The Canonization

For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,

Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five grey hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout,
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his onour, or his Grace,
Or the !ing's real, or his stamped face
"ontemplate, what you will, approve,
#o you will let me love$
%las, alas, who's in&ur'd by my love'
What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd'
Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground'
When did my colds a forward spring remove'
When did the heats which my veins fill
%dd one more to the plaguy bill'
#oldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
(itigious men, which )uarrels move,
Though she and * do love$
"all us what you will, we are made such by love+
"all her one, me another fly,
We are tapers too, and at our own cost die,
%nd we in us find th' eagle and the dove$
The phoeni, riddle hath more wit
-y us+ we two being one, are it$
#o, to one neutral thing both se,es fit,
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love$
We can die by it, if not live by love,
%nd if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse+
%nd if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms+
%s well a well.wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half.acre tombs,
%nd by these hymns all shall approve
/s canoni0'd for love+
%nd thus invoke us1 23ou, whom reverend love
Made one another's hermitage+
3ou, to whom love was peace, that now is rage+
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
*nto the glasses of your eyes
4#o made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomi0e5
"ountries, towns, courts1 beg from above
% pattern of your love62
"The Canonization"
The poet demands that some complainer leave him alone to love$ The complainer should turn his
attention elsewhere, and nobody is hurt by the love$ They are not sinking ships or causing floods,
delaying spring or causing others to die, or supporting wars or lawsuits$ The poet and his lover
take their own chances together+ they are unified in their love$ They are like candles that will
burn out on their own, yet they have been reborn together in fire like the fabled 7hoeni,$ On the
other hand, their love is a beautiful e,ample for the world that will be immortali0ed, canoni0ed, a
pattern for all other love in the world$
Analysis
*n 8The "anoni0ation,9 :onne sets up a five.stan0a argument to demonstrate the purity and
power of his love for another$ ;ach stan0a begins and ends with the word 8love$9 The fourth and
eighth lines of each stan0a end with a word also ending -ove 4the pattern is consistently
abbacccaa5, all of which unifies the poem around a central theme$
The title leads the reader to e,pect a poem concerned with saints and holy practices, but the very
first lines sound more like a line delivered on stage$ 8ForGod<s sake hold your tongue9 is nearly
blasphemous when following the sacred title$ -y the end of the poem, the reader determines that
8canoni0ation9 refers to the way that the poet<s love will enter the canon of true love, becoming
the pattern by which others &udge their own love$ %s usual, this hyperbole also leads the reader to
find a spiritual or metaphysical meaning in the poem, and as usual, this will lead us to see that
:onne sets out the perfection of divine love as the only realistic model for all others$
*n the first stan0a the poet complains that his verbal assailant is misguided$ as he no more
important work to do than critici0e others< love' e could &ust as easily attack :onne<s 8gout9 or
8palsy9 4line =5 or even his 8five gray hairs9 4line >5, but he should get a &ob or go to school or
enter a profession, so long as he leaves the poet alone$ The king<s 8stamp'd face9 4line ?5 most
likely refers to coinage with the king<s likeness$ The things of the world can be left to the critic
and the world, so long as the critic 8will let me love 4line @5$
The second stan0a takes a live.and.let.live individual rights perspective1 8who's in&ured by my
love'9 4line AB5$ The lovers are not making war, fighting lawsuits, interfering with commerce, or
spreading disease$ They respect others< property+ his tears do not trespass$ They take their own
chances together in their fleeting lives, as the third paragraph notes$ To the rest of the world, they
are tiny flies, or candles that will burn together in peace$
They may destroy themselves in the act of burning with passion for one another, yet by the
middle of the poem, :onne translates their love to a higher plane$ First he compares himself and
his beloved to the eagle and dove, a reference to the Cenaissance idea in which the eagle flies in
the sky above the earth while the dove transcends the skies to reach heaven$ e immediately
shifts to the image of the 7hoeni,, another death.by.fire symbol 4the 7hoeni, is a bird that
repeatedly burns in fire and comes back to life out of the ashes5, suggesting that even though
their flames of passion will consume them, the poet and his beloved will be reborn from the
ashes of their love$
*n their resurrection, their relationship has become a parado,$ The key parado, of love is that
two individuals become one$ -y uniting in this way, they 8proveDMysterious by this love9 4lines
=E.=?5$ These words may imply the mystery of marriage as it reflects the relationship
of Fesus and his church, as stated by 7aul in * "orinthians$ *ndeed, the new union is unse,ed even
though it incorporates both se,es1 8to one neutral thing both se,es fit,9 &ust like in "hrist there is
no longer any male or female 4Galatians >1=G5$ "ompare the story of love in
7lato<s Symposium where the original human beings had the marks of both se,es before they
were split into male and female, each person being left to seek his or her other half$
The fourth stan0a opens out to consider the legacy of the poet<s love with his beloved$ Their love
will endure in legend+ the language of 8verse9 and 8chronicle9 suggests canoni0ation at nearly
the level of #cripture, which is counted by verses and has books called "hronicles$ ;ven if their
love is not )uite at that level, songs will be sung and sonnets composed commemorating their
romance$
On the one hand, their love is self.contained and perfect, like a 8well.wrought urn$9 4This is a
phrase that would become famous after poet Fohn !eats wrote 8Ode on a Grecian /rn9 and critic
"leanth -rooks wrote a book treating each poem like its own beautifully and carefully crafted
urn, full unto itself$5 On the other hand, the ashes in this urn are meant to spread, in this case
covering half an acre but symbolic of spreading the tale of perfect love throughout the world$
The final stan0a voices the poet<s sense of future vindication over the critic$ The poet e,pects
that the rest of the world will 8invoke9 himself and his beloved, similar to the way "atholics
invoke saints in their prayers$ *n this vision of the future, the lovers< legend has grown, and they
have reached a kind of sainthood$ They are role models for all the world, because 8"ountries,
towns, courts beg from aboveD% pattern of your love9 4lines HH.HI5$ From the lovers<
perspective, the whole world is present as they look into each other<s eyes+ this sets the pattern of
love that the world can follow$
The word '"anoni0ation' means the act or process of changing an ordinary religious person into a
saint in "atholic "hristian religion$ This title suggests that the poet and his beloved will become
'saints of love' in the future1 and they will be regarded as saints of true love in the whole world in
the future$ speaker of the poem is an old man who has &ust got the good luck of having a young
beloved6 -ut, unluckily, he is being disturbed by a man who comes to a place where he is
making love$ This intruder 4one who disturbs5 seems to have told him not to do like this$ The old
lover gives energy to reply to him$ :onne's 2"anoni0ation2 is an e,ample of metaphysical
poetry$ *t uses conceits, allusions from the medieval philosophy of metaphysics, a dramatic
situation and an impassioned monologue, a speech.like rhythm, and collo)uial language, all of
which make it a typical 2metaphysical2 poem$ The personal in the poem speaks about the
transformation of worldly lovers into holy saints as in the "atholic "hristian custom of
'canoni0ation'$ The speaker in the poem claims that he and his beloved will be canoni0ed when
the poet immortali0es their love, and that lovers of the future will invoke to them to give them
the strength of spiritual love$ The physical passion is to unite them into one soul and transform
them into saints of love$ The poem takes the form of a drama where the speaker is speaking back
with angry arguments against a third person who seems to have told him not to indulge in such
love affair in old age6 The speaker argues with the intruding stranger so as to &ustify his
metaphysical logic of love$ %s the argument develops, the comparison of the relation between
lovers develops with other metaphors of myth, religion and so on$ The speaker e)uates worldly
human love with the ascetic life of unworldly saints$ The whole poem can be seen as an
e,tension of the central unusual comparison of the canoni0ation of a lover6 The poem makes an
impressive beginning with an abrupt &ump into the situation1 'old your tongue and let me love$'
The lines are highly dramatic$ They illustrate the shock tactic used in most of :onne's
metaphysical poems$ The argument in the poem is forceful, suggestive and witty$ The speaker
uses collo)uial words, rough idioms and broken rhythm, all of which characteri0e metaphysical
poems$ The very beginning 2For God's sake$$$$$2 is a good e,ample$ The whole poem is in such
shockingly new language and rhythm$ Though the rhythm is rough and conversational, the poem
is written mainly in iambic pentameter$ ;ach of five stan0as is of nine lines, and a rhyming
scheme such as1 abbacccaa$ -ut the word loves is, for some reason, always used in slant rhyming
as in loveD approve, loveD improve, etc$ /se of surprising registers 4words5 is another feature of
the poem$ The speaker uses words from the register of trade, commerce, medicine and myth so
as to elaborate his concept of metaphysical love$ '7alsy' and 'gout' for instance belong to the
register of medicine while 'merchant' and 'ship' signify the realm of trade and commerce$ While
'7hoeni,' relates to myth, 'hymns' concerns religion and 'chronicles' means 'history'$
'"anoni0ation' links together disharmonious images$ *n other words, there is 'a yoking together of
heterogeneous images by violence'$ %s the speaker faces an intruder and argues with him, he
links 'lover's sigh' with 'merchant's ships', 'colds' with 'spring', 'heat' with 'plague' and 'love songs'
with divine hymns$ %s the argument proceeds, the comparison of the relation between lovers
moves from the register of trade and myth to a clima, where true lovers are e)uated with
canoni0ed saints$ Fusion of emotion and intellect is another important feature of the poem$ The
fusion is observed in the comparison of the lovers to the mysterious phoeni, and the divine
saints$ The speaker assumes that like the phoeni,, the lovers would 'die and rise at the same time'
and prove 'mysterious by their love'$ Ceference to this mythical being well sums up :onne's
theory of se,ual metaphysics+ a real and complete relation between a man and a woman fuses
their soul into one whole$ The poet is both sensuous and realistic in his treatment of love$ The
romantic affair and the moral status of the worldly lovers are compared to the ascetic life of
unworldly saints$ The poem uses an elaborate conceit$ *n the beginning the speaker e,presses his
commitment to love$ e addresses an intruding stranger and warns him to keep out of the lover's
way$ Je,t, he discusses love in terms of 'sighs', 'cold' and 'heat'$ *n the lines that follow, the poet
uses more and more of disharmonious associations$ e e)uates lovers to 'flies' and 'tapers',
';agle' and ':ove', '7hoeni,' and 'saints'$ Thus, 'canoni0ation' is in many ways a typical
metaphysical poem where the comple,ity of substance is e,pressed with simplicity of
e,pression$ The general argument and its development are clear like its dramatic situations$ The
allusions are sometimes too forced, but that is a part of such poetry$
The Canonization
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
Or chide 4to express disapproval of)my palsy
4tremors of the body parts, as thehands, arms, or legs, or of the entire body), or my
gout,
My five grey hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout,
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his onour, or his Grace,
Or the !ing's real, or his stamped face
"ontemplate, what you will, approve,
#o you will let me love$
%las, alas, who's in&ur'd by my love'
What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd'
Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground'
When did my colds a forward spring remove'
When did the heats which my veins fill
%dd one more to the plaguy bill'
#oldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
(itigious men, which )uarrels move,
Though she and * do love$
"all us what you will, we are made such by love+
"all her one, me another fly,
We are tapers too, and at our own cost die,
%nd we in us find th' eagle and the dove$
The phoeni, riddle hath more wit
-y us+ we two being one, are it$
#o, to one neutral thing both se,es fit,
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love$
We can die by it, if not live by love,
%nd if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse+
%nd if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms+
%s well a well.wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half.acre tombs,
%nd by these hymns all shall approve
/s canoni0'd for love+
%nd thus invoke us1 23ou, whom reverend love
Made one another's hermitage+
3ou, to whom love was peace, that now is rage+
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
*nto the glasses of your eyes
4#o made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomi0e5
"ountries, towns, courts1 beg from above
% pattern of your love62