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Metaphysical Poets of 17

This poem by John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", comforts his beloved as he departs for France. He compares their pure love to virtuous men passing peacefully and the movements of the heavenly spheres, which are beyond earthly concerns. Their souls are one even when apart, as a sheet of gold hammered thin can cover more area than when concentrated. The poem ends by comparing them to the two legs of a compass, joined at the top though separated, with her remaining firmly grounded as he circles back to her.

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110 views3 pages

Metaphysical Poets of 17

This poem by John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", comforts his beloved as he departs for France. He compares their pure love to virtuous men passing peacefully and the movements of the heavenly spheres, which are beyond earthly concerns. Their souls are one even when apart, as a sheet of gold hammered thin can cover more area than when concentrated. The poem ends by comparing them to the two legs of a compass, joined at the top though separated, with her remaining firmly grounded as he circles back to her.

Uploaded by

Wungreiyon moinao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

By John Donne

John Donne belongs to a group of poets called


Metaphysical Poets of 17th C

The word Metaphysical is made up of two words, “meta”


which means beyond or across, and “physical” which
means the physical world surrounding us. In short it
means beyond reality.

Valediction: Farewell, Goodbye


Forbid: disallow
Mourning: the expression of sorrow for someone's death.

The is poem written to his wife Anne when he was leaving


England for France on Govt’s duty.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
By John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away,

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say

The breath goes now, and some say, No:

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.

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.

Dull sublunary lovers' love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind,

Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.


Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

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.

John Donne is considered the Pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. This poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is famous
for Donne’s conceit. In this poem, the poet comforts his beloved when he was away in France on government business while she remained at
home. It is a typical metaphysical poem, remarkable for its ingenious comparisons, a mockery of the sentiments and display of logical arguments.

The poet begins by comparing the love between his beloved and himself with the passing away of virtuous men. Such men expire so peacefully
that their friends cannot determine when they are truly dead. Likewise his beloved should lead the two of them depart in peace, not revealing their
love to the laity.

Earthquakes bring harm and fear about the meaning of the rupture, but such fears should not affect his beloved because of the firm nature of their
love, other lovers become fearful when distance separates them. For them, love is based on the physical presence or attractiveness of each other.
Yet for the poet and his beloved, such a split is innocent, like the movements of the heavenly spheres, because their love transcends mere
physicality.

Their souls are one in pure love, indeed, the separation merely adds to the distance covered by their love, like a sheet of gold hammered so thin
that it covers a huge area and gilds so much more than a love concentrated in one place ever could.

He finishes the poem with a longer comparison of himself and his beloved to the two legs of a compass. They are joined at the top, and she is
perfectly grounded at the center point. As he travels further from the center, she leans toward him and as he travels in his circles, she reminds
firm in the center, making his circle perfect.

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