A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
A
Valediction: Forbidding Mourning was written by John Donne, a metaphysical
British poet. This poem was written to his wife when he had to go for a
diplomatic mission to France, leaving his wife behind in England. At that time,
his wife was pregnant and unwell. She didn’t want him to go, but he had to go,
and thus this poem came into existence.
In
this poem, Donne likens the relationship between him and his wife to a
religious or spiritual bond between two souls.
Donne expresses this difference between them and other married couples
using many comparisons. Just as virtuous men don’t complain when they have to
die and leave this world behind, they should part without tears and sighing.
Making a public display of their sadness at the time of parting would do a
disservice to their love.
The
movement of the earth, such as in earthquakes, can cause harm and fear, but the
trembling of the celestial spheres such as the planets, although it is on a
much bigger scale than earthquakes, would not worry them. Other lovers, whose
love is fickle and changeable like the moon, cannot bear separation because
their love is based purely on physicality or the five senses and so consists of
sexual attraction. So, when they are physically apart from each other, they
cannot bear it.
But
the love of the poet and his wife’s is different. It is so refined and subtle
that they themselves don’t fully understand its constitution, and it’s based on
a meeting of minds as well as bodies. So they don’t care as much to be apart
from each other physically, and they are not worried about being unable to see
and touch each other’s eyes, lips, and hands.
Although
the poet has to physically leave his wife, their souls
don’t feel there’s any distance between them. It feels more like expansion as
when gold is beaten out into thin sheets, so it covers a greater area. He also
elaborates by saying that their love is like a pair of compasses where his wife
is the one in the centre, and he is the one which circles it. The legs of the compasses
are two, but
they’re a pair since they comprise the same one instrument. Though he moves
away from her, she will remain in a fixed place. She moves aslant in line with
the direction he travels. His wife remaining at home symbolizes her
faithfulness, and it enables him to travel in a perfect circle, ensuring that he
will end up right back where he had departed from and will be back with her.
