How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
We can die by it, if not live by love,
And if unfit for tomb or hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse; (28-30)
The speaker seems to be settling here. If the lovers can't be immortalized by a tomb or in a hearse, then they'll opt for poetry ("verse"). We'd like to humbly suggest that literature is actually a whole lot more durable than some concrete block that can come tumbling down at any minute.
Quote #2
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs, (31-34)
Once again, poetry (in this case "sonnets") seems like a back-up plan. If the lovers can't make it into the history books ("chronicle"), then they'll be happy to settle for a few poems. Now, we love history as much as anyone, but is it really so much better off to be commemorated as a historical figure than a poetic one?
Quote #3
And by these hymns all shall approve
Us canonized for love; (35-36)
These last lines of stanza 4 are the set-up for the lovers' ascent into heaven, which takes place in stanza 5. Literature is like a launching pad for sainthood here, with the poems becoming "hymns" and taking on a religious significance. It begs the question: where would our lovers be without poetry? And don't forget that we're actually, you know, reading this in a poem about these two. It seems that Donne was well aware of poetry's importance in granting immortality.