Woman's Constancy

Context

John Donne's Personal Life

• John Donne's personal life, particularly his tumultuous and passionate relationships, deeply influenced his poetry. Woman's Constancy reflects Donne's complex views on love and fidelity, possibly shaped by his own romantic experiences and his secret marriage to Anne More, which defied social conventions and led to significant personal and financial difficulties.
• Donne's youthful escapades and later, more settled married life contribute to the dual perspectives in his poetry: a sceptical view of love's constancy and a more profound, enduring affection. This poem likely captures the former, with its cynicism about the fidelity and promises of lovers.

Literary Context

• Woman's Constancy is part of Donne's Songs and Sonnets, a collection that showcases his metaphysical style. This style is marked by intellectual playfulness, complex imagery, and the use of elaborate conceits.

• The poem fits within the carpe diem tradition, often urging the listener to seize the moment, but Donne's approach is more cynical and reflective of the transient nature of romantic promises.

  

• As a metaphysical poet, Donne often employs paradox and irony to explore themes of love and human nature. In Woman's Constancy, he uses rhetorical questions and a conversational tone to question the reliability of a lover's promises, highlighting the inherent uncertainty in romantic relationships.

Historical and Political Background

• The early 17th century in England was a period of significant social and political change, marked by the tension between established norms and emerging individualism. Donne's poetry often reflects these broader cultural shifts, particularly in its challenge to conventional views on love and fidelity.
• Donne's work often subverts traditional themes and forms, reflecting the evolving cultural and intellectual landscape of the time. In Woman's Constancy, he examines the fleeting nature of romantic promises and the complexities of human emotions, challenging the idealized portrayals of love common in earlier Renaissance literature.
• The Renaissance era's emphasis on humanism, exploration, and the questioning of traditional beliefs is evident in Donne's exploration of personal relationships and his sceptical view of romantic constancy. This period's intellectual curiosity and scepticism are mirrored in the poem's probing questions and ironic tone.

Structure and Form

Form, Meter, and Rhyme

• The poem is structured as a single 17-line stanza.
• It follows a rhyme scheme of AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHI.
• The meter predominantly follows iambic tetrameter, lending a rhythmic and balanced flow to the speaker's argument.
• This regular structure contrasts with the tumultuous emotional content, enhancing the poem's ironic tone.

Speaker and Setting

• The speaker is a lover addressing his beloved, questioning the constancy of her affections.
• The setting is not explicitly defined, but the intimate nature of the address suggests a private conversation, perhaps after a night spent together.

Poetic Devices

• Conceit: The central conceit of the poem is the notion of "one whole day" of love, which the speaker uses to question the beloved's commitment.
• This conceit challenges the idea of eternal love by presenting a single day's love as a microcosm of a longer relationship.
• Rhetorical Questions: The poem is rife with rhetorical questions that probe the nature of the beloved's fidelity.
• For example, "Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow?" and "Or, as true deaths true marriages untie, / So lovers' contracts, images of those, / Bind but till sleep, death's image, they unloose?" These questions create a tone of scepticism and challenge.
• Metaphor: Death and sleep are metaphorically linked to the dissolution of love contracts, suggesting the fragility and temporary nature of romantic commitments.
• For instance, "Bind but till sleep, death's image, they unloose?" implies that lovers' vows are as transient as sleep.
• Irony: There is a subtle irony in the speaker's argument, as he both questions the beloved's constancy and acknowledges his potential inconstancy.
• This is evident in the concluding lines, "For by tomorrow, I may think so too," where the speaker admits he might share the same inconstancy he criticizes.
• Enjambment: The use of enjambment allows the poem's ideas to flow into one another, mirroring the fluidity and uncertainty of the emotions being expressed.
• Alliteration and Assonance: Donne uses sound devices to create a musical quality in the poem, enhancing its rhetorical and persuasive power.
• Examples include the repetition of the 'f' sound in "For having purposed change and falsehood" and the 's' sound in "self-murder added to be."

Key Themes

Constancy and Inconstancy

"Now thou hast loved me one whole day, / Tomorrow when you leav'st, what wilt thou say?" (Lines 1-2)

• The poem explores the fleeting nature of romantic affection, questioning whether true constancy is possible in love.

Fidelity and Betrayal

"Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow? / Or say that now / We are not just those persons which we were?" (Lines 3-5)

• Donne delves into the themes of fidelity and betrayal, highlighting the ease with which lovers might justify their inconstancy.

The Ephemeral Nature of Love

"Or, as true deaths true marriages untie, / So lovers' contracts, images of those, / Bind but till sleep, death's image, them unloose?" (Lines 8-10)

• Love is portrayed as ephemeral, akin to sleep or death, which unbinds the temporary commitments made by lovers.

Self-Deception and Rationalisation

"For having purposed change and falsehood, you / Can have no way but falsehood to be true?" (Lines 12-13)

• The poem examines the rationalisations people use to justify their changing feelings, revealing self-deception in the process.

Similar Poems

• "The Good Morrow" by John Donne: Another exploration of love and unity, using elaborate metaphors to discuss the nature of true love.
• "The Sun Rising" by John Donne: This poem also features a direct address to a lover and combines personal emotion with broader metaphysical themes.

Line by Line Analysis

Lines 1-4

Now thou hast loved me one whole day, Tomorrow when you leav'st, what wilt thou say? Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow? Or say that now

"Now thou hast loved me one whole day, / Tomorrow when you leav'st, what wilt thou say?"

• The speaker begins by highlighting the brevity of their love, questioning the beloved's future constancy.
• He anticipates her departure and challenges her to justify it, suggesting doubt about her commitment.

"Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow?"

• The speaker questions if she will fabricate a new promise to excuse her change in affection.
• "Antedate" means to backdate, indicating a false justification.

"Or say that now"

• The line breaks abruptly, creating a sense of incompleteness and emphasizing the uncertainty of her future excuses.

Lines 5-10

We are not just those persons which we were? Or, that oaths made in reverential fear Of Love, and his wrath, any may forswear? Or, as true deaths true marriages untie, So lovers' contracts, images of those, Bind but till sleep, death's image, them unloose?

"We are not just those persons which we were?"

• The speaker suggests that people change over time, and thus their commitments may no longer hold.
• This line questions the consistency of personal identity over time.

"Or, that oaths made in reverential fear / Of Love, and his wrath, any may forswear?"

• He proposes that oaths made under the pressure of love can be broken.
• The reverential fear of Love personifies love as a powerful, almost divine force.

"Or, as true deaths true marriages untie, / So lovers' contracts, images of those, / Bind but till sleep, death's image, them unloose_?"_

• The speaker draws a parallel between death nullifying marriages and sleep temporarily unbinding lovers.
• "Death's image" metaphorically represents sleep, implying that lovers' vows are as fragile and temporary as sleep.

Lines 11-13

Or, your own end to justify, For having purposed change and falsehood, you Can have no way but falsehood to be true?

• The speaker suggests that the beloved might deceive herself to justify her changing feelings.
• He critiques the idea that maintaining falsehood is necessary to uphold a semblance of truth, exposing self-deception.

Lines 14-17

Vain lunatic, against these 'scapes I could Dispute and conquer, if I would, Which I abstain to do, For by tomorrow, I may think so too.

"Vain lunatic, against these 'scapes I could / Dispute and conquer, if I would,"

• The speaker calls his lover a "vain lunatic", indicating frustration but also resigned understanding.
• He asserts his ability to argue against her excuses successfully.

"Which I abstain to do, / For by tomorrow, I may think so too."

• The speaker chooses not to dispute excuses, recognizing his potential for inconstancy.
• The final admission that he might share her feelings of inconstancy tomorrow underscores the poem's exploration of the transient nature of love.