A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning | Style
Donne constructs “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” in nine four-line stanzas, called quatrains, using a four-beat, iambic tetrameter line. The rhyme scheme for each stanza is an alternating abab, and each stanza is grammatically self-contained. This simple form is uncharacteristic for Donne, who often invented elaborate stanzaic forms and rhyme schemes. Its simplicity, however, permits the reader more readily to follow the speaker’s complicated argument.
The first two stanzas argue that the speaker and his love should separate quietly—as quietly as righteous men...
[The entire page is 153 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Tell a friend about A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning at eNotes.
