John Donne

A Valediction: Forbidding
Mourning
Valediction
A farewell or a goodbye

Stanza 1
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

Introduction of a simile
1
st
half of the simile is presented
Comparing the death of virtuous men to
something

Imagery
Death of Virtuous Men
Mild
Do not make it public
Mildly away
whisper
Stanza 2
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love

Completion of Simile
Comparing the death of virtuous men to
the speaker and his wifes separation.
Virtuous men die peacefully and silently
No tear-floods sigh-tempest
move



Imagery
Describes how they should separate
They must part but their love is stronger, sacred
melt
make no noise

Religious Imagery
Laity
Indicates their love is of a spiritual nature

Diction
Profanation
Profane
Irreverent
Irreligious
Disrespectful
It would be profane to tell the laity of
our love
Would they not understand
Stanza 3
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Stanza 3

When they separate, they shake
the earth with their sorrows
Lovers are all physical
Cannot separate without losing the the
sensation that sustains their love
Tone
Not complementary

Stanza 4
Dull sublunary lovers' love
Whose soul is sensecannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.

Stanza 4
Continues his discussion of the laity
Suggests their souls are centered a deeper connection
Their relationships are defined by physical presence
If absence occurs, the relationship is eliminated
- A perfect circle of love
Stanza 4
Vocabulary
Dull
- Boring
Sublunary
- Between the moon and earth; worldly
The laity of love is of the earth, while their love is
heavenly
Tone
- Not complementary
Stanza 5
But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Change in perspective
Instead of talking about the sacredness
of their love, he now begins to define his
love.
Our love is not defined by the senses,
therefore our love is not affected by
absence.

Imagery
Senses
- eyes, lips, hands
Mental Imagery
- Refined
- Purified
Stanza 6
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

Paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement that presents a
profound truth
- Two souls are one
Continuation of metal imagery
Expansion
Gold
Aery thinness beat
Gold leaf
- gold that is beaten out into very thin sheets and
used for gilding and lettering
- they are not enduring a breach rather
experiencing an expansion
Stanza 7
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

Conceit
An extended metaphor
- Compares love to legs of a compass
One point remains fixed and the other
circles it
They are a pair of compasses two separate
arms joined at the center to create a
perfect circle, like their love




Stanza 8
And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

As the other foot moves, the center foot leans
after it

Stanza 9
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

The center foot is responsible for making the
circle perfect
A perfect circle has no beginning and no
end
Causes him to return home