What is a summary of the poem "A Lecture Upon the Shadow" by John Donne?

John Donne’s “A Lecture Upon the Shadow” uses the extended metaphor of sunlight to describe love’s fleetingness. The stanzas consist of thirteen lines and follow an abnormal rhyme scheme, each beginning with a couplet. It also takes the form of a meta-poem, as the speaker addresses the reader directly:

   “I will read to thee

A lecture, love, in love's philosophy” (lines 1-2).

The poem centers on the noon hour, mentioning noon twice in the second stanza as a reference point for the stages of love. Donne describes the moment when the sun is directly overhead, saying that at this moment, two lovers overcome the shadows of time and understanding;

“…now the sun is just above our head,

We do those shadows tread” (lines 6-7).

The first stanza has a tone of overcoming, as the lovers described see each other in perfect light at noon. The second stanza has a tone of foreboding, as shadows begin to envelope the subjects. As the poem progresses past noon, the speaker describes:

“We shall new shadows make the other way” (line 14) and

“Will work upon ourselves, and blind our eyes” (line 17).

The increased mention of shadows and blindness in the second stanza are meant to suggest a growing distance between the lovers. The poem culminates with the daytime of love turning to the darkness of night- this suggests love’s fleetingness and fatality;

“Love is a growing, or full constant light,

And his first minute, after noon, is night” (lines 25-26).