In John Donne's "Elegy V: His Picture," a young lover about to depart on a long sea voyage offers his beloved a portrait of himself. He warns, though, that it's only going to look like him for a brief moment: people, unlike pictures, change. Though he knows he'll come back from his difficult journey physically transformed (and not for the better), his parting words to his lover suggest that this hardly matters. Only a "childish" new love feeds on flawless physical beauty, the speaker declares; mature love grows, ripens, and persists past such superficial concerns. Like most of Donne's poetry, "Elegy V" didn't appear in print until years after his death, when it was collected in his posthumous Poems (1633).
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The Full Text of “Elegy V: His Picture”
1Here take my picture; though I bid farewell
2Thine, in my heart, where my soul dwells, shall dwell.
3'Tis like me now, but I dead, 'twill be more
4When we are shadows both, than 'twas before.
5When weather-beaten I come back, my hand
6Perhaps with rude oars torn, or sun beams tann'd,
7My face and breast of haircloth, and my head
8With care's rash sudden storms being o'erspread,
9My body'a sack of bones, broken within,
10And powder's blue stains scatter'd on my skin;
11If rival fools tax thee to'have lov'd a man
12So foul and coarse as, oh, I may seem then,
13This shall say what I was, and thou shalt say,
14"Do his hurts reach me? doth my worth decay?
15Or do they reach his judging mind, that he
16Should now love less, what he did love to see?
17That which in him was fair and delicate,
18Was but the milk which in love's childish state
19Did nurse it; who now is grown strong enough
20To feed on that, which to disus'd tastes seems tough."
The Full Text of “Elegy V: His Picture”
1Here take my picture; though I bid farewell
2Thine, in my heart, where my soul dwells, shall dwell.
3'Tis like me now, but I dead, 'twill be more
4When we are shadows both, than 'twas before.
5When weather-beaten I come back, my hand
6Perhaps with rude oars torn, or sun beams tann'd,
7My face and breast of haircloth, and my head
8With care's rash sudden storms being o'erspread,
9My body'a sack of bones, broken within,
10And powder's blue stains scatter'd on my skin;
11If rival fools tax thee to'have lov'd a man
12So foul and coarse as, oh, I may seem then,
13This shall say what I was, and thou shalt say,
14"Do his hurts reach me? doth my worth decay?
15Or do they reach his judging mind, that he
16Should now love less, what he did love to see?
17That which in him was fair and delicate,
18Was but the milk which in love's childish state
19Did nurse it; who now is grown strong enough
20To feed on that, which to disus'd tastes seems tough."
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Summary
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Themes
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The Persistence of Love
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Elegy V: His Picture”
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Lines 1-4
Here take my picture; though I bid farewell
Thine, in my heart, where my soul dwells, shall dwell.
'Tis like me now, but I dead, 'twill be more
When we are shadows both, than 'twas before. -
Lines 5-10
When weather-beaten I come back, my hand
Perhaps with rude oars torn, or sun beams tann'd,
My face and breast of haircloth, and my head
With care's rash sudden storms being o'erspread,
My body'a sack of bones, broken within,
And powder's blue stains scatter'd on my skin; -
Lines 11-16
If rival fools tax thee to'have lov'd a man
So foul and coarse as, oh, I may seem then,
This shall say what I was, and thou shalt say,
"Do his hurts reach me? doth my worth decay?
Or do they reach his judging mind, that he
Should now love less, what he did love to see? -
Lines 17-20
That which in him was fair and delicate,
Was but the milk which in love's childish state
Did nurse it; who now is grown strong enough
To feed on that, which to disus'd tastes seems tough."
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
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Imagery
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Rhetorical Question
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Repetition
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Alliteration
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- My picture
- Thine, Thee, Thou
- Dwells
- 'Tis
- 'Twill
- 'Twas
- Weather-beaten
- Rude
- Breast
- Haircloth
- With care's rash sudden storms being o'erspread
- Body'a
- Powder's blue stains
- Rival fools
- Tax
- To'have
- Coarse
- Shalt
- Doth
- Disus'd
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Elegy V: His Picture”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Speaker
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“Elegy V: His Picture” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Elegy V: His Picture”
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More “Elegy V: His Picture” Resources
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External Resources
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A Brief Biography — Learn about Donne's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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His Picture — Admire a famous portrait of Donne in which he poses as a melancholy young lover.
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Donne's Tomb — Learn more about another famous "picture" that has survived Donne: his strange, eerie funerary statue in St. Paul's Cathedral.
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Donne's Legacy — Read a review of a recent Donne biography that discusses his enduring influence.
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The Metaphysicals — Learn more about the Metaphysical poets in this article from the British Library.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne
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