A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING. by John Donne
AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."
So let us melt, and make no noise,
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers' love
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,
But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.
And though it in the centre sit,
And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne, the reassuring and loving diction and tone create the theme that love will last forever, even after one partner may die.
At first, the reader gets the feeling that one of the lovers in the poem is dying (the speaker), and that this is going to be a depressing poem about love being lost. This feeling is created by the pessimistic diction such as "sad", "harm", and "fears". However, soon you realize that the speaker is instead telling his lover that they will be together even after he dies, by saying "Though I must go, endure not a breach, but an expansion", where he is telling her than their love will grow rather than die when he is no longer with her. This gives the poem a much more uplifting mood, which in turns helps create a theme of eternal love.
The speaker also uses numeral diction like "one" and "two" specifically, which he uses to stress the fact that their souls are combined as one, which death cannot break. I also noticed the use of the analogy of one foot following the other, which I interpreted as his way of telling his lover that like that, she would one day follow him into the afterlife where they would once again be reunited. This would be a typical theme of John Donne, since he was well known for being a religious man, and this would show that he believes that he and his love will meet again in heaven.
Therefore, through John Donne's use of soothing and reassuring diction and tone, the theme of lovers being reunited after death is created in the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning".
4 comments:
Interesting commentary Laura! The most important things I think you took note of was the fact that one of the lovers, obviously the speaker, was dying. This can definitely be determined by the speaker’s word choice and the title “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", as one would must associate the word mourning with death. Also, you mentioned how the diction created a positive and uplifting mood and idea that love will last forever even though one lover was dying. I too realized that the speaker is trying to tell his lover that they will be together even after he dies, by saying "Though I must go, endure not a breach, but an expansion". This reassured the speaker’s idea of eternal love. I also liked your observation and interpretation of the analogy of the one foot following the other. I did not interpret that as being a symbol of the two lovers meeting each other again in the afterlife. Good analysis! ;)
This commentary was the typical diction commentary, which I loved Laura! Sure, you wrote about the use of words that would usually represent death and mourning, such as the poem's own title, but turning it into an love poem emphasizes the connection between the speaker and his or her lover. The footstep analogy we did not discuss in our hour, I never thought about it in the sense of her following him into the afterlife. Just so you know, the poem was actually written when Donne was scheduled to go to Europe and leave his lover behind, so it's not about mourning death, but the possibility of mourning their physical separation.
I like that word you used in describing the overall feeling here- "soothing". It changes my mind about it- I thought that the mood was more "bittersweet", but soothing-its a new take. What ame to mind when I read your blog was this image of a couple bidding each other adieu with a sunset (symbolic of the onset of a potentially ominous night) in the background, comforting each other. Your use of the word soothing conjures up comfort and security-which, in my opinion, is what the speaker is trying to instill.
This is a great commentary on the overall tone of Forbidding Mourning. you did a good job combining both Donne's use of diction and the actual content of the piece, and adding in you're own interpretation. There is good transition between the initial depressing and pessimistic tone caused by the diction, and the loving, happier tone given by the actual content.
Post a Comment