I give up: Someone explain Donne's "The Funeral" please.

I swear this isn't for school. I've already finished my English class. This is just out of curiosity because I'm obsessed with funerals, but I don't get this poem.

200. The Funeral

WHOEVER comes to shroud me, do not harm
Nor question much
That subtle wreath of hair about mine arm;
The mystery, the sign you must not touch,
For 'tis my outward soul, 5
Viceroy to that which, unto heav'n being gone,
Will leave this to control
And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.

For if the sinewy thread my brain lets fall
Through every part 10
Can tie those parts, and make me one of all;
Those hairs, which upward grew, and strength and art
Have from a better brain,
Can better do 't: except she meant that I
By this should know my pain, 15
As prisoners then are manacled, when they're condemn'd to die.

Whate'er she meant by 't, bury it with me,
For since I am
Love's martyr, it might breed idolatry
If into other hands these reliques came. 20
As 'twas humility
T' afford to it all that a soul can do,
So 'tis some bravery
That, since you would have none of me, I bury some of you.

I interpret it that he's kept what sounds like a rather large lock of hair as a lover's keepsake. Probably a woman's braid? I don't know how he got it; if they were lovers once and she left him, or if his affection was never returned. Anyway, he wants the lock of hair with him always, even after death, so he's saying "please bury it with me when I die." It sounds like she killed herself/died of an illness and left her braid to him, because he seems equally confused; "Whate'er she meant by 't, bury it with me." I love the part about it being his "outward soul" (i.e. she was his soul, and this piece of her represents her soul, which she has given to him); so now it will be a guardian of his body when his own soul goes to heaven. He describes her hairs as having grown "from a better brain" than his, and therefore can better protect his body than any part of himself. :) *sniffle. so sweet* And therefore he would assume that to be her reason for giving it to him, except that it gives him pain to see it. Yet he can't force himself to take it off because it's precious to him, so he feels like a prisoner to her memory, "manacled" by her hair which he wears on his arm. He muses that perhaps she gave it to him just to make him feel pain. But he says -- regardless, bury it with him, because it's like a holy relic of love, and he is "love's martyr" (sacrificing happiness for his unrequited love). **Holy relics in old churches were supposedly the remains of saints and early Christian martyrs, and were believed to possess the power of God to absolve the sins of pilgrims who visited them.

Okay, a little messy, but that's the way I read it. The hair thing is very weird, even though people used to keep locks of hair -- a whole braid around his arm? Can anyone confirm or dispute that for me?

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Originally Posted by emily655321

I interpret it that he's kept what sounds like a rather large lock of hair as a lover's keepsake. Probably a woman's braid? I don't know how he got it; if they were lovers once and she left him, or if his affection was never returned. Anyway, he wants the lock of hair with him always, even after death, so he's saying "please bury it with me when I die." It sounds like she killed herself/died of an illness and left her braid to him, because he seems equally confused; "Whate'er she meant by 't, bury it with me." I love the part about it being his "outward soul" (i.e. she was his soul, and this piece of her represents her soul, which she has given to him); so now it will be a guardian of his body when his own soul goes to heaven. He describes her hairs as having grown "from a better brain" than his, and therefore can better protect his body than any part of himself. :) *sniffle. so sweet* And therefore he would assume that to be her reason for giving it to him, except that it gives him pain to see it. Yet he can't force himself to take it off because it's precious to him, so he feels like a prisoner to her memory, "manacled" by her hair which he wears on his arm. He muses that perhaps she gave it to him just to make him feel pain. But he says -- regardless, bury it with him, because it's like a holy relic of love, and he is "love's martyr" (sacrificing happiness for his unrequited love). **Holy relics in old churches were supposedly the remains of saints and early Christian martyrs, and were believed to possess the power of God to absolve the sins of pilgrims who visited them.

Okay, a little messy, but that's the way I read it. The hair thing is very weird, even though people used to keep locks of hair -- a whole braid around his arm? Can anyone confirm or dispute that for me?

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Thank you, Emily. I had a feeling it had something to do with a woman's lock of hair, but I was not sure.

I disagree, emily, that this poem is as sweet as it seems. It does wend its way sweetly through the first two stanzas, but typical of Donne it turns at the end.

The first line of the final stanza can be read as Donne's confusion, but it can also be understood as Donne casting doubt on her motives in giving the wreath to him. It seems to me the final line provides the answer; he turns away from his address to the reader, and confronts the woman herself with "since you would have none of me, I bury some of you."

He is the rejected lover and this is his "revenge." This establishes a new tone and meaning to the final stanza. The first line now suggests that her motives in giving the wreath had far more to do with enslavement (the promise of love without the fulfilment of love) than with tenderness. Lines 18 & 19 then shift to a warning to others, she is not to be worshipped, and in taking the hairs with him he is doing a noble deed in preventing others from falling into the same trap. He closes by saying that it was his own humility that raised her to goddess-like status, and that he will now act bravely in taking his goddess down a peg.

Seen this way, the real shift in tone happens at the full colon in line 14. It is here he moves from the pure adulation of the opening stanza and suggests a darker motive on her part. The colon itself demands a stop by the reader if (s)he's reading it aloud. That enforced pause is Donne's moment of doubt about her.

Of course then the entire poem becomes a bit of Donne-esque humor. If we acknowledge at the end that the wreath is the sign of his revenge on the woman who wouldn't give him what he wanted, line 5 becomes literally true. It really is the outward sign of his soul, but his soul is not full of love as we first believe; it's full of vengeance. The funeral wreath is the sign by which he'll tell everybody what an absolute bi*** she is. (It also then becomes his laughing way of stating that his motives are no more pure than hers.) This also refers to why the presence of the wreath should not be "questioned much." At first glance we smile at it; it is the token of true and enduring love. When we question it, when we seek its "mystery," we find it is the sign of the reverse: spurning and the bitter response of the rejected.

All this leads back to the title. Is this really his funeral only, or does it also mark the final nail in the coffin of her reputation?

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Originally Posted by trismegistus

I disagree, emily, that this poem is as sweet as it seems. It does wend its way sweetly through the first two stanzas, but typical of Donne it turns at the end.

The first line of the final stanza can be read as Donne's confusion, but it can also be understood as Donne casting doubt on her motives in giving the wreath to him. It seems to me the final line provides the answer; he turns away from his address to the reader, and confronts the woman herself with "since you would have none of me, I bury some of you."

He is the rejected lover and this is his "revenge." This establishes a new tone and meaning to the final stanza. The first line now suggests that her motives in giving the wreath had far more to do with enslavement (the promise of love without the fulfilment of love) than with tenderness. Lines 18 & 19 then shift to a warning to others, she is not to be worshipped, and in taking the hairs with him he is doing a noble deed in preventing others from falling into the same trap. He closes by saying that it was his own humility that raised her to goddess-like status, and that he will now act bravely in taking his goddess down a peg.

Seen this way, the real shift in tone happens at the full colon in line 14. It is here he moves from the pure adulation of the opening stanza and suggests a darker motive on her part. The colon itself demands a stop by the reader if (s)he's reading it aloud. That enforced pause is Donne's moment of doubt about her.

Of course then the entire poem becomes a bit of Donne-esque humor. If we acknowledge at the end that the wreath is the sign of his revenge on the woman who wouldn't give him what he wanted, line 5 becomes literally true. It really is the outward sign of his soul, but his soul is not full of love as we first believe; it's full of vengeance. The funeral wreath is the sign by which he'll tell everybody what an absolute bi*** she is. (It also then becomes his laughing way of stating that his motives are no more pure than hers.) This also refers to why the presence of the wreath should not be "questioned much." At first glance we smile at it; it is the token of true and enduring love. When we question it, when we seek its "mystery," we find it is the sign of the reverse: spurning and the bitter response of the rejected.

All this leads back to the title. Is this really his funeral only, or does it also mark the final nail in the coffin of her reputation?

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Wow, that's a pretty damn good analysis. Thanks, pal.

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Originally Posted by trismegistus

I disagree, emily, that this poem is as sweet as it seems. It does wend its way sweetly through the first two stanzas, but typical of Donne it turns at the end.

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Actually, I agree with you. I was just going throught the literal meaning of the lines. (Besides, I'm not at all a fan of love poems; I think if it was "sweet" I would have just said, "Don't care what it's about. Sucks.") I guess the irony didn't jump out at me, though, because I don't tend to see bitterness and love as being in very high contrast. :rolleyes:

But question (well, sort of): I didn't get out of it that she was still alive, because then why would she have given him her hair? However, that would make the last line make more sense -- "bury some of you;" if she was dead, it would be the rest of her. But I've only heard of taking locks of hair when someone dies or goes away, so I assumed it had been her last wish to give him the hair. Especially since its a whole wreath of the stuff -- who cuts off all their hair to tease someone? :confused: And if she was still alive, why the confusion over why she gave it to him? He could just ask her, "What the heck is this for?"

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Originally Posted by emily655321

But question (well, sort of): I didn't get out of it that she was still alive, because then why would she have given him her hair? ... But I've only heard of taking locks of hair when someone dies or goes away, so I assumed it had been her last wish to give him the hair. Especially since its a whole wreath of the stuff -- who cuts off all their hair to tease someone?

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So far as I know, hair need not only be given at parting. I think (though admittedly I've neither given nor received hair - thankfully) it is merely a token of love ... or in this case a manacle.

I took "wreath" to be hyperbole especially as it's preceded by "subtle," but maybe it is an actual wreath. The Victorians used to adorn their houses with hair wreaths. Don't know about any other time periods. (insert shrugging emoticon here)

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Well, I don't mean like Christmas-wreath size; just enough to fit around his arm, so it's true that it would look subtle. But consider: the braid would have to be at least ten inches long to circumvent a man's arm, which in itself is at least a foot of hair unbraided. Granted women tended to grow their hair longer in Donne's time, but I know I wouldn't want to cut off a foot of my hair!

Lines 14 and 15 I read sort of like just a flicker of doubt, rather than a shift in the whole mood. Because it's a very quick afterthought, immediately followed by a new train of thought in the new stanza, which itself begins with a clipped dismissal of the preceding speculation; "Except" in this case means "unless," so I read it like, "...hmm...unless...she meant to torture me with it as a reminder of her... --Anyway, whatever; doesn't matter: bury it with me. [Onto the next thought]"

After reading it over, I agree completely with your interpretation of the last stanza. Still, I don't interpret it as being quite as sinister as you seem to; I don't see "that b****" anywhere in the poem. I see him as still being weak with his love of her -- the entire poem written as a kind of mournful sigh, not bitter.

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Originally Posted by emily655321

Still, I don't interpret it as being quite as sinister as you seem to; I don't see "that b****" anywhere in the poem. I see him as still being weak with his love of her -- the entire poem written as a kind of mournful sigh, not bitter.

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It's really the last line and how it shapes what came before that makes it feel bitter to me. The tit-for-tat of "since you would have none of me, I bury some of you" reads nasty to me rather than mournful. He tells the world she's a false idol and then says, "for killing me I'm going to kill you."

But maybe that's just my own murderous misogyny talking. :brow:

Good to know, Heston. ;)

Actually, funny to say, the last line is part of what shaped my "mournful" opinion; seems like a rather wimpy "uh...so there" sort of revenge; burying a symbol instead of actually confronting her. Although, in my mind, the concept of "burying" her came as an afterthought to him -- telling himself and the world that is his reason, when the first half of the poem is actually the truth: the hair really is his idol, and he doesn't want to part with it. [edit] Note the line "might breed idolatry" -- as if other lovers would be loving in vain, while he is the "martyr": his love for her is the only true love.

*shrug* That's just the way it comes across to me.