A Valediction: of

Weeping
John Donne

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John Donne
John Donne is one of the most important English poets
of his time.

He was the best of the metaphysical poets and is

remembered for his skill with conceits.

‘Valediction of Weeping’ is one of Donne’s best poems.

In it, he uses memorable images to speak about a
relationship and its two partners. The first person
speaker addresses their lover and describes their grief
and conflicting emotions about the separation they’re
about to go through. This poem is also a great example
of Donne’s use of conceits.

A Valediction: of Weeping
John Donne

Let me pour forth

My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,
And by this mintage they are something worth,
For thus they be
Pregnant of thee;
Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more,
When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore,
So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse
shore.

On a round ball
A workman that hath copies by, can lay
An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,
And quickly make that, which was nothing, all;
So doth each tear
Which thee doth wear,
A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,
Till thy tears mix'd with mine do overflow
This world; by waters sent from thee, my heaven
dissolved so.

O more than moon,

Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere,
Weep me not dead, in thine arms, but forbear
To teach the sea what it may do too soon;
Let not the wind
Example find,
To do me more harm than it purposeth;
Since thou and I sigh one another's breath,
Whoe'er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other's
death.

Explore Valediction of Weeping

1 Summary

2 Themes

3 Structure and Form

4 Literary Devices

5 Analysis of The Title

6 Analysis of Valediction of Weeping

7 Similar Poetry

Summary

‘Valediction of Weeping’ by John Donne describes

the troubled parting, and powerful emotions, of the
speaker and his current lover.

The poem begins with the speaker asking that he be

allowed to cry for a moment before he parts from the
listener. He wants her to see his grief and understand
that he does feel very upset over their separation. In
fact, his tears come from her own essence. They are
created with her image in mind. The tears also
represent the grief that will come in the future and the
spiritual connection the two share. There is a great
deal more on this topic in the next two stanzas.

In the first stanza’s final lines, he tells his listener that

although crying might feel like the right thing to do,
tears are not helping their situation. He thinks that
when tears fall, they make the emotion “nothing.”

He continues on to describe the power and danger of

the listener’s grief and how together their tears will
bring about heaven and then its dissolution. In the final
lines, he tells his listener not to drown him in her grief.
She should keep from sending out the forces of her
love to try to reach him as they will certainly cause his
death. The poem concludes with the speaker
describing how the grief of one will condemn the other
to certain death unless they can keep their emotions in
check.

Themes
The primary themes at work in ‘Valediction of Weeping’
are separation and unity. Throughout the poem, the
speaker discussing the upcoming separation he and his
lover are going to have to go through. He wants her to
know and see his grief so that she might understand
how he feels. They’re so intertwined that he describes
his tears as originating from her essence. His thought
process on what grief is and how it should be
expressed evolves in the next lines as he suggests that
tears actually make the emotion worth nothing. Rather
than showing their emotions, the two should keep them
under control. Otherwise, something terrible could
happen to their relationship.

Structure and Form

‘Valediction of Weeping’ by John Donne is a three-
stanza metaphysical poem that is separated into sets of
nine lines. The lines vary greatly in length and but do
follow a specific syllabic pattern. The first, fifth, and
sixth lines have four syllables, and the second, third,
fourth, seventh, and eighth have ten. The final line of
every stanza stretches out to fourteen lines as if
combining the previous lengths. The rhyme scheme is
less complex. It conforms to a pattern of ABBACCDDD,
alternating end sounds, and the poet saw fit.

Literary Devices
Valediction of Weeping’ makes use of several literary
devices, some of which are crucial to its categorization
as a metaphysical poem. It is clever, makes use of
extended complicated metaphors, and investigates
important worldly questions. These pieces of poetry
also had the goal of surprising a reader with the
comparison drawn by the poet. Usually, these are
between two very unlikely things that initially seem to
have no connection.

As was common in Donne’s poetry, there are a number

of these extended metaphors present. In this case, due
to their complexity, they are known as conceits. The
most prominent of these describes tears in powerful,
worldly terms. They are spoken of in relation to the
“round ball” of the earth and the seas. They are also
imbued with a number of powers and features. The
speaker’s own hold of his listener’s image and his
listener’s tears have the power to drown him.

Donne’s speaker is completely consumed by the use of

tears and their effect on the world. At first, he wants to
cry and wants his listener to see him doing it. This way,
she will know he is grieving for their separation. Soon
though, he asks that all the tears stop. They are so
packed with the listener’s image and essence that their
falling degrades her, and therefore, their love as the
poem progresses, the stakes increase. By the time
Donne gets to the last lines, the couple’s tears have
the ability to “hasten” the other’s death. If one person
cries, the other will surely be caught up in the wake of
those emotions and be drowned.

Analysis of The Title

Before beginning this piece, it is important to
understand the title. This piece is not the only one of
Donne’s, which utilized the word “Valediction.” One of
his most famous and well-studied works, ‘Valediction
Forbidding Mourning,’ is just one example. The word
“valediction” is used to describe a text bidding farewell
to a specific listener. In this case, the poem is
addressed to a current lover from whom the speaker is
soon to part.

It is thought by some that this piece was written after

Donne’s secret marriage, during a period of separation.
His marriage was a topic that came up frequently within
his poetry, especially due to the repercussions it had on
his career and subsequent short imprisonment in Fleet
Prison.

Analysis of Valediction of Weeping

Stanza One

“ Let me pour forth

My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,

For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,

And by this mintage they are something worth,

For thus they be

Pregnant of thee;

Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more,

When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore,

So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse

shore.

In the first stanza of this piece, the speaker begins by

asking his listener to allow him some tears. As is
evident through the title of the poem, a parting is soon
to occur. The listener is the speaker’s lover, and this
entire piece is directed at her. She does not have a
voice in the three stanzas, although the speaker does
spend a great deal of time explaining the power she
has over him. From these lines, mostly present in the
second stanza, one can imagine the role she had in his
life.

The couple has a very limited amount of time left

together, and so the speaker asks that he be allowed
to cry “whilst” he is still there. He wants to make sure
she sees his anguish. He refers to his own tears as
having their source in the listener’s own face. Her
visage, heart, and spiritual being “coins them” or
creates them. When they roll down his cheeks, they
bear the “stamp” of the listener. She is the creator and
subject matter of his grief. This is an example of one of
the clever metaphysical conceits Donne is known for
employing. He adds that it is only due to their origin,
the listener’s face, that they are “something worth.”
The “worth” the tears posses soon falls into question.

He continues on, speaking about the coin-tears as

being “pregnant” with the listener. They are filled with
her being as if they are true spawns of her own being.
The metaphor of production continues and expands.
Now though, the tears are now more like fruit than they
are coins. They are representative of the speaker’s
current grief and are a signal that there’s a great deal
more grief beneath the surface.

The listener is so much a part of the speaker’s tears

that when they fall down his face, she falls too. At the
same time, the tears are separating from the speaker.
This changes their essence, making them worthless.
They are no longer a part of him. Their future is playing
out in the worthless nature of the fallen tears. Soon
enough, the two will be on “diverse shore[s],” separate,
and therefore “nothing.”

Stanza Two

“ On a round ball

A workman that hath copies by, can lay

An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,

And quickly make that, which was nothing, all;

So doth each tear

Which thee doth wear,

A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,

Till thy tears mix’d with mine do overflow

This world; by waters sent from thee, my heaven

dissolved so.

The second stanza is the most complex of the three.

Here, the speaker begins by referring to “a round ball.”
This is a reference to the earth, in particular, a globe
created by a “workman.” It is on a smaller scale, and
therefore, it is easy for him to “lay / An Europe, Afric,
and an Asia” on its surface. The ability to create,
discover, and explore these places turn “nothing” into
“all.” With what seems like a detour from the main
point of the poem, the speaker compares the globe
without the continents to the globe. When the
landmasses are present on the surface, the sphere has
meaning. But, before they are placed, or if they are
removed, they are “nothing.” This is exactly how the
speaker sees his and the listener’s tears.

Just as the craftsman can build up his world with the

additions of lands, the tears increase on the listener’s
face. They, too, are like a “world” or “globe.” When
they are numerous enough, they combine with the
speaker’s and “overflow.” They become too much for
either of them to bear, leading to disastrous
consequences for them both. The unification of their
mutual tears has a greater impact than the speaker’s
lone grief. They mix and then dissolve again. Donne’s
speaker’s happiness is always on the verge of being
created and destroyed.

Stanza Three

“ O more than moon,

Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere,

Weep me not dead, in thine arms, but forbear

To teach the sea what it may do too soon;

Let not the wind

Example find,

To do me more harm than it purposeth;

Since thou and I sigh one another’s breath,

Whoe’er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other’s

death.

The final stanza of the poem begins with a reference to

another globe, the moon. He states that his lover is
“more than the moon” to him. At the same time, she
has powers similar to those the moon possesses. He is
somewhat afraid of what she, or his love for her, will do
to him. He asks her not to “Draw…up seas to drown
[him] in [her] sphere.” The speaker knows that he will
not survive if he is consumed by the seas or the
listener’s own tears. They are too powerful.

The speaker is very much against crying by this point

in the poem. He asks the listener to try not to cry as
well as it will only do him harm. They should keep their
tears in, and she should not accidentally, or on
purpose, teach the sea and wind to seek him out.
These elements would also bring about his end as he
travels.

It is interesting to analyze the amount of power he

bequeaths the listener with. She has the ability to
destroy him with a simple word to “the sea” or “the
wind.” As stated above, lines such as these are the
only information the reader receives about the listener
as a person. Donne’s speaker’s monologue does not
allow for any other voices, so one must make do with
what he chose to reveal about her, and they’re
dynamic.

In the final lines, the speaker summarizes the main

point of the previous lines. He does not believe that
grief, or the expression of grief, will do either of them
any good. In fact, he thinks that if one of them gives in
to grieving, it will hasten the “other’s death.”

Similar Poetry
Readers who enjoyed ‘Valediction of Weeping’ should
also consider reading some of Donne’s other best-
known poems. For example, ‘A Valediction: Forbidding
Mourning,‘ ‘Batter my Heart,’ and ‘Death, be not
Proud.‘ The two latter poems are part of Donne’s series
of Holy Sonnets. The latter describes death not as
something to be feared but as something that should
be confronted. ‘Batter my Heart’ is Holy Sonnet 14. In
it, he calls upon God to take hold of him and fill him
with faith. ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ is one of
Donne’s best poems. In it, he describes the spiritual
and transcendent love that Donne and his wife Anne
shared.

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma graduated from East
Carolina University with a BA
in English, minor in Creative
Writing, BFA in Fine Art, and
BA in Art Histories. Literature is one of her
greatest passions which she pursues through
analyzing poetry on Poem Analysis.

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