The Triple Fool by John Donne (1633)
Donne's speaker declares himself "two fools": a fool for loving, and a fool for confessing that love in "whining poetry." He argues no wise man would refuse to be so foolish if the woman in question would not deny him. Comparing his effort to the way earth's "inward narrow crooked lanes" purge the sea water's salt, he explains that he thought turning his pains into rhyme would allay them, since grief expressed in verse ("brought to numbers") loses its fierceness — the poet tames grief by fettering it in verse. But once he has done this, another man takes the verses, sets them to music, and sings the speaker's pain to show off his own art and voice. In pleasing many listeners with the song, that singer frees again the grief which the verse had restrained. The speaker reflects that tribute of verse belongs to love and grief, but not verse of the kind that merely "pleases when 'tis read" — such songs instead increase both love and grief, since their triumphs are thereby published abroad. So the speaker, who was two fools, now becomes three. He closes with the general observation that those who are only a little wise make the best fools.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Meta-poetic Poetry · 255 words
First lines
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.
Similar titles
- The Broken Heart by John Donne
- The Expostulation by John Donne
- The Blossom by John Donne
- Loves Diet by John Donne
- The Dream Image Of Her Whom I Love More Than She by John Donne
- His Parting From Her by John Donne
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A personal, intimate expression of the speaker's inner emotional experience and subjective reflection, embodying the core lyric tradition of direct address to emotion and introspection.
- Metaphysical Poetry — Exemplifies Donne's signature metaphysical style with elaborate intellectual conceits, paradoxes, complex imagery, and the fusion of emotion with philosophical argument characteristic of the metaphysical school.
- Meta-poetic Poetry — Fundamentally about poetry itself, exploring the paradox of using verse to express and alleviate emotion, and how performance by others can amplify rather than resolve emotional suffering.
- Love Poetry — Explicitly centers on romantic love as primary subject, examining the foolishness of both falling in love and expressing love through poetry, with exploration of love's emotional and social consequences.
Tags
love · poetry · foolishness · vulnerability · self-awareness · metaphysical · irony · emotional-exposure · self-deprecation · renaissance · courtly-love · confession
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The Triple Fool is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Donne
- Date: 1633 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Meta-poetic Poetry, Love Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 255 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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