A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
FORBIDDING MOURNING
A "valediction" is a farewell speech. This cautions against
grief about separation, and affirms poem the special,
particular love the speaker and his lover share.
BACKGROUND STORY
POEM ANALYSIS
As virtuous men pass mildly away, The speaker opens with an image of
good men dying quietly, softly urging
And whisper to their souls to go,
their souls to leave their bodies. These
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
virtuous deaths are so imperceptible
that the dying men's friends disagree
The breath goes now, and some say, no: about whether or not the men have
stopped breathing yet.
ANALYSIS
POEM
If they be two, they are two so If their souls are in fact individual, they are
nevertheless linked in the way the legs of a
As stiff twin compasses are two;
drawing compass are linked. The soul of the
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no lover is like the stationary foot of the
show compass, which does not appear to move
To move, but doth, if the other do. itself but actually does respond to the other
foot's movement.
POEM ANALYSIS
• The compass and the spheres represent the combination of their souls as they love each
other deeply.
• Tone: very sincere and caring
• Stanza structure: 9 quatrains
Message given: When you are apart from your beloved, you should not mourn because
true love will not let the distance come between you two as an obstacle.
PLOT
The speaker is being separated from his beloved. He believes that the
spiritual connection that they share can overcome the apparently
insignificant distance that has come between them. He believes that their
love is expanding rather than being diminshed. He concludes the poem with
a lengthy metaphor comparing his lover and himself to a mathematical
compass - two distinct parts of a single unit.
His beloved is the force that always makes him "end where [he] begun”.
SPEAKER
• The speaker is a man who is being physically separated from his significant other
• The speaker belittles relationships that exist only physically
• The audience is the man's lover whom he appears to be attempting to reassure about their
separation
• The poem addresses the idea that true love - which can withstand any valediction - must be
more than a love "whose soul is sense"
• Another theme present throughout the poem is the idea that spirituality can better ones life. It
allows the speaker to overcome any urge to mourn and recognize the insignificance of their
separation.
DICTION
The poem addresses the idea that true love - which can withstand any valediction - must be
more than a love "whose soul is sense”. Another theme present throughout the poem is the
idea that spirituality can better ones life. It allows the speaker to overcome any urge to
mourn and recognize the insignificance of their separation.
Love, separation, and acceptance are the significant themes present in the poem. The
poem is primarily concerned with the love of the speaker with his significant other.
Though they are going to part due to circumstances, yet their love will remain pure and
true. He develops these themes by comparing his love with the legs of a mathematical
compass to show that they are two separate entities and yet connected and whole. He
further supports his ideas by crafting many metaphors to explain that their love is not
limited to physical attraction. It rather rests in their souls. Therefore, sadness, tears, and
mourning are not appropriate for them.
QUESTIONS TO THINK DEEPER
1. Why do you think Donne emphasizes "two-ness" and "one-ness" so much in the sixth
stanza?
2. In what way does Donne reassure his wife that he will also be faithful?
3. Why do you think the speaker spends most of the first half of the poem talking
about other peoples' shallow love before moving on to talk about his own relationship?
4. What is the logical argument made by Donne's speaker in stanza four? Do you agree
with his point? Why or why not?
5. Why do you think Donne starts a love poem with the moment of an old man's death?
6. Why does Donne make a point to call other lovers' love "sublunary"?
REFERENCE
• MOURNING, F. (2010). A VALEDICTION : FORBIDDING MOURNING : SUMMARY LINES 1-6
SUMMARY.
• SHMOOP EDITORIAL TEAM. “A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING
THEMES.” SHMOOP, SHMOOP UNIVERSITY, 11 NOV. 2008,
WWW.SHMOOP.COM/STUDY GUIDES/POETRY/VALEDICTION-FORBIDDING-
MOURNING/THEMES.
• MARTZ, LOUIS. “JOHN DONNE: LOVE’S PHILOSOPHY.” LOVELOCK: 178 -202PARTRIDGE,
A.C. JOHN DONNE LANGUAGE AND STYLE. UK: ANDRE DEUTSCH LTD, 1978. PRINT.
• LITERARY DEVICES EDITORS. (2013). A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING.
RETRIEVED NOVEMBER 4, 2014, FROM HTTPS://LITERARYDEVICES.NET/A-
VALEDICTION-FORBIDDING-MOURNING/