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Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

08英语师范（1）周帆32

John Donne (1572–1631), born in a Roman Catholic family, received his education at Oxford and Cambridge and later studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. He was a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works, notable for their realistic and sensual style, include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, compared with that of his contemporaries. He is famous for his Holy Sonnets.

The following is one of his love poems:

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

As virtuous men pass mildly away,

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say,

The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,

T’were profanation of our joys

To tell the laiety our love.

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Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

Moving of th’earth brings harms and fears, 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

Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

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.

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.

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Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if th’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

Lik e th’other foot, obliquely run

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.

This poem was published after his death in 1633. It has nine quatrains. One

quatrain is a stanza that consists of four lines. It is written in iambic pentameter, and is one of the most beautiful love poems. The title A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning reflects the content of the piece: a farewell. At that time, his wife was pregnant, so Donne wrote this love poem to his wife as a comfort before he left for France with his

boss. This article firstly analyses conceits in the poem and how conceits help poet

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Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

develop the poem. Then, it tells the development of the poem. L astly, it’s the t opic of the poem and the conclusion.

The poem begins with the image of men passing away. The separation of his body and soul is so gentle that friends around him cannot tell if they are alive or dead. The poem says the lovers should depart without noise for fear of disclosing the quality of the love. This is the first reason to forbid mourning. The second one is offered in a comparative and contrasting metaphor. When an earthquake is coming, small cracks form in the ground; people regard it as ominous, but when planets move apart, though the distance is great, people think it is harmless. John Donne uses earthquakes as a metaphor for the separation of lovers. Similar to earthquakes, lovers fear separation because of their composition of sensory and sensual perceptions. However, lovers who are spiritually and physically in love are less troubled by separation. Like the separation of planets, their souls remain one until their bodies are reunited. Another metaphor is given to strengthen that idea: The separation of lovers is similar to gold stretching thin, but not breaking. The last reason is performed by using a compass as a metaphor to describe the association between lovers. Although lovers keep their souls, they are divided into two parts, similar to that of a compass. The compass is linked at the top, and works in unison. When the compass draws a circle, one point remains stationary in the centre, the other will complete its circuit. The same as the compass, if one of the lovers remains home, it ensures the return of the other. Since the lover will return home, mourning is no need and inappropriate.

The circle is a traditional symbol of love. Since it has neither beginning nor end, Donne should reunite with his wife at the end of his travel. A compass has one fixed leg and the other one moves. The soul of Donne’s wife is compared to the fixed foot of

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Appreciation of the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

the compass and Donne’s soul is compared to the foot that moves. But like the fixed leg leans towards the leg which moves around the centre, her soul, thought and emotions lean towards his soul wherever it is. His soul will wander as he travels but will move toward her and eventually return to its usual position as he returns home. So no matter how far he leaves away from her, the path of his travel will always lead back to her where he began. Just like a compass is fixed by the centre foot, the other foot completes the three hundred and sixty degree circle by returning to the point where it began”. “Thy firmness makes my circle just and makes me end, where I bega n”

The poem explains that he has to spend time apart from his wife, but before he leaves, he tells her that their farewell should not become the reason for mourni …… 此处隐藏：5824字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……