Justify the title of the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."
The definition of valediction is “the act of saying farewell." Therefore, in the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” the author is saying farewell but forbidding his beloved to mourn. In the second stanza, he says, “So let us melt, and make no noise, / No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move.” He does not want his beloved to cry copious tears for him; a quiet goodbye is enough. In the fourth stanza, the author talks about “sublunary” lovers, or lovers who are worldly as opposed to spiritual; he says they cannot admit absence. In the fifth stanza, however, he says that he and his lover are more spiritual, “But we by a love so much refined…” and then goes on to say they “care less” for physical presence. “Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.” He continues this thought in the sixth stanza when he says, “Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion.” The last three stanzas of the poem are a comparison of their souls to “twin compasses”; one stands firm while the other roams, and in the end: “Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun.” She stands firm, and this makes him return to her. Although they are apart, no mourning is necessary because their hearts are always united.
In "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," what conceit does Donne use in stanzas 7 - 9?
In John Donne's poem "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," the conceit, found in stanzas 7-9, is a compass (a tool used in geometry). Donne, who wrote this poem for his wife when he was about to go on a long trip, compares his wife's soul to "the fixed foot." Just as the fixed part of the compass is planted on the paper, so does his wife stay put. However, just as the fixed part of the compass leans a bit as the other foot leans, so does his wife lean in the same direction that he does. And when he is coming back home, his wife stands upright, just as the fixed part of a compass stands upright when the foot that moves comes closer to it. In the last stanza, Donne says that his wife will be like the fixed foot of a compass as he runs. Just as the fixed part of compass allows the other foot to draw a circle, so will his wife, who stays in place and is steadfast, allowing him to roam in a circle and then come back home.
In "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," what conceit does Donne use in stanzas 7 - 9?
John Donne cleverly uses on of the most famous of metaphysical conceits in stanza seven of "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning." A metaphysical conceit is like an extended metaphor, in which the poet compares to extremely different objects; usually the comparison involves an abstract concept or emotion, like love, and some other completely random object.
John Donne's conceit in stanza seven definitely features a completely random object to be making an appearance in a love poem-- a compass! Here, Donne compares the lovers' souls to the points of a compass:
"Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do."
Donne's elegant conceit is both ingenious and moving. He uses the
physical object to show the heart-felt closeness of the two lovers; "when the
other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it."
What is the significance of the title in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
The term "valediction" means "farewell". Thus this is a "goodbye" poem in which a lover is leaving his beloved. The departure can represent both a temporary one of the separation of living lovers but also represent the ultimate form of departure which is death.
Similarly to Donne's other poem on the same theme, "Sweetest love, I do not go", this poem suggests that true lovers should not mourn either temporary separation or the death of the beloved. The reason for "forbidding mourning" upon separation is religious.
The Reverend John Donne was a priest in the Church of England. That means that he was a dualist who believed that mind and soul were independent of the body and that the soul persisted after death. From a religious viewpoint, there are two types of love, a carnal sublunary kind (focused on "eyes, lips, and hands") and a spiritual kind. Spiritual love rather than being thwarted by absence of a lover's physical self becomes stronger, because in the absence of the physical, what remains is "so much refined" as to be purely spiritual.
What is the significance of the title in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
I would say that Donne uses this title because it sums up the point that the speaker is trying to make. It is telling the speaker's love that, although they are parting, there is no reason for sorrow because they will not truly be apart.
A valediction is a parting statement, something you say to someone as you and they are leaving one another, a farewell. So this makes sense as a title because the lovers are being separated.
But in this poem, the speaker is saying that the two of them will not really be separated because their love will keep them in touch. Therefore, the speaker is telling his love not to be sad -- he is forbidding mourning.
What comparisons are made in the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
This is a fun question because Donne's poem is nothing more than a series of comparisons, a progression of metaphors in search of the perfect metaphor for the speaker and his beloved's love. As he does in a few of his other poems (e.g., "Batter My Heart"), Donne constructs his poem as a dramatization of the difficulty of conveying this idea in words.
The dramatic setting of the poem is the speaker and his beloved about to part, presumably because he must leave on a journey while she remains at home. He wants to comfort her and to prevent her tears and concerns while they are apart.
To do this, he says tears are not appropriate for their love because it is not like ordinary love. To do this, he says their parting will be like the parting of soul from body in a virtuous man. He also says that it will be like ice that separates almost imperceptibly when melting or like the movement of planets which can be vast without causing superstitious fear (as is the case in earthquakes).
But we by a love so much refined,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
If they be two, they are two soAs stiff twin compasses are two;Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if the other do.And though it in the center 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,Like th' other foot, obliquely run;Thy firmness makes my circle just,And makes me end where I begun.
Can you explain the poem, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
This is probably the best poem for "absence makes the heart grow fonder." The speaker of the poem is trying to "forbid" his lover from "mourning" the brief separation that is about to occur. He begins by suggesting that the separation need not be a dramatic event - they can accept it calmly, as it is not a matter of terrible fortune:
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move
The speaker then speaks of dramatic events of heaven, how large and momentous they are, but how "innocent" they are as well, because people on earth can not feel their effects:
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent
He moves on to the basis of his argument, the argument for why the two lovers should not mourn their time apart. His claim is that a parting between lovers is impossible (in a metaphysical sense). He suggests first that they share a soul, because both of their souls are made of the same material and so are the same. Therefore, by sharing a soul, they can not be divided:
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.
As seen above, their souls can not be separated but only expanded with the space that divides him. He moves on to argue that, if they do indeed have two separate souls, those souls are so interconnected that the same is true - they can never really be "apart." No matter where one of them goes, the other will be a foot that grounds the other soul in place so that it may return, as in a circle:
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.
It is a clever, spiritual argument to stop the sorrow of a separation, and is an excellent example of metaphysical poetry, which mixes the spiritual with the earthly in its expression.
What is the conceit of John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
John Donne opens this poem with another conceit, and while it is not the central comparison of the poem, it does establish the point of the poem and the gives a context. Donne is telling his love that he must be away, and they will have to part soon. He tells her that he wants their parting to be as subtle as that moment between life and death. This seems like a strange comparison, hence it is considered a conceit. He elaborates how they should behave in the first two lines of the second stanza, stating he wants no outward show of their emotion upon parting. This leads to his ultimate point -- that the two of them have a love that is greater than most, and therefore, doesn't need a public display; in fact it would be debase their love.
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