Valediction

Valediction

John Donne’s poem, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is about two lovers who are separating and the speaker of the poem says a goodbye should not be an occasion to mourn because their love is divine and spiritual, not only physical. The poem contains nine stanzas and one unifying element throughout: love that holds its strength even through separation in relation to both body and soul. From the beginning, the poem develops closely reasoned arguments or propositions that rely heavily on the use of the 1) conceit- an extended metaphor that draws an imaginative parallel between apparently dissimilar situations or objects. In the poem conceit becomes a vehicle for multiple meaning of sometimes contradictory, feelings and ideas. Also, the mainly 2) iambic tetrameter poem consists of concise verses, with a regular rhythm in each line, creating an atmosphere of calmness and comfort. 3) The heavy use of imagery, diction and rhyme schemes throughout the poem and especially in the first two stanzas, lead to several possible interpretations on poem's distinct meaning. While the simple understanding of the poem’s theme would be about two lovers separating for a little while, could the text actually hint at a totally different meaning? Could the poem actually be, as its title and the first stanza predict, about the death of one of the lovers and thus the permanent separation?

The poem begins with a metaphysical comparison between virtuous dying men whispering to their souls to leave their bodies and two lovers saying goodbye:

“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.” In this extended metaphor, the speaker compares temporary separation from his love to the separation of a man's soul from his body when he dies. The body represents physical love; the soul represents spiritual and transcending love. While the two lovers are apart, they cannot express physical love; thus, they are like the body of the dead man. However, they remain united spiritually and intellectually because their souls are one. But this separation must be accepted in the same way that virtuous dying men quietly accept the separation of their souls from their bodies. Furthermore, perhaps the mention of death in this first stanza may introduce a sense of immortality in the love that binds the two of them.

On the other hand, the next extended metaphor in the second stanza claims their separation is not short while but even though, their love would still be profound even when they pass away:

“So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-temptests move,

T’were profanation of our joys

To tell the laity of our love.” The word “melt” implies a change in physical state like when one of the lovers dies and the body changes its form back to the dust of the earth. The physical bond of the lovers will dissolve quietly like the soul of a dying man separating from his body. The speaker hopes that when it is time to separate for them at his deathbed he will take it as calmly as other virtuous men have done it before him. “Noise” refers to “tear floods” and “sigh tempests” that the speaker implores his love not to release at their farewell. While the physical bond that unites them melts, they should not cry or show emotions like at a funeral because doing so would profane the eternal love, making it depend entirely on flesh, as does the love of laity people for whom love does not extend beyond physical attraction. Thus, the direct tying of death into their separation implies that one of the lovers is dying and to comfort his beloved he proclaims his eternal love to her.

There is yet another parallel that can be drawn from the first and second stanzas to tie the ambiguity of mortal and physical separation. In the poem the speaker describes that like the soul detaches from the body and resides in a higher plane so does their “much refined” love. This love is so virtuous it does not need to be shown only by the physical