A Valediction: Forbidding Mourningby John Donne

Introducing the Poem

Literary Focus: Metaphysical Conceits

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A Valediction: Forbidding Mourningby John Donne

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

Parting is all we know of heaven,And all we need of hell.

—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

The emotional goodbye scene is a common fixture in film and literature.

What are some famous goodbye scenes you have read or watched? What makes them so memorable?

“Farewell, My Love”

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

Donne uses elegant imagery and figures of speech to express what a strong and complete union these two people have.

The speaker in this poem must depart from his beloved. He asks her to be strong and to behave with quiet dignity as they part.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

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“like gold to airy thinness”

“as stiff twin compasses”

Metaphysical conceit—a complex and clever figure of speech that makes a surprising comparison between two dissimilar things

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Literary Focus: Metaphysical Conceits

A man is a world.

Lovers are holy saints.

A lover’s tears are newly minted coins.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Literary Focus: Metaphysical Conceits

The metaphysical poets used conceits to conduct analytical investigations of love and life.

Try to figure out what two things are being compared in this stanza from another of Donne’s poems:

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,Each fish, which every channel hath,Will amorously to thee swim,Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

—John Donne, from “The Bait”

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” contains one of the most famous of all metaphysical conceits:

A Valediction: Forbidding MourningLiterary Focus: Metaphysical Conceits

Can you think of any ways in which a husband and wife might be like a compass?

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The speaker and his beloved are compared to the two prongs of a compass.