T is for The Triple Fool

British metaphysical poet and priest John Donne (1572-1631) blended spirituality and sensuality with dynamic devotion in his sonnets, sermons and songs. Here’s a prime example.

The Triple Fool

By John Donne

I am two fools, I know,
    For loving, and for saying so
        In whining poetry ;
But where's that wise man, that would not be I,
        If she would not deny ?
Then as th' earth's inward narrow crooked lanes
    Do purge sea water's fretful salt away,
I thought, if I could draw my pains
    Through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay.
Grief brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

    But when I have done so,
    Some man, his art and voice to show,
        Doth set and sing my pain ;
And, by delighting many, frees again
        Grief, which verse did restrain.
To love and grief tribute of verse belongs,
    But not of such as pleases when 'tis read.
Both are increasèd by such songs,
    For both their triumphs so are published,
And I, which was two fools, do so grow three.
Who are a little wise, the best fools be.

Of course, my favorite poem by John Donne is his “Holy Sonnet XIV,” which happens to be one of my three all-time best-loved poems of all time. But it doesn’t start with a “T.”

Last year’s A to Z post: A Tricky Tag for Training

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Related Items:

• For Fayth, Who Endures
• Most famous English poets: Donne so well!
• Unpuzzling "A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted"

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Image/s:

Lucrezia Borgia

By Bartolomeo Veneto

16th Century

Public Domain/Wikipedia Commons

Favorite Classic Poems

Adapted from ClipArt ETC

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