The Computation by John Donne

 

For my first twenty years, since yesterday,
I scarce believed thou couldst be gone away ;
For forty more I fed on favours past,
And forty on hopes that thou wouldst they might last ;
Tears drown'd one hundred, and sighs blew out two ;
A thousand, I did neither think nor do,
Or not divide, all being one thought of you ;
Or in a thousand more, forgot that too.
Yet call not this long life ; but think that I
Am, by being dead, immortal ; can ghosts die ?

 

 

This is the poem that John Donne wrote and I find this one kinda neat. I like the way that the last words rhyme, and I like the way that you have to read it a few times in order to understand it. You can't just read it once and get the full summary and/or analogy. I also like the fact that it talks about the past, present and future in this poem. I think that it's really cool. I also like how this author does not talk in modern day language. Yes, it makes it a little more difficult to understand, but I think that the way this poem is worded is incredibly done. I didn't really find anything that stuck out as "odd" sounding; it all just seemed to flow. I also liked the fact that the author ends the poem with a question, which envokes the reader to think about the poem, even after it is done. It causes the reader to wonder, and see the author's point of view. And for this reason, I enjoy this poem.

(Funny thing, when I first read it, I knew that I liked the poem, but it wasn't until I had to start writting WHY I liked it that I really figured it out. Neat, eh?)
For anyone who still doesn't understand this poem, it basically talks about this man who sent his lover back to the 24th century 24 hours ago. Then he talks about how sad he is and then he thinks back to his memories of her, and hopes that this will somehow bring her back. Then it talks about how long that he lives, and because he doesn't have his lover, he's been living hollow like a "ghost" and wonders if ghosts can ever die.