Analyse the following extract from 'The Good Morrow' by John Donne

The Good Morrow by John Donne is a poem written during the Elizabethan period in the Metaphysical style, and explores the predominant themes of love through the metaphorical use of the Age of Discovery. The use of metaphysical conceit, a key component of a metaphysical poem is clear throughout the poem. Donne uses the age of discovery and voyage in general to convey the idea of a harmonious and loving relationship, with phrases such as “sea-discoverers” and cartographical jargon such as “sharp north” and “declining west” evoking a sense of discovery, with the seemingly compulsory theme of romance associated with the age emphasising the speaker’s enduring love for his partner. The use of discovery as metaphysical conceit in the poem is particularly effective, as it is presented in a chronological manner, mirroring the speaker’s parallel ‘discovery’ of the love he shares with his partner In the first stanza, it is conveyed that before the formulation of this affection between the pair, they lay in a state of dormancy or ignorance, implied through the use of the biblical reference “… snorted in the Seven Sleeper’s den” and the reliance on “country pleasures”. The use of the biblical reference here is important, as religion resides next to love and emotion as a key theme in metaphysical poetry. The descriptions here reflect the general idea of oblivious comfort and the cloistered existence of Britain before the age of discovery, and this is where the metaphor is first clear