compares the sky to a structure, which houses Christ, his mother, and the saints. The stars’ link to Christianity makes them more beautiful. 

The Regenerative Power of Nature - Hopkins’s early poetry praises nature, particularly nature’s unique ability to regenerate and rejuvenate. Throughout his travels in England and Ireland, Hopkins witnessed the detrimental effects of industrialization on the environment, including pollution, urbanization, and diminished rural landscapes. While he lamented these effects, he also believed in nature’s power of regeneration, which comes from God. In “God’s Grandeur,” the speaker notes the wellspring that runs through nature and through humans. 

While Hopkins never doubted the presence of God in nature, he became increasingly depressed by late nineteenth-century life and began to doubt nature’s ability to withstand human destruction. His later poems, the so-called terrible sonnets, focus on images of death, including the harvest and vultures picking at prey. Rather than depict the glory of nature’s rebirth, these poems depict the deaths that must occur in order for the cycle of nature to continue. “Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord” (1889) uses parched roots as a metaphor for despair: the speaker begs Christ to help him because Christ’s love will rejuvenate him, just as water helps rejuvenate dying foliage 

 FIGURES OF SPEECH AND POETIC DEVICES 

Language - The diction used by the poet is a bit complicated and archaic. There are words like unselve (ruin), especial(special), dandled (dangled), sandalled (sandal), felled (cut down). This might make the poem a bit difficult for an average reader to decipher. 

 Mood/Tone - The mood of the poet is that of anger and disillusionment. The tone of the poem is mournful. 

Simile- That, like this sleek and seeing ball”

Personification - “Since country is so tender/ To touch, her being so slender”. Country is given human quality of “tender”. Also, the persona pronoun “her” is being used for ‘country’. ... the leaping sun”: Sun \s given human action of leaping (movement). Also in ‘My aspens dear,.’, the poet addresses aspens affectionately as if it was human. 

Antithesis - ‘To mend her we end her,'. “Mend” contrasts with “end" 

Oxymoron - '... airy cages ... ': The word ‘airy', the presence of ventilation contrasts with ‘cages’ which is like restriction or bondage. 

Imagery - The use of ‘airy cages suggest an environment or landscape that is well ventilated and cool, due to the presence of many trees. The use of ‘All felled'; "hew’'; "hack'; and '...end her’ present the picture of destruction as the trees are being chopped (cut) with loud noise when they hit the ground."... growing green’ gives the picture of the blossoms of the trees before they are felled. '... seeing ball’ is ah imagery of eye ball and emphasizes the usefulness of the eyes just like the trees. Also, '...sweet especial scene’ tries to appeal to our taste, suggesting the benefit of trees to the environment. 

Synecdoche - “Aspens” or '’Binsey poplars” refer to only species of the popular plant, but it is used to refer to the entire Nature (different trees) being hewed or cut down. The felling of only one tree can have a significant effect on the whole ones left behind. “An injury to one is an injury to all” M

Metonymy -'... the growing green' refers to the beautiful and tender trees, and vegetation being hewed. Repetition - ‘sweet especial scene' is being repeated to emphasize how awesome those aspen trees are; ‘ten or twelve' is being repeated to show the action of an axe in destroying the trees (nature). 'Felled' is being repeated three times in line 3 to indicate the poet's personal sadness over the destruction of the trees. Also, the repetition of ‘quelled' emphasizes how the ‘airy cages’ (the branches of the trees) subdued the light from the sparkling sun. 

Alliteration - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of an initial consonant sound, in order to add musicality — ‘All felled, felled, are all felled;” “...fresh and following folded rank" “Shadow that swam or sank” “... the growing green”... wind-wandering weed-winding bank.” A

Assonance — This the repetition of vowel sounds, in order to add musicality to lines of poetry —*Quelled or quenched” “felled, felled, are all felled” “Shadow that swam or sank” “Hack and rack” M

Metaphor - The branches of the trees are described as "airy cages”. This shows how trees create a cool and calm ambience through the air they retain. Nature is described as ‘country’, which mean countryside(serenity and landscape). The feminine pronoun “her” used for country (countryside) symbolizes fecundity (fertility) and beauty that makes the countryside.

Enjambment - It is when an idea in a line of poetry flows into the next line or lines before a complete thought is achieved. This also known as run-on-lines. The poet uses enjambment extensively throughout the poem: 

 My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled, Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun, All felled, felled, are all felled; In the stanza above, line 1 flows into 2; and line 2 flows into 3. 

Structure ~ ‘Binsey Poplars’ is set out in two stanzas and follows an innovative technique devised by Hopkins himself, known as ‘sprung rhythm’, a form of meter he derived from the rhythms heard in everyday speech and songs. In sprung rhythm, the stress is usually on the first syllable and several unstressed syllables could follow. He also makes extensive use of internal rhyme and compound adjectives which lend the poem a certain urgency that effectively conveys his sadness and shock that his beloved trees have been chopped down.

RAIDER OF THE TREASURE TROVE By Lade Wosornu 

But what can be worthy of your life? 

What dearer than the gems of your dreams: 

The reason you are here? Always strive 

To fly flags of Joy, and sail up streams 

Powered by the breeze of love, your course 

Chartered in the ink of compassion. 

And, fling roses wherever you pause 

Heaven-on-earth your destination 

Of things which would blot out that brief 

Or, breach your sails with arrows unseen: 

No! Rob you of life, Rage is chief. 

Rage drags rags after you. Of charity, 

Laughter, sweetness and light, Rage is thief 

Enemy of equanimity, 

Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene. 

In essence, Rage spells calamity. 

Its cause is your perception of storms 

Breaking around, not upon, your head. 

There are neither snakes, deviants nor norms: 

As you think, so you feel. Watch your mind. 

Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag far behind? 

I'll fling roses wherever I berth. 

My destination is heaven-on-earth. 

ABOUT THE POET

Ladé Wosornu is a Ghanaian professor, a surgeon, author and a poet. He is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences He also has fellowship from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in both Edinburg and England.

Wosornu was born in Lolito  village in the Volta region of Ghana. He was married to Juliette Tuakli a medical doctor. He attended Presbyterian Boy's Secondary School and St. Augustine's College. He is also a graduate of the Glasgow University n the United Kingdom.

Ladé Wosornu ha won many prizes including a gold medal as the most distinguished graduate of the year.

Ladé Wosornu worked with the Ghana medical school and also in Glasgow, London. He also worked with some universities in Saudi Arabia and Zambia as a professor in surgery. As a surgeon, he is specialized in chest surgery.

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

In Raider of Treasure Trove, Lade emphasizes the negative impacts rage can wreak on a man's life. Many have built a lot of goodwill through hard work over a long period of a lifetime, only to destroy all with rage. He expresses that this inherent potential of rage in his poem and presents its overwhelming damage to the Treasure Trove

SETTING OF THE POEM 

The setting of the poem is said to be universal as anger is a trait that resides in every human being. Anger is a reflex action. Even animals exhibit anger and rage. For example, a hungry lion rages and roars in the jungle. 

SUMMARY OF THE POEM 

The word “raider” means a plunderer (robber or a thief). He uses the word Raider to represent human beings. Every human being enters the world with the sole aim of unearthing their destiny. This destiny is the treasure trove. From the poem there are two concepts which will enable every human being achieve or lose this. They are love and rage. He identified Rage a weakness in human beings which have caustic power to limit humans’ journey in life..

Treasure trove means valuables like gold, silver in the form of money, plate or bullion of unknown ownership, found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics. The poet uses the title to depict man’s pursuit for life treasures or value of life. In the poem, the poet equates life and all its benefits (like happiness and fulfilling one's dream) with the ‘treasure trove’. So, he warns the readers against allowing anger and rage to rob them of happiness and living a fulfilled life. 

The poet used the word metaphorically to create the image of problems in life and the challenges (storm of life). In the poem, The Raider of the Treasure Trove the poet creates a magical imagery of sea and sailors on a voyage. He draws a contrast to life and sail. Life is a destination or path with pain and gain.

Stanzas 1 and 2 - The poem opens with the poet persona telling the readers the essence of their existence in the first place. He asserts that the essence of life is to be in joy and happiness, so that one can easily achieve one's dreams. We cannot give anything in exchange for our lives or our happiness. He asks rhetorically in the first line: 

“But what can be worthy of your life?” 

The  poet starts the first stanza with rhetorical questions calling the readers to action. These questions challenge the existence of humans if not to attain the great heights. Lines 3 & 4 The reasons you are here? Always strive/To fly flags of joy, and, sail upstreams’

One of the ways humans achieve success in life is by being happy about where they are. This propels them to strive to achieve more – to aim higher. When people are happy they tend to be more productive. This is represented by ‘To fly flags of joy’, the poet calls on people to keep moving up because time wait for no one. Remember the first line of the poem – ‘But what can be worthy of your life’ which runs into the second line ‘… dearer than the gems or your dreams’.

Rather than being bitter and in rage, he enjoins the readers to show love, compassion, and share roses (beautiful flowers).By so doing, we would be living on earth as if we were in heaven, and thereby fulfilling the purpose of our creation in this brief life we have to live. 

Stanza two presents the effect of joy in the life of every human being. Joy drives us. Joy makes humans spread love to people around them. Love helps humans channel the course of their lives, ‘Powered by the breeze of love, your course’ line 5. In doing this, human beings sprinkle bits of compassion to one another who are also on the voyage of life. ‘… your course/ chattered in the ink of compassion/ And, fling roses where you pause.’

As a result, the poet presents love, joy and compassion as a means of achieving happiness on earth. Heaven is beautiful. It is usually an imaginary place where souls rest. Our debt on this earth is to death which comes when least expected. And it is the desire of every human being to make heaven where there is no strife, greed or all forms of evil.

The poet in this stanza argues that earth can be our heaven if our lives are nurtured and centered around love, joy and compassion for one another. He ends the stanza by reminding human beings of the brevity of life itself which can fade away any moment. Line 9 – Of things which would bolt out that brief.

Stanza 3 - The poem takes sudden turn in stanza three. Here, the poet warns of Rage. He identifies rage as the greatest enemy to humans’ happiness. This does not mean rage is the only enemy to love but it is the chief. ‘Or breach your sails with arrows unseen/ No Rob you of your life, Rage is chief.’ Lines 10 & 11. Rage is violent anger. It is destructive. It can destroy a relationship built for years or monumental structure or edifice in a matter of seconds. Rage can deny one of one’s happiness or even give one a lifetime injury. Rage leaves indelible tracks and marks. ‘Rage drags rags after you, of charity/Laughter, sweetness and light, Rage is thief’ Lines 12 & 13.

In addition, these lines reveal that Rage denies one the opportunity to be happy, satisfied and cheerful. Rage steals your joy or what you have built for years in a twinkle of an eye, just like a thief. Rage takes life which cannot be returned. Hence, the poet warns of horror and harm rage brings to human lives. He summarises the sting and havoc of rage in this stanza as ‘Enemy of equanimity’ Line 14.

  This line talks about the place we give anger and rage in our lives. If we allow rage to thrive within us, then, it becomes a chief. He revolts against this; and admonishes the readers to see rage as rather a thief that comes to steal our laughter, sweetness, light, sanity and calmness. ...Rage is thief/Enemy of equanimity. 

Stanza 4 - Here, the poet further elucidates the demerits of rage. It Spreads toxic fumes; this makes it deadly or lethal. Rage spells calamity. Also in stanza four, the poet continues to decry the dangers posed by rage to human. Rage has a way of spreading to people around us. It intoxicates individuals turning them to mere beasts. ‘Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene.’ Once an individual gets aggressive at another person or group of people, the ones at the receiving end get agitated as well. They catch the ‘rage flu’ and respond. This quickly spills out of control and result in destruction. ‘In essence, Rage spells calamity.’ Line 16.

Hence, Rage’s main course is to destroy or stop humans’ sail to heaven-on-earth (his/her destination). The last two lines of this stanza expose the weakness of Rage. Rage is caused by our perception to an issue. Instead of allowing rage to control us, we should consider the background from which the rage is coming from or the background of the person possessed by the rage is coming from. If humans understand one another’s perspective to life rage can be defeated.

Stanza 5 - Finally, the last stanza warns that the mind harbours Rage. So, we should be careful about what dwells in our minds. A heart filled with love, compassion and joy overrides rage. An atom of hate can develop to rage which leaves trails behind, ‘Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag far behind.’ when we leave traces of love. ‘fling roses’. We will be surely at peace when we get to our destination.

This stanza tells us that we should guard our thoughts as out of it flows the issues of life. If we allow unfounded thoughts to grip us, we might fall into the temptation of destruction. For example, a man who is enraged without restraint could use knives, botties, guns or other dangerous weapons to harm. Though he begs later for forgiveness when he regains sanity, the ruin would have been done already. “Can ruin lag far behind?” In the analysis of the raider of the treasure trove, rage is the raider who raids and carts away the treasure of our lives.

THEMES 

The human trait called “rage” - Every human has the tendency to ooze rage and anger and cause destruction. Rage is a reflex action. It depends on what triggers the anger. We should exercise restraints when we get angry, and try to avoid the scene. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Some people's uncontrollable rage is hereditary; and sometimes, they only come to their senses when they have caused harm. Their contrition (regret) later on might be late. 

The ultimate purpose of existence - The poem has this as one of the themes. According to the poet, nothing is more important than fulfilling our dreams and living life in joy, happiness and in full potential. He therefore warns that, for us to achieve this, we should jettison our lives of anger, rage and bitterness. 

There is a reason why we are here. And it is left to every individual to work to attain it or to let it go. The poet tells us what should matter most in the life of every individual. These are the goals that the individual aspires to. Dreams are the things that are of paramount importance in one’s life. In other words, each one of us is born for a purpose; to fulfil our destiny. It is the reason we are here.

The opening lines of the poem attest to this.

But what can be worthy of your life?

What dearer than the gems of your dreams,

The reason you are here?

In effect, one comes into this life for one primary purpose. To fulfil one’s destiny.

And the ultimate goal of one’s struggles through life is to achieve happiness when those dreams come to reality.

“Heaven-on-earth your destination”

But, sadly, for many people, it is impossible to realize this. The reason is that they allow anger and other negative emotions to destroy any chances they might have to achieve their goals in life.

Negative impacts of rage - The poem elucidates several drawbacks associated with rage. Rage destroys; it spells calamity; it spreads toxic fumes (deadly); an enemy of sobriety (sanity). Above all, rage steals our joy and happiness. “Rage is thief”. 

To the poet persona, rage or anger is the main cause of man’s troubles on earth. This is why he cautions strongly against the tendency to allow strong negative emotions like rage to rule one’s life.

Rage is a destructive force. It acts like a thief to deprive anyone who entertains it of their happiness.

Further, rage is a toxic emotion which only spreads discord and eats away happiness and joy.

The theme of Love and Joy - The poet persona contrasts the unhelpful emotion of rage with that of love, compassion and joy.

In a didactic tone, the poet persona advocates love. He sees it as the best way for any living person to attain their dream for a better life – the heavenly bliss that we all seek.

While rage only brings disaster, positive emotions such as love, compassion and joy, on the other hand, are the agents of all things positive.

So these are the desirable emotions the individual must cultivate and propagate (spread) wherever he goes.

… Always strive

To fly flags of joy, and, sail up streams

Powered by the breeze of love, your course

Chattered in the ink of compassion

And flling roses wherever you pause.

The power of the mind to influence one’s situation in life - Another salient theme in the poem, Raider of the Treasure Trove is that everyone has the power to bring into existence whatever they want.

The source of this power is the human mind. Just as negative thoughts bring about a lack of progress, so do positive thoughts have the power to produce the most desired results.

“As you think, so you feel. Watch your mind.”

To the poet, the way we think about the things that happen to us determines our feelings and, for that matter, our actions.

To put it differently, the mind is the most powerful mover of our emotions, and by extension, our actions and their results.

Positive thinking brings the right feeling and the right outcomes. Therefore, rage becomes the inevitable outcome of how we see (our perception of) the happenings in our lives.

The poet argues that many people tend to focus on only the negative aspects of life’s events. They fail to see the possibilities even in the darkest moments.

And this is what drives them to the negative emotions that end up destroying their happiness here on earth.

In essence, Rage spells calamity

Its sole cause? Your perception of storms

Breaking around, not upon, your head.

Theme of choice - The poet persona places before the reader the choice between rage and love. But he goes beyond that. In fact, in his concluding couple of lines, he tells us where he personally stands on this matter.

I’ll fling roses wherever I berth

My destination is Heaven-on-earth.

Clearly, he is saying he knows which one is the better choice. We must choose love over rage.

The theme of heaven on earth - Raider of the Treasure Trove appears to kick against the conventional notion that man goes to a place called heaven only after departing from his earthly life.

The poet maintains that we are born to come into this life and live it to the full. Heaven is here on earth to reach out for and experience. And that the bliss or happiness that we seek in the afterlife is realizable while we live.

“Heaven-on-earth your destination”

In essence, there is no other heaven elsewhere to expect after we die. To the poet persona, people, unfortunately, allow uncontrolled negative emotions to rob them of heavenly life right here on earth. By making himself an example, the poet shows the way.

FIGURES OF SPEECH AND POETIC DEVICES 

Language - The diction used by the poet is not too difficult for an average reader to decipher. However, there are few ambiguous lines in the poem, like: 

“Or, breach your sails with arrows unseen:/ There are neither snakes, deviants nor norms:” 

Mood/Tone - The mood of the poet is that of love and compassion. The tone is that of ruin and anger. 

Metaphor - The poet uses metaphorical ideas throughout the poem to convey his message of anger and rage: Rage is thief/ Enemy of equanimity. Rage is directly and explicitly compared with a thief who steals people's joy, sweetness and laughter; a foe of sanity and tranquillity. 

Fly flags of joy

Breeze of love

Ink of compassion

Wherever I berth

Heaven-on-earth

The gems of your dreams

Just like the diction, metaphor in the poem creates pointed images that go to reinforce the various themes. For instance, the examples of metaphor in Raider of the Treasure Trove above paint a positive image of the kind of life that one is bound to experience when one chooses love over rage.

Sarcasm / Irony - “Rage is chief.” 

Personification - The use of personification is predominant in the poem. Rage is thief; rage is chief; Enemy of equanimity; Rage spreads toxic fumes; Rage drags rags..., etc. All these give ‘rage’ human qualities. 

“Rage” is personified throughout the poem. It is possible that the poet does this deliberately to underline this fact: Rage is the “chief” architect of man’s troubles on this earth. And, by extension, negative emotions constitute a powerful force in our lives. This is why they must be avoided at all costs before they destroy us.

Dramatic monologue - The poet reads as if he addressed someone who listens. The poet uses the second person pronoun like ‘you’ and “your”, thereby addressing everybody irrespective of the gender. It is akin to a sermon being preached about the drawbacks of anger and rage. 

Antithesis - No! Rob you of life, Rage is chief/ Rage drags rags after you. Of charity,/Laughter, sweetness and light, Rage is thief. The word “chief contrasts with “thief”. 

Hyperbole - “My destination is heaven-on-earth.” 

The above expression is an overstatement, for the purpose of emphasis. 

Euphemism - “Of things which would blot out that brief”. By this, the poet refers to death. 

“Or, breach your sails with arrows unseen:” By this, the poet refers to how rage can be our hidden hindrance to good life. “,.. Rage is chief.’It is being painted as chief, as if it were something positive. 

All these expressions are presented in a pleasant way, instead of in an unpleasant way. 

Repetition - Words like “Rage”, “...fling roses”all being repeated for the purpose of emphasis. Also, with minor modifications, “My destination is heaven-on-earth” is being repeated. 

Alliteration - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of an initial consonant sound — 

“they sang in the forlorn fields” (“f” alliterates) 

“To fly flags of joy, and sail up streams” (“f” and “s” alliterate) 

“Of things which would blot out...” (‘w” alliterates) 

“Rage sets sail...” (“s” alliterates)

Assonance

“drags rags after you”

Imagery/Symbolism - The poem is full of imageries and symbolisms. For instance, ‘flags of joy” symbolize human actions that bring joy; “fling roses” symbolize the sharing of love and happiness. Rose is an emblem of love. The repetitive use of “heaven” in the poem symbolizes a perfect bliss. On the negative aspect, “toxic fumes” symbolize deadly emissions. It stands for harm. 

Rhyme

“I’ll fling roses wherever I berth

My destination is heaven on earth

ALTERNATE RHYME

No. Rob you of your life Rage is chief

Rage drags rags after you, of Charity

Laughter, sweetness and light, Rage is thief

Enemy of equanimity

Rhetorical question - But what can be worthy of your life? 

What dearer than the gems of your dreams; 

The reason you are here? ... 

Can ruin lag far behind? 

The above questions are not asked for answers, but to create some effects. By these rhetorical questions, the poet persona places emphasis on the value of life (nothing is more treasured than it); our purpose of existence and how we can avoid ruin if we stay away from rage. 

Biblical Allusions - The poem has many Biblical allusions viz — 

i. But what can be worthy of your life?What can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26. 

Enjambment - It is when an idea in a line of poetry flows into the next 

line or lines before a complete thought is achieved. This also known as run-on-line: 

But what can be worthy of your life? 

What dearer than the gems of your dreams; 

The reason you are here? Always strive 

To fly flags of joy, and sail up streams 

In the stanza above, line 3 flows into 4. 

Blank Verse/ Free Verse - The poem is written without any regular patterns, rhymes or meters. 

Structure - The poem is written in five stanzas of unequal lines. The structure of the poem Raider of the Treasure Trove is built around the literary device known as contrast. For example, there is a contrast between the subject matter of the first stanza and the second stanza.

While stanza one dwells largely on the importance of dreams and how to achieve them with the right positive steps, stanza two moves away from this theme.

The poet persona in the second stanza warns the audience about powerful but destructive negative emotions like rage. Anger, if allowed to fester, can lead to the most devastating consequences.

Secondly, there are aspects of diction (words and expressions) that, in a way, juxtapose the two contrasting emotions and situations presented in the poem.

For example, such expressions as Fly, flags, Sail, Streams, Powered, Breeze, berth and Course constitute travel or navigation imagery that create the desired positive images of progress toward a lofty destination.

On the opposite side are expressions like Blot out, Breach, Arrow, Rob, Toxic fumes, and Calamity. These create an atmosphere of destruction, gloom and doom.

In sum, by carefully presenting the two opposite scenarios to the audience, the poet emphasizes the fact that personal choice plays a vital role in determining our condition in life.

Satire - The poem ridicules the human vice of rage and anger, In order to make amends

A GOVERNMENT DRIVER ON HIS RETIREMENT By Chibuike Onu

Many years on wheels 

In faithful service to his fatherland 

Today retires he home 

And a celebration he holds 

Many years has he pummeled his boozy throat 

In obedience to duty rules and regulations 

Today, he'll go home a freeman 

Eligible for his country's services 

"Come, friends, rejoice with me 

I shall booze and zoom myself home 

Away from duty rules Come celebrate my freedom” 

“Early to duty tomorrow holds not, 

Thirty-five years of faithful services 

I’ll' booze to sleep away my sufferings 

Today I've long waited for" 

More joy to send him home 

A brand new car in his name 

An appreciative symbol 

For undented thirty years of service to 

Fatherland 

"Come, friends and rejoice more, 

Joy till no more joy to joy 

Today frees and makes me a king 

My patience rewarded." 

And so, he boozed and boozed 

Celebrating the celebration of his retirement 

From faithful service to fatherland He battled with his bottle booze 

On his way home on wheels, 

Booze boozed his vision and clear judgment 

He boomed his brand new car 

And it sent him home 

Home to rest in peace. 

ABOUT THE POET

Born into the family of Mr and Mrs Albert Rosh Nduanusi Onu, Onu Chibuike Egwuatu Kingsley hails from Umuomi-Uzoagba ( now Ezenomi ), in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State. He schooled at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he obtained his degree in Bachelors of Arts Education English. He is a rising Nigerian writer and a teacher. He teaches English Language and Literature in one of the secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Goodnight Africa is his first celebrated anthology.

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

Onu Kingsley Chibuike’s poem is a commentary on the drudgery of the everyday life of the average Nigerian civil servant. The poetic persona in this particular poem welcomes his retirement from the civil service with celebrations, a mark of freedom from the daily toil of duty. The poet appears to take a different perception of the civil service from an organization that is filled with many redundant staff members to a place of true service and faithfulness to the nation, The poetic persona is said to have rendered many years of meritorious services to his fatherland.

The other important aspect that forms the background to this poem is the drink-and-drive attitude of many Nigerian road users. While one can easily identify with this celebration, the disastrous end of the poetic persona highlights a major cause of road crashes, not only in Nigeria where the writer is from but, also, in many parts of the world. Onu, therefore, gives this poem a universal appeal by using these seemingly unrelated circumstances to beam a light on the narrow gap between celebration and calamity

SETTING OF THE POEM 

The setting of the poem is the post-colonial African country, most likely Nigeria, where the government is one of the major employers of labour. Due to poor capacity to monitor drunk drivers, there are cases of road accidents. In this poem, the poet persona retires from public service, and he is high spirit. Government/ public service is ubiquitous  (found everywhere); so, the setting could also be global (universal). 

The poor or non-existent facilities to check drunk drivers in Nigeria and many African countries also accounts for the frequent car crashes on the roads. However, with the universal appeal of this poem, this poem can really be located anywhere. This is because in many parts of the world, retirement from public service is usually a thing of joy, especially when such service ends meritoriously.

SUMMARY OF THE POEM 

The poem reflects on the totality of the life of a government driver who has put in many years of service to his country and retires without a blemish. The other part of the poem is linked to the disastrous end of the government driver who dies driving as a result of high consumption of alcohol. The poet weaves the incident of celebration into this unfortunate disaster to emphasize the danger of drink-and-drive culture.

The poem talks about a typical government worker, in this case, a driver. In a quest to eke a living, people are engaged either in the private or public sector. The invasion of colonialism also brings along with it, a major paradigm shift In the means of livelihood of many Africans. There Is a general shift from peasant farming and other agricultural activities to paid employment (white collar jobs), especially in the civil service. Many Africans were employed as drivers and clerks for the white Man, the situation which continued, even after independence. 

One of the disappointments associated with civil service Is the meagre salaries. The general servitude usually associated with the life of civil service, especially as it concerns the low-ranking officers like drivers and cooks account for a different perception some hold about such jobs. The highly regulated life (boring bureaucracy) in the civil service is one of the major reasons many employees look forward to their retirement with some sense of excitement. 

Stanzas 1 and 2 - The poem opens with “Many years on wheels”, where the word 'wheels' is used as a synecdoche for a car, to show heis a driver. Also, the repetition of “many years” in the first and second stanzas suggests that the poetic persona, likely spends all his entire working life on this driving job. The poet persona welcomes his retirement from the civil service with celebrations, a mark of freedom from the (drudgery) daily toil of duty. He has worked in obedience to the strict “duty rules and regulations” (bureaucracy) associated with government establishments. His freedom from this monotonous work calls for celebration. 

The poem starts with the description of the persona’s current state. He has served in his country’s civil service as a driver faithfully. It is his last day on the job before he retires. He holds a party to mark the end. This is common among many civil service employees. On their last day, friends, colleagues and family members come around to celebrate with them.

The second stanza, the poet gives to a different perspective to the life of the persona. Here, the persona sees the years of service as imprisonment. You know civil service can be boring. Imagine repeating the same routine or duty every day for many years. It becomes tiring and partly looks like slavery. Within these years, you are bound by some rules and regulations in your office. In the case of the poet’s persona, it is the restriction on the quantity of alcohol he takes that was his problem. Lines 5 & 6, ‘Many years has he pummeled his boozy throat/ In obedience to duty rules and regulations.’

Through his thoughts we are able to see that some people in the civil service are doing something because of the rules and regulations. But these civil servants fail to realize that these rules and regulations are to safe guard their lives and that of others. Civil servants with the mentality of the poet’s persona see laws as imprisonment or slavery. Our persona in this poem declares himself a Freeman on his retirement. ‘Today, he’ll go home a Freeman’ Line 7.

Stanza 3—5 - In these stanzas, he calls his friends and well-wishers to come and celebrate with him. “Come friends, rejoice with me/ Come friends, rejoice more. "Due to his meritorious service, by driving carefully without accidents -“For undented thirty years of service..." he is being given a brand-new car, as a reward. He talks about alcoholic drinks as the major entertaining edible. “I shall booze..."/"I'll booze to sleep away my sufferings.” 

In stanza three, we hear directly from the celebrant. His excitement cannot be measured. The poet’s persona invites friends to come and celebrate his freedom. He is really excited not just of being relieved of early morning duty of driving cars around cities but his freedom to drink alcohol and get drunk.

Indirectly, we infer he has not been happy and satisfied with his job. He has been waiting patiently to retire, and he doesn’t seem to love the job at all.

His words reveal his frustration on the job not being able to cater for all his needs. Can you imagine how much a driver is paid in Civil service? Can it truly solve all his problems? Lines 15 & 16 depict this; ‘I’ll booze to sleep away my suffering/ Today, I’ve long waited for…’ This is a perfect depiction of the persona’s mind. Though he does not like the job, he has to put with it, adhering to those rules and regulations for thirty-five years because he has no option to opt out.

The poem takes a new turn in stanza four. The persona’s joy multiples as he receives a brand new car for his meritorious service. We realize that even with the dissatisfaction with his job, he is a faithful and trustworthy servant judging by the gift given to him. See Line 20 For undented thirty-five years of service to fatherland.

In the next stanza, the persona calls on friends to join his party, to celebrate his long awaited reward. This time, his joy doubles with the gift presented to him.

Stanza 6 - Here in this last stanza, the poetic persona drinks to stupor In the euphoria of his celebration. He risks his life as he engages In drink-and-drive attitude. What follows is calamity (death!)!“He boomed his brand new car/ And it sent him home/ Home to rest in peace.” 

Finally, the last stanza reveals how the persona lost his cool. They say excess of everything is dangerous. Hence, rules and regulations checkmates our excesses. The persona takes his celebration to the extreme. He becomes drunk because he feels the rules and regulations are no longer binding on him. What was the result? The irony of life!

A brand new car which will have been his source of happiness becomes his doom. Drunk, he lost control of his senses, his vision and finally his new wheels. He has been on different wheels for good thirty-five years driving others safely observing road safety measures but just few hours out of the job; few hours of his freedom, to drive himself home, and complete his celebration, he renegades on the principles that have guided him. Then he lost his life.

This depicts that laws are meant to protect us and lives of other citizens. Laws shouldn’t be seen as a limiter or a trap.

THEMES 

The reward for meritorious service - In spite of the persona's employment in a government establishment or the civil service that is filled with many redundant staff members, he is of true service and faithfulness to the nation. The poetic persona is said to have rendered many years of meritorious services to his fatherland. He works in patience; abides by the rules and regulations until he retires. In his diligence and dedication to duty, he has no record of accidents (the car is “undented”). There is no surprise that he is rewarded with a brand new car at the end.

Despite the persona’s grudges about the drudgery of civil service, he remains disciplined till the day of his retirement, as the persona notes in the second stanza that many years has he pummeled his boozy throat/In obedience to duty rules and regulations. The poetic persona restricts himself to the demands of his job. He shuns the temptations of personal pleasure, subjects himself to a thorough self-discipline, thereby focusing strictly on his official duties and working faithfully in service to his fatherland for thirty-five years. As a result of his outstanding performance in his place of work, he is rewarded with a brand new car as ‘an appreciative symbol’ (line 19). The poet, therefore, brings to the fore the need

for diligence in service, with eloquent evidence that such hard work hardly goes unnoticed, not even if one is a driver.

The danger of drink-and-drive attitude -This theme is clear from the poem. The driver, in his celebration gives himself to alcohol. He is tired and emotional (meaning he is drunk), yet he drives himself. The result is death, as he goes to meet his forbears (ancestors). He kicks the bucket. The situational irony here is that, in his over thirty years of service, he never engages in such recklessness; it only happens the day he drives the car he is given at retirement. While many cultures and societies use alcoholic drinks to celebrate periods of achievement, bereavement and festivities, alcohol consumption is also a very dangerous thing that sends people to their early graves, especially when behind wheels. The poet uses the story of the government driver to make the point very clearly. The day the government driver is retiring appears to be one of the happiest moments of his life. In stanza three, for instance he beckons on his friends and well-wishers, ‘come friends, rejoice with me?. This open invitation suggests an unmitigated show of joy and happiness that his day of freedom has come. He thinks that the only way of celebrating his freedom, or any

event for that matter, is through excessive consumption of alcohol. In his unrestrained excitement, he jumps into his new car to drive home after being thoroughly drunk. Unfortunately, this brings about his untimely end. Through this poetic reflection, it is obvious that alcohol makes people have poor vision while driving, thus making them have wrong judgment, as the poem states in lines 29-30, On his way on wheels,/Booze boozed his vision and clear judgment.’ It is obvious that driving requires high concentration, while a wrong sense of judgment while driving can lead to a calamitous end. Therefore, alcohol consumption when driving is very dangerous

Also, the work of driving seems monotonous (doing the same thing every day), and also involves high risk of accidents. Leaving all these behind calls for celebration. 

The need for moderation - It is obvious from the poem that the persona does not exercise restraints as he jubilates for his retirement. He calls his friends to come and drink and rejoice with him, not knowing that some people he calls friends might not be happy with his success. He talks about “Joy till no more joy to joy/ Today frees and makes me a king”. All this euphoria blinds his eyes to any available danger. He loses his guard. The disastrous end of the poetic persona clearly shows that there is just a narrow gap between celebration and calamity (destruction). 

The poem also underscores the joy and sense of fulfilment that comes with one’s retirement from active service. The civil service structure gives the poetic persona a feeling of servitude, hence he sees the day of his retirement as a day of liberation. According the poem, ‘Today, he’ll go home a freeman’ (L. 7). He has endured the highly regulated life in the civil service for a long time and is now ready to celebrate his freedom. He will no longer be subjected to very strict rules and regulations once he retires. He would not need to wake up very early to work, he will have his own time to himself and will manage his time as it suits his convenience. It is as a result of this excitement to celebrate his liberation from the drudgery of civil service that the persona invites friends and well-wishers to come and celebrate

with him.

FIGURES OF SPEECH AND POETIC DEVICES 

Language - The diction used by the poet is not too difficult for an average reader to decipher. 

Mood/Tone - The mood of the poet is a mixture of joy (celebration for retirement and brand-new car) and gloom (accident). The tone is largely that of sarcasm. 

Irony - There are cases of irony in the entire poem: (i) He e drives all through his service without accidents, only to be involved in a fatal accident on his day of retirement. (ii) He dies in his own car in just one day of being given the car, and not inside the government vehicle he drives for over thirty years. (iii) He dies on the very day he celebrates his retirement. 

Imagery -  The imagery  in this poem is simple and vivid. It makes the thematic preoccupation very direct and understandable. The very first line, for instance, gives the picture of the persona’s profession with “many years on wheel’. ‘Boozy throat’ in line five gives an image of taste or what is often referred to as gustatory image, which gives us the picture of the persona’s strong appetite for alcohol. In line thirty- one, we see another image, ‘he boomed his brand new car’. This image is used to vividly describe the disastrous end of the persona and his new car.

Anadiplosis - This is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase used at the end of an expression is repeated as the first word or phrase of the following sentence or expression - “And it sent him home Home to rest in peace.” 

Personification - More joy to send him home/ Today frees and makes me a king/ And it (car) sent him home. All these give human qualities to inanimate objects. 

Apostrophe - The poet persona addresses people as if they were present to listen. “Come friends, rejoice with me/ Come friends, rejoice more.” Hyperbaton/ Inversion = This occurs when the normal order of words or expressions is changed. A poet can do so, when he relies on his poetic licence. Examples — Today retires he home — instead of “He retires home today”. And a celebration he holds — instead of “And he holds a celebration”. 

Hyperbole - Joy till no More joy to joy/ Today frees and makes me a king/ Today, he'll go home a freeman (as if he left prison). The above expressions are overstatements, for the purpose of emphasis. 

Euphemism - I'll booze to sleep away my sufferings/ And it sent him home/ Home to rest in peace. All these expressions present ‘death’ in a pleasant way, instead of in an unpleasant way. Repetition - Words like “booze”, “service to fatherland”, “duty rules”, “Joy till no more joy to joy”all being repeated for the purpose of emphasis. 

Alliteration - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of an 

initial consonant sound — 

From faithful service to fatherland (“f” alliterates) 

He battled with his bottle booze” (“b’” alliterates) 

Today retires he home (“h’ alliterates) 

And a celebration he holds (“h’ alliterates). 

Assonance - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases and sentences —"...duty rules”, “booze and zoom” 

Synecdoche - This uses a part to represent a whole. Examples - 

The poet uses “wheels” to represent motor vehicles, while “boozy throat” is used to represent the driver. 

Onomatopoeia - This is the use of words that suggest their meanings through sounds - “zoom” — the sound associated with movement and take-off of a car; “boom” — the sound associated with an auto crash. 

Pun - This is a poetic device that involves play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word or similar sense or sound of different words. For examples: “Joy till no more joy to joy” (the poet plays with the word ‘joy’) Also, in stanza 1, the poet talks about “home” as a dwelling place (Today retires he home), whereas, in the last stanza, “home” is used to represent death (And it sent him home/ Home to rest in peace.)

Foreshadowing - This is when a writer gives an advance hint on what lies ahead, in a literary work. Although the death of the driver happens in the last stanza, he talks about it earlier (I'll booze to sleep away my sufferings). 

Enjambment - It is when an idea in a line of poetry flows into the next line or lines before a complete thought is achieved. This also known as run-on-line: 

Many years on wheels 

In faithful service to his fatherland 

Today retires he home 

And a celebration he holds 

In the stanza above, line 3 flows into 4. 

Blank Verse/ Free Verse - The poem is written without any regular patterns, rhymes or meters. 

Structure - The poem is written in seven stanzas of unequal lines. Satire - The poem ridicules the act of dipsomania (excessive craving for alcohol), which is one of the human vices, in order to make amends. 

The poem has thirty-three lines, divided into seven stanzas of irregular lengths. The poem is narrative in nature and can be broken down into three major parts. The first stanza introduces the poetic persona as a government driver of so many years who is set to celebrate his retirement. The second stanza gives the background of the persona as someone who keeps the rules and regulations of the establishment where he works. The third stanza gradually introduces us to the significance of and the high expectations for the celebration of his retirement. This is sustained in stanzas four and five. The last two stanzas give account of the catastrophic turn of events as the persona dies in a fatal automobile accident due to his drunkenness.

THE GOOD MORROW - John Donne

I wonder, by my troth, what thou 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned  till then? 

But sucked on country pleasures, Childishly? 

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?

"Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 

If ever any beauty I did see, 

Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee. 

And now good-morrow to our waking souls, 

Which watch not one another out of fear; 

For love, all love of other sights controls, 

And makes one little room an everywhere, 

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, 

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; 

Where can we find two better hemispheres, 

Without sharp north, without declining west? 

Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; 

If our two loves be one, or, thou and I 

Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. 

ABOUT THE POET

John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London (1621–1631).  He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, and satires. He is also known for his sermons. Donne died on 31 March 1631 and was buried in old St Paul's Cathedral where a memorial statue of him by Nicholas Stone was erected with a Latin epigraph probably composed by himself.

John Donne

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

Donne is a pioneer of the metaphysical poets. This group of poets regarded poetry as an intellectual endeavour, rather than an emotional one. They used paradox, metaphor, pun, irony, etc. to bring home their points. “The Good Morrow” was written while Donne was still a student at Lincoln's Inn, where he studied theology, history and poetry. 

The poem was written at a time when England was undergoing a lot of intellectual, political, social and literary transformations. England, under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I had just gone through the climax of Renaissance period in the sixteenth century. Her reign ushered in a new phase in the evolution of the art and literature, explorations to the Americas, increased trade, increased sea travel, etc. This brought about increased wealth, relative peace and the emergence of a prosperous middle class in the English society. 

This culminated into a delightful atmosphere that provided enough Serenity of mind for the people to appreciate literature, especially poetry. Donne's poem attests to his artistic ingenuity, as he takes himself and his lover out of out of all these epochal occurrences and  into a blissful world of serenity and equanimity. In that realm, he talks about love, enchanting love that is powerful and timeless.

SETTING OF THE POEM 

The geographical setting of the poem is England,  around the seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. To the people of that time,  Donne's style was very much like a normal conversation between a man and his lover, unlike the high poetic language used by the Elizabethan poets. “The Good Morrow” was written during the Age of Discovery, the period of intense European sea exploration lasting roughly from the 15th to 17th centuries. This context informs the poem's second and third stanzas, with their focus on "sea-discoverers," "new worlds," "maps," and "hemispheres." The poem compares the desire to chart new lands with the pleasures of love itself, and finds the latter to be more powerful and exciting. Indeed, the speaker finds love so pleasurable that he or she proposes to withdraw from the world in order to dedicate him or herself entirely to that love. Instead of seeking adventure, the speaker proposes that the lovers “make one little room an everywhere.” For the speaker, then, love creates its own world to explore.

SUMMARY OF THE POEM 

The Good Morrow” is an aubade—a morning love poem—written by the English poet John Donne, likely in the 1590s. In it, the speaker describes love as a profound experience that's almost like a religious epiphany. Indeed, the poem claims that erotic love can produce the same effects that religion can. Through love, the speaker’s soul awakens; because of love, the speaker abandons the outside world; in love, the speaker finds immortality. This is a potentially subversive argument, for two reasons. First, because the poem suggests that all love—even love outside of marriage—might have this transformative, enlightening effect. Second, because of the idea that romantic love can mirror the joys and revelations of religious devotion.The Good Morrow was written while Donne was a student at Lincoln's Inn, the poem is one of his earliest works and is thematically considered to be the "first" work in Songs and Sonnets. Although referred to as a sonnet, the work does not follow the most common rhyming scheme of such works—a 14-line poem, consisting of an eight-line stanza followed by a six-line conclusion—but is instead 21 lines long, divided into three stanzas. "The Good-Morrow" is written from the point of view of an awaking lover and describes the lover's thoughts as he wakes next to his partner. The lover's musings move from discussing sensual love to spiritual love as he realises that, with spiritual love, the couple are liberated from fear and the need to seek adventure. The poem makes use of biblical and Catholic writings, indirectly referencing the legend of the Seven Sleepers and Paul the Apostle's description of divine, agapic love – two concepts with which, as a practising Catholic, Donne would have been familiar.

Stanza 1 - The poem opens with the poetic persona talking to his lover (a woman). The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue, whereby the lover he addresses is not given the opportunity to respond to what he says. He starts with a rhetorical question and says he wonders the type of life or what picture of reckless pleasures govern him and his lover before they actually engaged in real love. What was their experience like before they met and became lovers? Were they not like infants who depended on their mother's breasts for survival? This means they might still be infants then and never bothered about love. He also wonders if they were asleep then in “the Seven Sleepers’ den” at this period of their infancy “The Seven Sleepers’ den” is an allusion to seven Christian children who were sealed in a cave where they slept for about 200 years, by Emperor Decius at 250 AD. 

The poetic persona is optimistic that the time he has to spend with her lover can only be described as sheer bliss (heaven-on-earth) kind of experience. He asserts that the past years which they didn't meet to start loving each other was a waste; and from henceforth, the only thing that occupies his mind is the thought about his woman (lover). He is now brought back to his sanity and focus; having seen the woman of his dream. 

Stanza 2 - The poet persona now uses ‘good-morrow’ (which in seventeenth century was the way of saying ‘good morning’ in England.) That is, their period of their being together has come, unlike when they haven't known or met as lovers. The poet persona paints the picture of the two love-birds being on the bed, in the same room—"And makes one little room an everywhere.” Their union and bonding mean the whole world, and it's more than everything. 

The poet persona talks about the importance of true love, one Not inhibited by fear, but is predicated on mutual love, respect and trust, A romantic relationship devoid of trust often collapses. The poetic persona states further that sea-discoverers may discover New worlds men may voyage across the sea to other lands; maps May be spread and men may even chart the location of the other worlds, but himself and the lover are not interested in all that. They are not even interested in looking for other suitors, but that they are satisfied with each other and the love they share: “Let us possess one world, each hath one, and  is one.” 

Stanzas 3 - Here in this last stanza, the poetic persona looks into the eyes of his lover. In many climes, the eyes are usually accepted as the symbolic windows to the human soul. The fact that they can see each other's reflections in, the eyes shows that they are now fused into one indivisible soul, body and spirit. This buttresses the spiritual angle of their romantic escapade. 

Being a metaphysical poet, Donne forays into Geography and Astronomy, where he compares their love to perfect hemisphere and the loss of sunset. The poet persona talks about love that is mutual and eternal, not a transient or fleeting love. Many romantic relationships collapse because of inconsistencies and unpredictability of human beings. As people grow, their value system changes, and this affects their love life, too. A man might be dating a dark lady today, and tomorrow, he prefers a fair one, and vice versa. 

Hemisphere

In conclusion, the poet opines that if two people genuinely love each other; and their love is mutual, the romantic relationship will never die, but will stand the test of time. He puts it more clearly: Whatever dies, was not mixed equally,/ If our two loves be one, or, thou and I/ Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. 

THEMES 

The emptiness of life without enduring and true love - The poet asserts that life is empty if there was no true and enduring love. Life would be barren and boring. He tries to regret the cause of their not meeting earlier than they did. He sees the time they didn't meet yet, as wasted years. He then asks if it was because they were children sucking milk from their mothers' breasts. He expresses joy that having met, there is heaven-on-earth kind of bliss waiting for them. As far as he is concerned now, the lover is the most beautiful person in the entire world; she is the only she dreams about. No wonder when God made man, He made a woman for him, to fill his emptiness. It takes the union of male and female to consummate procreation. 

The power of true love - The poet persona shows clearly the power of true and mutual love. He opines that if two lovers get lost in love, would involve their body, spirit and soul. It even goes beyond physical to the spiritual. The two lovers were contented with their love as they call their small room, the whole world. 

The poet asserts that their hemispheres are superior to the Earths hemispheres as their love has no boundaries. In conclusion, he says their love never dies, but It's permanent This is because they are already mixed equally and they do not slack. 

Sensuality - The poet uses Several imageries to show the amorous relationship existing between the two lovers. There is a small room, which they call their whole world. Male and female who are lovers often stay in the same room, and on the same bed before they explore each other. “Worlds on worlds” shows the fusion of the body and soul of the two lovers. They ‘possess one world’, and they look into each other's eyes. There is often a war between the spirit and the flesh. The flesh wants to fulfill its pleasures of lust, while the spirit revolts against it. 

Infancy and growth — The poet takes readers through two important stages in man's life. First, a person is born, and sucks his mother’s breasts in infancy. Then, he grows to become an adult where he searches for true love. It is at this maturity level that a man tries to woo a woman. 

Love as an Awakening

“The Good Morrow” is a celebration of love, which it presents as an intense and unparalleled pleasure. All the joys that the two lovers experienced before they found each other pale in comparison to the joy they experience together. Indeed, love is so powerful that the speaker describes it as an awakening of the soul: it is almost a religious experience. And like a religious experience, it reshapes the lovers’ attitude to the world at large. Like monks or nuns who dedicate themselves to religious practice, the two lovers dedicate themselves to love above adventure and career success. “The Good Morrow” thus translates romantic—and erotic—love into a religious, even holy, experience. Love itself, the speaker suggests, is capable of producing the same insights as religion.

“The Good Morrow” separates the lives of the lovers into two parts: before they found each other, and after. The speaker describes the first part of their lives with disdain: the pleasures they enjoyed were “childish.” Indeed, they were not even “weaned”: they were like babies. Like children, they had a limited understanding of life. They were aware of only some of its “country” (or lowly) pleasures, going through the motions of life without knowing there could be something more.

But once they find each other, it feels as though their eyes have been opened. The speaker realizes that any “beauty” experienced before this love was really nothing more than a “dream”—a pale imitation—of the joy and pleasure the speaker has now. “Good-morrow to our waking souls,” the speaker announces at the start of stanza 2, as though the lovers had been asleep and are just now glimpsing the light of day for the first time.

Since the sun is often associated with Jesus Christ in Christian religious traditions and light is often associated with enlightenment, the speaker’s description of this experience is implicitly cast in religious terms. That is, the speaker makes waking up alongside a lover sound like a religious epiphany or a conversion experience. The consequences of this epiphany are also implicitly religious. Having tasted the intense pleasures of love, the lovers give up on adventure and exploration: instead they treat their “one little room” as “an everywhere.” In this way, they become like monks or nuns: people who separate themselves from the world to dedicate themselves to their faith.

Immortality

The lovers' devotion to each other wins them immortality: “none can die,” the speaker announces in the poem’s final line. Immortality is more commonly taken to be the reward for dedicated religious faith, not earthly pleasures like romantic love. In describing this relationship in religious terms, the speaker breaks down the traditional distinctions between love and religion. Where many religious traditions treat erotic love as something potentially harmful to religious devotion, the speaker of “The Good Morrow” suggests that erotic love leads to the same devotion, insight, and immortality that religion promises.

However, the speaker doesn’t specify the nature of the love in question. If the lovers are married, for instance, the reader doesn’t hear anything about it. Instead, the speaker focuses on the perfection of their love, noting the way the two lovers complement each other. Unlike other poems that argue for the holiness of married love specifically (like Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear and Loving Husband”), “The Good Morrow” holds out an even more subversive possibility: that all love is capable of producing religious epiphany, whether or not it takes a form that the Church sanctions, like marriage.

FIGURES OF SPEECH AND POETIC DEVICES 

Language - The diction used by the poet depicts the time setting of the poem which is in the seventeenth century. There were archaic words like 'troth' (truth, faith, loyalty); ‘thou’ (you); 'good morrow’ (good morning). This might make the poem a bit difficult for the contemporary readers to decipher. 

Mood/Tone - The mood of the poet is that of love and romance. The tone is largely sensual and amorous. 

Metaphor - The poet uses metaphor extensively throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the poetic persona compares his lover and himself to children being "weaned". This shows their infancy and immaturity before they met. He further uses 'waking souls’ which depicts that they have gone beyond their infancy, and now mature to step into love. ‘Worlds on worlds have shown' metaphorically compares the bodies of the two lovers to the physical world that we live in. This has sensual undertones, as sexual explorations between two people must involve the fusion of their bodies. The bodies of the two lovers are their own worlds. The poet also puts it more succinctly: “Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.”

 Dramatic monologue - The poet talks as if he was in a conversation with an addressee. It is a one-sided conversation delivered by the poetic persona. “Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one/If our two loves be one, or, thou and I”. 

Hyperbole - The poem opens with some hyperbolic expressions. He goes out of the ordinary to ask what both of them had been doing before they met. And he says maybe, it was because they were still sucking their mothers’ breasts then. “If ever any beauty I did see,/Which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee.” Here, the poetic persona uses exaggeration to Say the only beauty he sees in the world is that of his lover (but in reality, his lover might not be the most beautiful woman in the world), and that he only dreams about his lover. 

"And makes one little room an everywhere.” Here, the poetic persona says their love has converted their small room into an entire universe. “If our two loves be one, or, thou and I/ Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.” Here, the poetic persona talks about the immortality of the love that exists between them. Love often stops at the death of either party, but the poetic persona Says their love cannot die, which also means that they themselves won't die. 

All these above expressions are overstatements, for the purpose of emphasis. 

Anaphora - This is the repetition of words at the beginning of two or more consecutive lines of poetry. Examples: 

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, 

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one 

Repetition - The word “love” is being repeated for the purpose of emphasis. This shows clearly that the thematic preoccupation of the poem is ‘love’. 

Alliteration - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of an initial consonant sound — 

"Were we not weaned till then?” (‘w’ alliterate); 

“Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?” (“s” alliterate) 

Allusion - The poetic persona alludes to “the Seven Sleeper’s den”. He further alludes to one of the lines of Shakespeare in his play Macbeth, though with some alterations. The poet's line: ‘And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;' alludes to a statement made by King Duncan: ‘There is no art to tell the mind's construction on the face.’

Here is also a case of Biblical Allusion: 

The poet's line: 'Which watch not one another out of fear;' alludes to 1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love (King James Version). 

Synecdoche - This uses a part to represent a whole. Examples – 

The poet uses 'face', ‘eye’, 'hearts' to represent the lovers. 

Metonymy - The poet uses “beauty” to represent his lover(woman) and uses 'loves' and 'worlds' to represent the two lovers.

Imagery - As seen from the poem, there is a struggle between spirituality and sensuality; and the poet tends toward satisfying his fleshly pleasures. As one reads the poem, one fantasizes about two lovebirds on a bed, apparently unclad. The word like “weaned” suggests the images of a woman's breasts that a child sucks until it outgrows it. “Country pleasures” suggests the images of hedonism (drinking, dancing, lasciviousness and prostitution) that engulfed the entertainment of the lower classes in the English countryside. “Love”, and “worlds on worlds” point to how two lovers try to explore each other's body. 

Rhetorical question

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? 

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? 

Where can we find two better hemispheres, 

Without sharp north, without declining west? 

Flashback - In the first stanza, the poet takes an excursion into the past lives of the lovers. 

Enjambment - It is when an idea in a line of poetry flows into the next line or lines before a complete thought is achieved. This also known run-on-line:

I  wonder by my troth, what thou and 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? 

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 

In the stanza above, line 1 flows into 2. 

Structure - The poem is written in three stanzas of seven lines each. Each stanza has the rhyme scheme — ABABCCC. This type of rhyme Scheme is called the septet.