CRITICAL NOTE ON POEM ( SONNET) SINCE THERE'S NO HELP .

 Hello viewers! 

 I am  Kavita Chauhan  a student in department of English  mkbu. Bhavnagar  

this blog is part of my B.A.  about the poem ( SONNET )  '' Since there’s no help " by Michael Drayton .

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part. Nay, I have done, you get no more of me; And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart, That thus so cleanly I myself can free. Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows, And when we meet at any time again, Be it not seen in either of our brows That we one jot of former love retain. Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath, When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies; When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death, And Innocence is closing up his eyes— Now, if thou would

st, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou might's him yet recover!

• ABOUT POET : 

Michael Drayton

• Michael Drayton (1563–1631) was an English poet of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, known for his sonnets, historical poetry, and patriotic verses. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, and Ben Jonson. Drayton’s poetic style was deeply influenced by Renaissance ideals, often blending personal emotions with elaborate imagery.

  One of his most famous works is Idea’s Mirror, a sequence of sonnets exploring love and idealized beauty. Since There’s No Help is the best-known sonnet from this collection, often admired for its dramatic intensity and poignant meditation on love’s end.

  Beyond sonnets, Drayton also wrote Poly-Olbion, an ambitious topographical poem celebrating the history and landscape of England and Wales. His works contributed significantly to the development of English poetry, particularly in the use of vivid imagery and refined emotional expression. Despite not achieving the enduring fame of Shakespeare or Spenser, Drayton remains an important literary figure, especially for his skill in blending personal reflection with the conventions of Renaissance poetry.

• Analysis of the Poem Since There’s No Help, Come Let Us Kiss and Part by Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton’s Since There’s No Help, Come Let Us Kiss and Part is one of the most celebrated sonnets of the Elizabethan era. It presents a complex emotional journey of love, separation, and the lingering possibility of reconciliation. Through its skillful use of structure, imagery, and tone, the poem captures the tension between detachment and yearning.

• Structure and Form

The poem follows the traditional Shakespearean sonnet structure, consisting of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. This form allows the poet to build a gradual emotional progression, culminating in a dramatic shift in the final couplet.

The sonnet is also written in iambic pentameter, a meter commonly used in Elizabethan poetry. The steady rhythm enhances the poem’s formal tone, while the conversational phrasing in the opening line makes it feel intimate and immediate.

• Theme of Love and Separation

The poem begins with a direct and seemingly resolute declaration of parting:

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.

At first glance, the speaker appears indifferent, suggesting that there is no hope for reconciliation. The use of Since there’s no help implies that efforts to save the relationship have failed, making separation inevitable.

However, despite the speaker’s claim of emotional detachment, the phrase let us kiss and part introduces a paradox—why a kiss if the separation is final? This subtle contradiction suggests that love still lingers, even in farewell.

In the following lines, the speaker emphasizes his determination to move on:

Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;

And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,

That thus so cleanly I myself can free.

Here, the repetition of glad sounds almost like an attempt to convince himself of his own words. The phrase cleanly I myself can free suggests that he wants a complete and painless separation, yet the very act of emphasizing this freedom hints at an underlying struggle.

Imagery of Erasure and Emotional Control

The second quatrain intensifies the idea of erasing past love:

Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,

And when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen in either of our brows

That we one jot of former love retain.

The phrase Shake hands for ever symbolizes finality and formality, reducing a once passionate relationship to a mere social gesture. By saying cancel all our vows, the speaker treats love as a contract that can be voided, further reinforcing his outwardly practical stance.

However, the insistence that neither of them should show any trace of former love (one jot of former love retain) paradoxically suggests that the emotions are not entirely gone. If they were, there would be no need for such a strict command. This reveals the speaker’s internal conflict—he wishes to appear detached, but his words betray an underlying emotional turmoil.

Love as a Dying Entity

In the third quatrain, the poem shifts from the idea of erasure to a striking metaphor:

Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,

When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies;

When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And Innocence is closing up his eyes—

Here, love is personified as a dying being. Last gasp and latest breath evoke the image of someone on their deathbed, struggling for life. The metaphor of love’s pulse failing and Passion speechless suggests that desire and emotion are fading, while Faith kneeling at the bedside indicates a final moment of devotion before love is lost entirely.

The line Innocence is closing up his eyes is particularly poignant. It suggests that love was once pure, but now, as it dies, even innocence must acknowledge its end.

This imagery presents love not as something abruptly abandoned, but as something that has naturally reached its end. However, by personifying love as a dying entity rather than a dead one, Drayton leaves room for a dramatic turn in the final couplet.

• The Unexpected Turn: A Glimmer of Hope

While the poem initially appears to be about a final farewell, the concluding couplet introduces an unexpected possibility:

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!

After constructing a compelling case for the death of love, the speaker suggests that it is still possible to bring it back to life—if the beloved so wishes. This sudden reversal transforms the poem from one of absolute separation to one of lingering hope.

The phrase when all have given him over suggests that everyone (perhaps including the speaker himself) has accepted the end of love, yet the beloved still has the power to change its fate. This ending reintroduces vulnerability into the speaker’s voice, contradicting his earlier claims of emotional detachment.

• Tone and Emotional Complexity

Drayton masterfully blends different tones throughout the poem:

• The opening quatrain is firm and declarative, emphasizing independence.
• The second quatrain introduces a tone of suppression, where the speaker insists on emotional erasure.
• The third quatrain becomes more melancholic, with the imagery of love’s death.
• The final couplet shifts again, revealing an underlying longing.

This fluctuation in tone makes the poem deeply emotional and complex. The speaker appears to struggle between the desire to move on and the unwillingness to fully let go.

• Conclusion : 

Since There’s No Help, Come Let Us Kiss and Part is a powerful exploration of love’s end, filled with emotional contradictions. The speaker’s outward declaration of indifference is undermined by his own words, revealing that love still lingers beneath the surface. The striking deathbed imagery reinforces the finality of the breakup, but the concluding couplet suggests that hope remains, leaving the poem open-ended.

Drayton’s use of structure, metaphor, and tonal shifts makes this sonnet a compelling meditation on the complexities of human relationships. The poem captures the universal experience of heartbreak—where one may proclaim the end of love, yet still secretly wish for its revival.

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