A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' (1633) is a poem by the metaphysical poet John Donne. The central conceit compares two lovers to the legs of a drafting compass. Written by Donne shortly before an extended trip away from his wife, Anne, the poem is considered a classic of its genre.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': John Donne

John Donne was born into a Roman Catholic family in London in 1572. At the time, being Catholic was outlawed, and members of his family were persecuted for their beliefs. Donne’s father, who was also named John, was an iron merchant. He died when Donne was a young child. Donne's mother, Elizabeth Heywood, later remarried a wealthy physician, John Syminges.

Donne attended Oxford University for three years, but due to his Catholicism, he was unable to be awarded his degree. He later converted to Anglicanism after being secular for some time.

In his youth, Donne had a reputation for being a womaniser. He also spent most of his inheritance travelling the European continent, where he studied political systems and fought in a few wars. On his return to England, he worked for a group of barristers and then became the secretary to Lord Thomas Egerton, Keeper of the Seal. His promising political career ended when he secretly married Anne More, the 17-year-old daughter of one of Lord Egerton's relatives. Donne was temporarily jailed and fired from his job.

Donne and Anne moved to the countryside, where he wrote prose and poetry but remained largely unemployed for a decade. His poetry was shared and carefully copied amongst his friends and associates but never officially published during his lifetime. In 1615, King James I requested that Donne take Holy Orders, so he became an Anglican priest. In 1617, Anne died in childbirth. Donne never remarried. By 1621, he had been elected Dean of St Paul's and became well known for his sermons.

Fig. 1 - John Donne is a metaphysical poet who uses conceits to convey intense feelings of love and religious devotion.

After his years as a poet who wrote poems full of contradictions about politics, religion, love, and lust, Donne became the most famous cleric of his age. His religious sermons and prose were widely read but are less well-known than his poems today.

Donne died in 1631. His poems were published after his death, and he was categorised as a metaphysical poet by the critic Samuel Johnson. Johnson was not a fan of metaphysical poetry, and it was only later in the 20th century that poets like T.S. Eliot took inspiration from the genre. This helped to establish it as a more famous style of poetry in the modern era.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': summary

Donne wrote this poem shortly before he went on an extended trip to France. It is thought to be for his wife, Anne.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': poem

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' is considered one of the most famous metaphysical poems and uses various metaphors as well as a central conceit.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': structure

The poem is written in Iambic tetrameter and Trochaic tetrameter, creating a sense of uniform rhythm but with a few subtle variations of emphasis. You can find an example of the reversed stress order in the first line of the third stanza. In this line, the word 'moving' is stressed, creating a change in rhythm to mimic a movement.

Donne uses a consistent rhyme scheme of ABAB throughout the poem.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': tone

As a metaphysical poem, 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' has a few layers of tonality. The speaker is serious and a little melancholic about having to be separated from his lover for a short time. He is also optimistic about their ability to remain connected while physically apart.

For its time, the poem was not melodramatic in tone, although it may seem that way to more modern readers.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': themes

The poem, as is common with Donne’s poetry, has themes of death, love, and spirituality. Let's take a look at these in more detail.

Death

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' opens with reference to the deaths of virtuous men. The speaker implies that men of virtue do not fight against death; rather, they die quietly. He alludes that he and his lover should approach their separation similarly.

Although the subject of death can be a morbid subject depending on the approach, in this example, it is used to promote a Carpe Diem line of thought. Carpe Diem poetry was popular during the time that Donne wrote 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' and tends to reference death as a way to promote enjoying life in the moment.

Love and spirituality

The speaker uses an extended metaphor called a conceit to link the two lovers to the idea of a drafting compass. The lovers are described as being connected, like the legs of a compass. Although the legs of the compass can move apart from each other, they always remain connected. The speaker infers that the two lovers will remain connected, despite the physical distance between them.

He describes his lover as the 'fixed foot' who keeps him stable as he moves around or 'roams'. Taken literally, this could imply that her staying put allows him to roam but that if she were to roam, the conceit would not hold up.

'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning': poetic devices

Donne makes use of the famous compass conceit in this metaphysical poem as well as several other devices. These poetic devices collectively create the tone, rhythm, and meaning of the poem.

Conceit

The use of the extended metaphor or conceit in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' occurs later in the poem, which is usual for a metaphysical example. Only showing up in line 26 of the 36-line poem, this conceit is central to understanding the meaning of the poem.

The drafting compass is not a typical comparison or metaphor to use when writing poems about love, lovers, or even temporary separation. It is the unusual nature of the comparison that makes it a conceit.

Fig. 2 - The conceit in 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' compares two lovers to a compass.

Metaphors

In the first stanza, death and ways of dying are used as a metaphor for the different ways to express love. The speaker likens the love he shares with his lover to a mild death, implying it is not grandiose.

The speaker then switches to weather metaphors. Weather, specifically extreme weather, is used to contrast lesser love with the speaker's love. 'Floods' and 'tempests' are used to represent exaggerated or shallow displays of love.