St Xavier’s College, Mahuadanr

Summary of the Poem - Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.

Introduction:

A valediction: Forbidding Mourning is a metaphysical poem by John

Donne on the occasion of parting from his wife Ann More Donne in 1611
when he was going on a diplomatic mission to Europe leaving his wife behind
in England.

A Valediction is a farewell speech and this poem speaks of the grife of

separation and affirms the special and particular love the speaker and his
lover share. It is a 36-line Love poem that was first published in the 1633
collection “Songs and Sonnets” Two years after his death. The poem is based
on the theme of two lovers about to part and this poem is notable for its use of
conceits and ingenious analogies to describe the couple’s relationship.

Donne has structured this poem with a consistent pattern of rhyme

scheme of ABAB. In regards to meter Donne chose to use iambic tetrameter.

Summary:

John Donne writes this poem to his beloved and as a master of using
extended metaphors he uses powerful metaphors to compare his love.

In the opening of the poem, the speaker, in a dramatic situation,

addresses his beloved not to make their separation time the occasion of
mourning and wailing. The tearful parting may be disrespectful to their
true love. He describes this with an image of good man (virtuous man)
dying quietly, softly urging their souls to leave their bodies. They go to
afterlife peacefully so much so that his friends are not sure if he is dead
or not. He says that as the virtuous men die silently and without any
complaint, they should also take a peaceful leave as their love is also
virtuous one.

In a similar metaphor Donne also compares their love to the movement

of the “celestial spheres.” Even though these moments are invisible to
those on earth, they are much more powerful than the highly visible. He
says, when the earthquake occurs, everything on the earth are shaken
and brings a great deal of fear, but the heavenly bodies and the universe
remain calm and innocent, untouched by the temporary movement of the
earth. In the same manner, he says to his beloved that she too has to be
calm and fearless as this separation is for the time being and their love is
above all these earthly things.

The speaker shows the fact that though he has to go and their
bodies are far from each other, their souls are one. There will not be a
gap, but an expansion of the love. The speaker gives here
another analogy of gold. The gold can be stretched and expanded by
thinning it and their love will also expand and travel all the space
between them and unite them in souls. The souls of the lovers are
unified by love. Although they must be separated, their souls will not be
broken apart.

Another extended metaphor (conceit), speaker uses is that, he

compares their souls to the compass where her soul is the fixed feet in
the center of the compass and his soul is the foot that moves around the
compass. However far the moving feet of the compass go, it remains
attached and connected to the center foot of the compass. The soul of the
over is like the fixed foot of the compass which does not appear to move
itself but actually responds to the other foot’s movements, changing its
angle to lean in the direction of the moving compass, as if longing to be
nearer to its partner

The speaker says that his lover is like his fixed foot of the
compass, while he himself must travel a circuitous, indirect route. Her
fixed position provides him with the stability to create a perfect circle,
which ends exactly where it began

Though, the speaker is going to be physically parted, his soul will

always be in touch with his beloved. The stronger, she will be at the time
of separation, the more his work will be fruitful. He firmly says that he
has to end his tour one day from where he has begun, means he will
certainly come back to her again.

The intensity of feelings of separation is overloaded in this poem.

The analogy of Compass is outstanding in this poem which is often
quoted in English literature as one of the best examples of extended
metaphor. The poet depicts the fear of separation of the lovers and at the
same time he praises the beauty of love and their connected souls.

This poem creates a contrast between the common love of the

general people and the unique love of the speaker. He separates his love
from others in a way that their love does not complain and show any fear
of separation when they part from each other because they are not only
connected in terms of physicality but in souls.

They are like compass where his beloved is a fixed foot in the center
and the speaker is the moving feet of the compass which moves around
but connected to the center. This famous and ingenious use of the
compass as a conceit is exceptional.