The Triple Fool

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.

This poem is all about Donne who writes about unrequited love (non reciprocal). In the first stanza of the poem Donne personifies the letter on which he is writing on, who says that it is two fools (referring to Donne and to the woman who did not accept him) and says that he is a fool for writing his love problems down (1-3). Donne then tries to justify himself saying that anyone would have done like him if the woman that he loved denied him (4-5). In lines 6-9 Donne compares his poetry to an aspect of nature; in the same way that the earth removes salt from water the same way his poetry removes tears from his eyes. In the second stanza Donne complains about a man who transformed his poem of pain into a song (1-3) (no copy writes in the renaissance). Donne is frustrated about the fact that someone is singing about his pain to the world, because by delighting many he is actually giving him even more pain (5-6) (there is some irony in this because the very same verses that Donne wrote to feel better end up making him feel even worst). In the last lines of the poem Donne is saying that he dislikes the idea that other people who listen to his poem consider him as a fool, so he wrote an other poem saying that who judges him as a fool is a fool.

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/6825