Preview

Valediction Forbidding Mourning

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
702 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Valediction Forbidding Mourning
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning Analysis

In the poem “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”, by John Donne, it is about a man who is saying goodbye to his lover as he is about to leave. Donne is trying to make his departure easier for his lover so he writes her a poem. He uses many different literary elements to enrich his poem and make it more compelling to the reader. He uses onomatopoeia, syntax, euphemism, and similes to inform the reader about his love. This helps the speaker compare his love to life like features to show how deeply he is in love.
Donne first tells his lover that he will not be gone forever. He explains how “virtuous men pass mildly’ away.” What Donne is saying is that his lover has to be able to accept the fact that he is leaving. Just like someone has to accept death. In most cases people do not make the choice to die. It is something that happens to everyone and there is nothing to do to stop it. So overall, Donne is telling his lover that his exit is going to happen.
Donne later explains to his lover how people are worried about the earth’s rotation. He uses this connection to show how his lover does not have to worry. Donne informs his lover how, “Trepidation of the spheres/ Though greater far, is innocent.” In other words Donne is saying that his lover fears him going away, but she shouldn’t because he will return. What this means is that her worrying is pointless. She fears something that is naturally occurring. Her fear of him leaving is not worth worrying about because he will return.
Donne compares his love to gold in the 6th stanza. He states that their love is not “a breach, but an expansion.” The meaning of this is that their love will never fall apart, only expand. He is saying that no matter how far they are away from each other, they will always be together. Donne compares this to gold because when it is stretched it expands, it will not break. So he compares his love to this because their love will never break.
In

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    john donne and w;t

    • 786 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Before Donne changed to his Protestant Christian faith in 1601 he believed that the meaning of life was through love. Donne ignores the reality of love and instead writes about what is outside reality, the metaphysical. In 1601 Donne secretly married a young seventeen-year-old girl by the name of Anne More. Donne wrote about how the love between him and his wife would go past this life and travel with them to the afterlife. After her death, Donne wrote “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” which describes his undying love for her. Donne made sure that his audience understood the significance of relationships, through the self-importance of "twin compasses"," thy soul, the fix'd foot", "making my circle perfect". The 17th century context is reflected in the representation of circular perfection which lifts the status of relationships. The purity of this love is also emphasised by the use of theological reference within “The Relique” with the mention of “the last busy day” and “Mary Magdelen”. As a result it is through Donne’s contextual connections within “The Relique” and “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” that one’s understanding of his poems can be developed along with the recurring theme of love.…

    • 786 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A text is essentially a product of its context, as its prevailing values are inherently derived by the author from society. However, the emergence of post-modern theories allows for audience interpretation, thus it must be recognised that meaning in texts can be shaped and reshaped. Significantly, this may occur as connections between texts are explored. These notions are reflected in the compostion of Edson’s W;t and Donne’s poetry as their relationship is established through intertextual references, corresponding values and ideas and the use of language features. Edson particularly portrays key values surrounding the notions of the importance of loved based relationships, and death and resurrection: central themes of Donne’s Holy Sonnets and Divine Poems. The purpose of these authors distinctly correlate as each has attempted to provide fresh insight into the human condition by challenging prevalent ideals. Thus, Edson incorporates Donne’s work to illuminate both explicit and implicit themes, creating an undeniable condition.…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In your answer you should consider the ways in which Donne and Jennings use form, structure and language to present their thoughts and ideas. You should make relevant references to your wider reading in the poetry of love (40 marks).…

    • 2003 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Consider the ways in which Donne and Jennings use form, structure and language to present their thoughts and ideas. You should make relevant references to your wider reading in the poetry of love.…

    • 1834 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry essay

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The poet also uses imagery such as ‘lakes and ‘swans’, to symbolise the peacefulness, and also to symbolise love. You notice words that show the subject is not alone, with ‘we’ and ‘our’. These words and also the motion of the swans, the lake, and the peacefulness are foreshadowing that the poem will take a turning onto love that is more literate. However I don’t think that the poems theme is so much about love in particular, but about a natural love, a natural pull that brings two people together even after hard times.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    JOHN Donne's view of death is not one of a cynic. He is a man who regards death not as the final battle of life, but rather in the Christian sense, of it being just a transfer of the soul from the earthly plain to its final destination. He considers death not to be an event to be held in fear, but one that is to be understood.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Change In Edson's Poems

    • 2452 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Donne’s poems are interesting in the way they often present an ongoing thought process, rather than a story with a distinct beginning and end. Donne being from the literary culture; many of his poems reflect this mid-way change of heart, as he is comfortable dealing in ongoing reflection and experience, rather than static facts. One of Donne’s love poems, ‘The Sunne Rising’ centres around Donne, in bed with his lover, annoyed at the sun for disturbing their slumber. “Busie old foole, unruly Sunne” he writes. Donne, in personifying the sun, and describing such a thing in paradox (“unruly sun”), supports the idea that literary culture places more emphasis on emotion and description than logical fact. The structure of ideas throughout the poem thereafter is fluid. Donne is initially annoyed at the sun for its punctuality, saying that a love like his knows no time, and the sun would be better off chastising late schoolboys. As the poem progresses, Donne goes from annoyance, to mocking the sun's supposed power (“Thy beames, so reverend… I could eclipse then with a winke”), to then feeling content, and almost bad for the sun. Donne writes “Thou sunne are halfe as happy’as wee, in that the world’s contracted thus”, in which he is stating that the poor, old sun must have an easier job shining down on him and his lover, as their entire world is confined to each other. It is this notion of fluidity of ideas that further reflects the literary culture of Donne’s poems. He uses his writings, not to record tangible fact and feeling, but to support the idea that both his thoughts, and the subjects of his writing, can easily be written flexibly, as they are both…

    • 2452 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dominance represented after this shift is supported by “wee wake eternally,”(13). We can infer Donne knows there is an afterlife and that after a short pass of intermission, one wakes up to a better life. The memory of the deceased is to live on not only in memory, but their souls releasing. Donne becomes hostile after the shift, referring to death as a “slave,”(9) dictated by “Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,”(10). Death cannot do things itself. Death is a manipulated idea that is thought to control your life when in reality it is weak, persuading others to do the work for it. Donne concludes the poem “death, thou shalt die,”(14). No longer is death killing creatures, but creatures defeating death by not being scared and accepting that it is all natural processes.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Donne and W; T Speech

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Donne’s poetry attempt to answer the mere impossible questions of life, death and love in eccentric and unexpected chains of reasoning, his complex figure of speech, elaborate imagery and bizarre metaphors creates a sense of vibrancy for the reader as they become enthralled in the emotions and meanings behind his poems.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Donne’s was born in a devout Roman Catholic household and therefore, it could be said that his view of death was based on the belief of life after death. In addition, he claims that one should be aware of death and not fear it for ‘perchance he for whom this bell tolls’ implying that through God’s translators you are to realize when the bell tolls for one self. ‘God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice ( … ).’ It could be remarked that he explains that God brings death to one’s attention through his translators so that one can be aware of his coming death and understand that death is part of the cycle.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the whole poem, Donne is trying to tell people that they shouldn’t fear death at all. He is just saying that death is just a fear that we all have to overcome. Death isn’t a hard thing to overcome at all. As long as you have the help to overcome it, death will just be something that you overcame. Once you don’t fear death anymore, it can’t scare you anymore.…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When study this text it is evident to the reader to see the symbolism of the bell, which is a constant representation of death during his time, along with the emotional influence it takes on Donne. It can be confusing to…

    • 786 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Death

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the first poem, “Death, Be Not Proud,” Donne describes death as a lowly figure that deserves no respect at all. That no one is afraid of death, but welcomes it as it brings us a satisfying state of everlasting sleep. It is just one aspect of life and something that everyone must experience. Donne even goes so far as to say that there are things other than death that make us sleep just as well, if not better, as stated in the line “And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well.” In the end we will actually defeat death itself when we pass over into eternal life and there will be no more death, “And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!” He feels sorry for death because it will be what is ultimately dead and not us. The overall theme of this poem is to embrace death and not be afraid of it.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meditation 17.

    • 585 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Donne uses a book as a metaphor, with man as a chapter for every part of the book and God is the author. Donne believes God controls everything and everything happens for a reason. Donne then states, "God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation." The translations of age, sickness, war, and justice are all things that can cause death. In that case, these elements can translate human beings into spirits of heaven or to anywhere else God chooses to send them.…

    • 585 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Love In The Odyssey

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages

    While Donne appears to hold a holistic, unified view of love, undivided by the physical and made whole by the spiritual, the body of the woman is ironically the real obstruction of the abstract. Donne discards human bodies for celestial figures: “..free spheres move faster far than can/Birds whom the air resists…” (Lines 87-88). Air is yet another element that taints and obstructs the ‘free sphere’, yet it is vital to note the similar inhumanity of the poet in being described as a bird. Instead, both lovers described as celestial ‘spheres’ denotes transcendence from earthly ties, advancing instead along an “empty and ethereal way” (Line 89). Love, in its emptiest form, also appears at its purest. However, transformation of the poet, framed as the epic hero, prevents Donne from having a firmer grasp on pure…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays