Analysis of "a Lecture upon the Shadow"

At first glance, John Donne’s “A Lecture Upon the Shadow” seems to be a love poem; however when looking at it deeper it reads as more of a warning and less as a loving serenade. The poem follows the two lovers’ relationship through the honeymoon phase and into the darker period. Donne does not use his poetry to present a problem and offer a solution but to illuminate the faults of human relationships and warn lovers of their inevitable failings. Upon closer inspection and analysis it is seen that the actual structure of the poem mirrors its progression, much like a shadow mirrors its maker.

The first half of Donne’s poem reads as the pining of a lover and the articulation of his desire for stability and loving perfection. He asks his lover to “stand still” as he tells her about their love, presumably so that they can stay blissfully in love forever (line 1). He explains about how the shadows that follow them protect the lovers from naysayers that doubt the sustainability of their happiness. The shadows following them represent secrets that they are keeping from others, protecting the lovers from their disapproval. Donne begins the poem in the morning with the lovers walking in the light of the early day, blissful and carefree and he ends the first stanza at midday when the sun is directly above the lovers, casting no shadows. The imagery of noon represents the epitome of their blissful relationship; there are no secrets being kept or shadows being cast.

The second half of the poem is where Donne’s warning begins to show through. He notes that as the lovers continue to walk their shadows “westwardly decline,” or are cast in front of them, representing secrets being kept from each other and deceptions darkening their relationship (line 19). Whereas they once we used “to blind others…which come from behind” and protected the lovers from the disapproval of others, the shadows now disguise the lovers and blind them