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Summary ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ (John Donne)
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‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ (John Donne)
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Form and structure 1The nine stanzas of this
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Valediction are quite simple
compared to many of Donne’s
poems, which utilize strange
by John Donne metrical patterns overlaid
jarringly on regular rhyme
schemes. Here, each four-line
Summary stanza is quite unadorned, with
an ABAB rhyme scheme and an
The poem begins with the speaker iambic tetrameter meter.
describing the death of a virtuous man. He
goes to the afterlife peacefully, so much so
that his friends are not sure if he is dead or
not. Donne compares this kind of peaceful
"A Valediction:
parting to the way he and his wife will
Forbidding Mourning"
separate. Rather than throwing an
is a metaphysical
emotional fit, as a shallow couple would,
poem
they “melt” from one another.
Rhyme
The lines of each four-line stanza in the poem rhyme in an
abab rhyme scheme.
John Donne wrote “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
on his separation from his wife, Anne, on diplomatic
business. The poem concerns what happens when two
lovers must part and explains the spiritual unification that
makes this particular parting essentially unimportant.
, STANZA 1 2
The speaker begins with an image of death. He is speaking on the death of a man
who is “virtuous.” Due to his good nature, his death comes peacefully. Donne
compares dying in this instance to “whisper[ing]” one’s soul away. There is nothing
traumatic about it. “Whisper” is a perfect example of onomatopoeia. The word
sounds or resembles the noise it represents. The dying man is not alone. There are
“sad friends” around his bed who are unable to decide whether the man is dead.
His final moments are so peaceful that there is no sign to tell the onlookers the end
has come. They speak to one another, asking if “The breath goes now” or not.
STANZA 2
The second stanza might come as something of a surprise to readers unused to
Donne’s complicated use of conceit. Rather than explaining what the first stanza
was all about, it adds additional information. The speaker is comparing the
peaceful death of a virtuous man to the love he shares with the intended listener.
When they separate, they do so without the “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests” of
the shallow. Donne’s speaker sees the way other partners are around one
STANZA 3 another and knows his relationship is better.
The third stanza introduces another image He and his partner would never be so crass as to expose their emotions to the
of a natural disaster, the “Moving of the’ “laity” or common people. It is something they keep to themselves. He states that
earth” or an earthquake. It is something it would be a “profanation” or disgrace to their “joy” to expose it. They will “make
unexpected and unexplained. no noise” and remain on the high ground above those involved in lesser loves.
Earthquakes also bring along “harms and
fears.” These lines have been added to
emphasize the absurdity of making a big
deal over the speaker’s departure.
Here the speaker is describing their
“trepidation,” or shaking. It is a greater
shaking than that which an earthquake is
able to inflict, but it is unseen, innocent. This
is another metaphor for how the speaker
sees his relationship. It is not the showy
earthquake but the much more powerful
shaking of the celestial spheres.
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