Francis Thompson

Marriage in Two Moods

Love that's loved from day to day
Loves itself into decay:

Satiation paradox

Thompson treats love like appetite—constant satisfaction destroys desire itself. This inverts romantic convention, which assumes repetition deepens feeling.

He that eats one daily fruit
Shrivels hunger at the root.

Satiation paradox

Thompson treats love like appetite—constant satisfaction destroys desire itself. This inverts romantic convention, which assumes repetition deepens feeling.

Pleasure becomes labor

The shift from 'pleasure' to 'task' marks the poem's central claim: daily repetition transforms joy into obligation. Notice the rhyme forces this equivalence.

Daily pleasure grows a task;
Daily smiles become a mask.
Daily growth of unpruned strength

Unpruned strength

Botanical metaphor—growth without discipline becomes weakness. Thompson suggests love needs constraint, not freedom to expand infinitely.

Unpruned strength

Botanical metaphor—growth without discipline becomes weakness. Thompson suggests love needs constraint, not freedom to expand infinitely.

Expands to feebleness at length.
Daily increase thronging fast
Must devour itself at last.
Daily shining, even content,
Would with itself grow discontent;
And the Sun's life witnesseth

Sun's daily dying

The sun sets every day but doesn't die permanently. Thompson uses this as evidence that daily repetition can sustain rather than destroy—but only if structured properly.

Sun's daily dying

The sun sets every day but doesn't die permanently. Thompson uses this as evidence that daily repetition can sustain rather than destroy—but only if structured properly.

Daily dying is not death.
So Love loved from day to day
Loves itself into decay.
Love to daily uses wed
Shall be sweetly perfected.
Life by repetition grows
Unto its appointed close:
Day to day fulfils the year;
Shall not Love by Love wax dear?
All piles by repetition rise;

Marriage as architecture

Stanza 2 shifts metaphors from consumption to construction. 'Edifice' and 'piles by repetition rise' reframe daily love as cumulative building, not erosion.

Marriage as architecture

Stanza 2 shifts metaphors from consumption to construction. 'Edifice' and 'piles by repetition rise' reframe daily love as cumulative building, not erosion.

Shall not then Loves' edifice?
Shall not Love too learn his writ,

Wisdom through repetition

Thompson compares love to learning—both require 'oft-repeated use' to master. This justifies routine as the path to perfection, not its enemy.

Wisdom through repetition

Thompson compares love to learning—both require 'oft-repeated use' to master. This justifies routine as the path to perfection, not its enemy.

Like Wisdom, by repeating it?
By the oft-repeated use

Thews (muscle)

Archaic word for muscular strength or sinew. Thompson uses it to argue repetition builds strength in love, just as exercise builds muscle—not decay.

Thews (muscle)

Archaic word for muscular strength or sinew. Thompson uses it to argue repetition builds strength in love, just as exercise builds muscle—not decay.

All perfections gain their thews;
And so, with daily uses wed,

Perfected through daily uses

The final couplet mirrors the opening but inverts it. Same repetition, same 'daily uses,' but now leads to perfection instead of decay. The poem's entire argument hinges on this reversal.

Perfected through daily uses

The final couplet mirrors the opening but inverts it. Same repetition, same 'daily uses,' but now leads to perfection instead of decay. The poem's entire argument hinges on this reversal.

Love, too, shall be perfected.
Francis Thompson.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Two Arguments: Decay vs. Perfection

Thompson structures this poem as a direct contradiction—the same opening couplet appears twice, but with opposite conclusions. The first movement argues that daily love *destroys* itself through satiation: pleasure becomes task, smiles become masks, growth becomes feebleness. He uses vivid, physical metaphors (eating fruit, unpruned plants, the sun's daily dying) to show how repetition exhausts desire.

But the second movement reverses this entirely. Daily repetition doesn't destroy love—it perfects it. Thompson shifts his metaphors from consumption to construction: 'All piles by repetition rise.' He argues that love, like wisdom or architecture, requires daily practice to strengthen. The key move is the Sun image: yes, it dies daily, but 'Daily dying is not death.' Repetition and renewal are not contradictory.

The poem isn't about which argument is true—it's about *conditions*. Love 'loved from day to day' (passively, without structure) decays. But love 'to daily uses wed' (actively, deliberately practiced) perfects. Thompson is distinguishing between thoughtless habit and disciplined ritual. The difference lies in intention and commitment, not in repetition itself.

Thompson's Technical Argument

[CONTEXT: Francis Thompson (1859–1907) was a Catholic poet obsessed with spiritual discipline and paradox. He wrote during an era when Romantic poetry celebrated spontaneous passion; Thompson argues for structured devotion instead.]

Notice Thompson's vocabulary choices: 'wed' appears twice, linking marriage to legal commitment, not just feeling. 'Thews' (an archaic term for muscular strength) treats love like a physical skill that needs exercise. 'Writ' (scripture or law) suggests love operates by principles, not whim. These word choices transform marriage from an emotional state into a *practice*—something you do, not something you feel.

The rhyme scheme reinforces this argument. Thompson uses tight couplets throughout, creating a sense of mechanical repetition that mirrors his theme. The repetition of 'daily' (appears 10 times in the first movement alone) becomes almost oppressive—then, in the second movement, that same repetition feels purposeful and building. The form enacts the argument: repetition can feel deadening or strengthening depending on how you frame it.