Saturday 5 August 2017

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning



-- John Donne



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,
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 tears;
Men reckon  what  it  did, and meant;
But  trepidation of  the  spheres,
Though  greater  far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary  lovers;  love
whose  soul  is sense--cannot  admit
of  absence, ‘cause  it  doth  remove
The  thing  which  elemented it.

But  we  by  a  love  so much refined,
That  ourselves know  not  what  it  is,
Inter-assured of  the  mind,
Care  less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Out  two souls therefore,  which are  one, Though  I  must  go, endure  not  yet
A breach, but  an expansion,
Like  gold to aery If  they thinness beat.

If they be  two, they  are  two so
As stiff  twin compasses are  two;
Thy  soul, the  fix’d foot, makes no show
To more, but  doth, if  th’ other  do.

And though it  in the  centre  sit,
Yet, when the  other  far  doth roam,
It  leans, and hearkens  after  it,
And grows erect, as t hat  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  began.

Introduction :
A valediction Forbidding Mourningis one of the better known poems of John Donne for its conceit of the compass.  It was written in 1611.  The poem was addressed to the poet’s wife.  It was written on the occasion of the poet’s departure for France with Sir Robert Drury.  It is a typical metaphysical poem, remarkable for its ingenious comparisons, mockery of the sentiments,display of logical arguments and use of hyperbole.

Stanza1
Virtuous men are not afraid of death they pass away quietly, and gently ask their souls to depart from this world without any fret or fever, even though their friends are sad at their death,and want that they should live here for sometime more. Others do not want them to die at all.

Stanza2
Speaking to his wife the poet says that like virtuous people, let them also bid good-bye to eachother without making any noise about it.  The poet does not want to raise floods by their tearsnor tempests by their sighs.  It would be a vulgarisation of their love, to mourn and weep and inthis waytell the world of it.  Their love is something sacred and they must not defile it.  The poet is actually making fun of the ordinary lovers who often make a show off of their love.

Stanza3
Moving of the earth, as during an earth quake, bring disaster and frightens people. People calculate the damage it does. But the movement of the sun and other heavenly bodies, though much greater, causes no damage and people are not afraid of it.  Their parting is like the trepidation of the heavenly bodies and so it is not to be dreaded.

Stanza 4
Stupid, earthly lovers, who are united solely by the senses, cannot endure the absence of the object of their love. For absence removes the physical self of the beloved on which their love is based.

Stanza5
Their love is so spiritual and refined that even they themselves do not understand its real nature.  They are sure that their love will not diminish by the absence of the beloved.  Theirs is aspiritual passion that the physical self, eyes, ears, lips, hands etc do not matter at all to them.

Stanza6
Their souls are one and they are rather more strongly united by the temporary separation.The departure of the poet would not cause any breach in his love.  Rather it will expand, like gold,when beaten, does not break but expands wider and wider.

Stanza7
If their souls are considered as two, they will be like the two legs of a compass.  Her soul is the fixed foot which does not want to move itself but is made to move because the other soul (the other foot of the compass) moves.

Stanza8
The beloved is like the fixed foot of the compass which remains fixed at the centre. But it leans and follows the other foot when it moves, and grows erect and unites with the moving foot and then it returns to the starting point after completing the circle.  Similarly, his going away would be like the moving of the foot of a compass and they would be united when he returns home.

Stanza9
The beloved has the same relations with the lover as the fixed foot of the compass has with the moving foot, which moves and draws a circle.  It is the firmness of the fixed foot that enables the moving foot to draw the circle correctly, and then return to the place where it began.  Similarly, it is the firmnessof her love that enables him to complete his journey successfully and then return home.


About rhyme scheme 
The nine stanzas of this Valediction are quite simple compared to many of Donne’s poems, which utilize strange metrical patterns overlaid jarringly on regular rhyme schemes. Here, each four-line stanza is quite unadorned, with an ABAB rhyme scheme and an iambic tetrameter meter.

Questions and answers

1.“So let us melt...sigh-tempests move,” What is special about the figure of speech?The poet tells his wife not to mourn at the time of his parting.  He does not want to raise floods by their tears nor tempests by their sighs.  The poet is actually making fun of the ordinary lovers through the two powerful metaphors-“tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests”.These two metaphors are drawn from nature.

2.“Twere profanation...laity our love.”Commenton the poetic devices used in this line.
The poet says that their love is something sacred that they must not desecrate it by making a show of their sorrow at the time of his departure. It would be a vulgarisation of their love,to mourn and weep and in this way tell the world of it.

3.“Dull sublunary Lovers’ love.” Comment on the poetic devices used in this line.
           By “Dull sublunary lovers’ love’, the poet means that their love is not like that of the earthly lovers, which depends on the senses, but it is something sacred.The assonance of shot ‘u’ sounds in each word reinforces the concept of stupidity of earthly lovers, Whose amorous attachments depend on physical sensation.  The alliteration of ‘l’ in the line adds to the beauty of the poem.

4.“Dullsublunary lovers’...of absence...” Explain the brilliant pun on the word“absence”.
          The word ‘absence’ gives two meanings. It could either mean the departure of the poet which causes his absence or the absence of sensual pleasures.

5.“Our two souls...thinness beat.” Briefly explain the poetic device used.  Do you agree with Dr. Johnson’s observation that the resemblance is the result of “discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike”?
         The departure of the poet is not a breach but an expansion, like gold, which when beaten becomes enlarged.  Her love is likened to gold.  The poet makes a comparison between two apparently unlike things. So Dr. Johnson’s observation is correct.

6.“So let us melt...sigh-tempests move,’ Find the metre.
         The metre used in these linesis iambic tetrametre with the rhyme scheme abab.

7.“As  virtuous...some say, No.” What is the rhyme scheme?
The rhyme scheme is abab.

8.How can you identify a metaphysical poem?
Metaphysical poetry is characterised by the use of far-fetched imagery, abstrusive arguments, scholastic philosophical terms and suitable logic.


1. Write  a short essay on the themes of John Donne’s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning?
The  basic  themes  of  the  poem A Valediction  Forbidding Mourning
a) Love : The poem focus primarily on the true love.  The speaker defines the nature of the real love,which is powerful, unconquerable. Real love can't be defeated by distance and it doesn't fall apart at the thought of being apart.
b) Loyalty : As Donne is a religious man, he lived faithfully with his wife and her loyalty, enduring love holds their relationship together.
c) Lust: Lust is just opposite to love, that is lust want to take and love want to give. Lust is connected with earthly or physical attraction but love is something divine which continue even after apart.
d) Spirituality: Donne was obsessed with the central contrast between body and soul, life and death, heaven and earth. In this poem he transcends the body to soul. Spiritual  love  is  not  affected  by separation  for it  is  not  confined  to  the senses.
e) Separation and reunion : The poem concentrate on the physical separation and the union of true lovers and he brings by saying that earthly love will breaks  and cracks  when  there  is  separation. The poet  says  that  their  love  will  expand even they are far away.

2. What features  of  Donne’s A Valediction  Forbidding  Mourning make it a metaphysical poem?
A metaphysical conceit is just like a metaphor that it is an attempt to connect two unlike things by some common spealitiy with extreme idea.This  poem is  a typical  metaphysical  poem, which is remarkable for its sentiments, display  of logical fetched  imagery, abstrusive arguments and made ingenious comparisons, mockery of the arguments and use of hyperbole. The  conceit  of  the compass  is very significant in the poem.Donne claims that his wife is like the centre fixed foot of the compass that stays rooted while the other foot runs around it.The centre foot remains right there by providing stability and certainly to complete the circle. Similarly,it  is  the firmness  of  her  love  that  enables  him  to complete  his  journey successfully  and then  return  home.

Write  an essay  of  300  words

1. Attempt  a  critical  appreciation  of  John Donne’s A Valediction  Forbidding what are your  views  on  the  metaphysical  elements in  the  poem?
A Valediction  Forbidding  Mourning Mourning is  one  of  the  better  known poems  of  Donne  for  its  conceit  of the compass. It  is  a  typical  metaphysical poem  which  was  addressed  to  the  poet’s wife. It  was written on the  occasion  of  the poet’s  departure  for  France  with  Sir Robert  Drury.

The poem expresses Donne’s positive attitude  towards  love. The  basic  theme  of the  poem  is  the  union  of  true  lovers even  when  they  are  physically  separated. The poet piles up  a  number  of arguments to  prove  the  point, and  thus he persuade his  beloved  not to  grieve  at  the  time of his  departure  for  France. Donne  says to his  wife  that  like  the  virtuous people, let them  also  accept  their  separation  quietly with  no  tears  or  sighs.

 Donne  is  poking  fun at the  idea that  tears  would  cause  a  flood, or turbulence  of  deep  sigh  is  sufficient  to let  loose  a tempest. The  poet  says  that their  love  is  something  spiritual  and  so the  physical  separation  that  they  endure is  not  be  dreaded. Only the earthly love will breaks  and  cracks  when there  is separation. Their  love fined  that it  is  not dependent  on physical  sensation.

The  poet  further  says  that  love  has fused their  two  souls  into  one. Therefore, even if  he  has  to  go away,  their  souls would not  be  separated.  His  absence  would  not cause  any  breach  in  their  love. Rather, his  going  away,  only  means  that  their love  would  cover  a  larger  area,  just  as gold,  when beaten,  does  not  break  but expands  wider  and  wider.

Metaphysical means which is beyond physical - the immortal soul and the existence of a supreme being. Donne employs the famous metaphysical  conceit of  the compass  to prove  the  nature  of their love. They  are  like  the  two  legs  of  a compass. She  is  like  the  fixed  foot of  the compass  which  remains  fixed  at  the centre. But  it  leans  and  follows  the  other foot  when  it moves,  and  grows  erect  and unites with the moving foot when it returns to the starting point after completing  the circle. Similarly  it  is  the  firmness  of  her love  that  enables  him  to  complete  his journey successfully and then return home.

The poem is  a typical metaphysical poem with  its  brilliant use of an array of poetic techniques such  as  metaphor,  paradox, simile,  conceit,  alliteration  and  rhyme scheme,  with  objects  and  ideas drawn from  a wide spectrum of knowledge, life astronomy, metallurgy, geology and geometry.

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