The Expiration
So, so, breake off this last lamenting kisse,Which sucks two soules, and vapors Both away,Turne thou ghost that way, and let mee turne this,And let our selves benight our happiest day,We ask'd none leave to love; nor will we oweAny, so cheape a death, as saying, Goe;
Goe; and if that word have not quite kil'd thee,Ease mee with death, by bidding mee goe too.Oh, if it have, let my word worke on mee,And a just office on a murderer doe.Except it be too late, to kill me so,Being double dead, going, and bidding, goe.
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- benight v. t.
- To involve in darkness; to shroud with the shades of night; to obscure.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Expiration is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Donne, The Expiration, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/the-expiration.html, id L19873.
Form and metre
The Expiration is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.6 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC kisseA · awayB · thisA · dayB · oweC · goeC
- 2 A-ABBB theeA · too · meeA · doeB · soB · goeB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| So, so, breake off this last lamenting kisse, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Which sucks two soules, and vapors Both away, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Turne thou ghost that way, and let mee turne this, | 10 | ·········· |
| And let our selves benight our happiest day, | 10 | ··/·˘///˘· |
| We ask'd none leave to love; nor will we owe | 10 | ·········· |
| Any, so cheape a death, as saying, Goe; | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Goe; and if that word have not quite kil'd thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ease mee with death, by bidding mee goe too. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh, if it have, let my word worke on mee, | 10 | ·········· |
| And a just office on a murderer doe. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Except it be too late, to kill me so, | 10 | ·········· |
| Being double dead, going, and bidding, goe. | 10 | //˘·/˘·/˘· |
Notes from the edition 3
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 1, line 1 So, so,] So, go 1669
- Stanza 1, line 5 ask'd A18, A25, B, C JC, N, O'F, S96, TC: aske 1633-69, P, S
- Stanza 2, line 3 Oh, 1633, A18, A25, JC, N, TC: Or, 1635-69, B, O'F, S, S96
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.