I should try to find a musical setting of this poem, if not for the podcast (it’s not “podsafe” music, I’m sure) then for the class I’ll teach in the fall. For all his intellectual fireworks, Donne can be intensely lyrical, as I hope my reading demonstrates. He’s never just lyrical, or not for long, but the moments of verbal sweetness do persuade me that he chooses his more angular, dramatic style deliberately.

This is a love poem that returns to Donne’s favorite playground by the end: the mind, both in the sense of “intellect” and of “imagination. ” This poet might say, “I think, therefore I love.” Or perhaps it’s the other way ’round. In any event, I hope you enjoy “Song: Sweetest Love, I Do Not Go.”

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