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    Summary of The Poem - Valediction

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    Sr Chandrodaya J
    This poem by John Donne uses metaphors to describe parting from his wife while going on a diplomatic mission. He tells her not to mourn their separation, comparing their love to the quiet death of a virtuous man or the invisible yet powerful movement of celestial spheres. Donne says that though their bodies will be apart, their souls will remain united, like gold that expands throughout space or the two feet of a compass eternally connected though one moves and one stays fixed. Their love transcends physical distance or time apart.

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    Summary of The Poem - Valediction

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    Sr Chandrodaya J
    6K views3 pages
    This poem by John Donne uses metaphors to describe parting from his wife while going on a diplomatic mission. He tells her not to mourn their separation, comparing their love to the quiet death of a virtuous man or the invisible yet powerful movement of celestial spheres. Donne says that though their bodies will be apart, their souls will remain united, like gold that expands throughout space or the two feet of a compass eternally connected though one moves and one stays fixed. Their love transcends physical distance or time apart.

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    John Donne

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    Summary of the Poem- Valediction

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    This poem by John Donne uses metaphors to describe parting from his wife while going on a diplomatic mission. He tells her not to mourn their separation, comparing their love to the quiet death of a virtuous man or the invisible yet powerful movement of celestial spheres. Donne says that though their bodies will be apart, their souls will remain united, like gold that expands throughout space or the two feet of a compass eternally connected though one moves and one stays fixed. Their love transcends physical distance or time apart.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    6K views3 pages

    Summary of The Poem - Valediction

    Uploaded by

    Sr Chandrodaya J
    This poem by John Donne uses metaphors to describe parting from his wife while going on a diplomatic mission. He tells her not to mourn their separation, comparing their love to the quiet death of a virtuous man or the invisible yet powerful movement of celestial spheres. Donne says that though their bodies will be apart, their souls will remain united, like gold that expands throughout space or the two feet of a compass eternally connected though one moves and one stays fixed. Their love transcends physical distance or time apart.

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    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.

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