A Jet Ring Sent by John Donne (1633)
The speaker addresses a ring, telling it that it is not as black as his heart, nor half so brittle as the heart of the woman who gave it to him. He asks the ring what it would say if it could voice both their natures at once — nothing more endless, nothing sooner broken. He reflects that true marriage rings are not made of jet, and questions why anything less precious or less durable should represent their love, unless the ring, by its very substance, is meant to declare itself cheap and merely fashionable, fit only to be thrown away. Despite this, he tells the ring to remain with him, since it has come to him, and to circle the top of his finger, which it once fit on her thumb. He bids it be justly proud and gladly safe in dwelling with him, for she who broke her faith would just as readily break the ring itself.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Metaphysical Poetry, Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 166 words
First lines
Thou art not so black as my heart, / Nor half so brittle as her heart, thou art; / What wouldst thou say? shall both our properties by thee be spoke, / -Nothing more endless, nothing sooner broke?
Marriage rings are not of this stuff; / Oh, why should ought less precious, or less tough, / Figure our loves? except in thy name thou have bid it say / "-I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
Yet stay with me since thou art come, / Circle this finger's top, which didst her thumb; / Be justly proud, and gladly safe, that thou dost dwell with me; / She that, O! broke her faith, would soon break thee.
What this Textopian page supports
A Jet Ring Sent is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Donne
- Date: 1633 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Metaphysical Poetry, Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 166 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Jet Ring Sent by John Donne
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Genres
- Metaphysical Poetry — The poem exemplifies Donne's signature style through an elaborate conceit using a jet ring as an extended metaphor for love and fidelity, characteristic of metaphysical poetry's intellectual and paradoxical approach to emotion.
- Love Poetry — The central subject is romantic love and devotion, with the ring serving as a token of the speaker's commitment and a meditation on the permanence or fragility of romantic bonds.
- Lyric Poetry — The poem expresses personal emotion and intimate reflection through direct address, creating an emotionally resonant and musically structured verse typical of lyric tradition.
- Dramatic Poetry — The direct apostrophe to the ring creates a dramatic monologue that interrogates the object's properties while implicitly addressing the absent beloved, establishing theatrical tension and immediacy.
Tags
metaphysical-conceit · love-poetry · betrayal · broken-promises · heartbreak · witty · metaphysical-poetry · seventeenth-century · paradox · symbolic · melancholy · romantic-rejection