Valediction of Weeping

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  • Valediction of Weeping
    • Structure
      • ABBACCDDD ; ABBA has Petrarchan sonnet connotations. The couplet and triple rhyme indicate a strong arguement
      • meter change on short lines- draws attention to them; 'for thus they be/ pregnant of thee' - each makes a poignant point.
    • Imagery
      • Pregnant of thee = fertility. An attractive quality in a woman.
      • Exotic; 'fruits' would have been rare and tropical at the time- imported from foreign lands- gives tears value and excitement.
      • 'Emblems of more' (her) 'falls'- 'nothing' = Tears (she) will break when they fall so will be nothing when parted. Word 'nothing' has emotional impact. Nothing = no tears = no poem.
      • Religion; 'my heaven dissolved so' - she is his heaven and God (worships her). 'Do not... drown me in thy sphere' she controls his world as moons controls tides. Implies she is more powerful than the moon as she drowns worlds.
      • Gender; 'in thine arms' makes him vulnerable
    • Techniques
      • Enjambment; 'can lay/ an europe' 'overflow/this world'. Continuous like his tears that 'pour'. Structural elements reflect imagery/ meaning.
      • Hyperbole 'O more than moon' 'weepe me not dead in thine arms' 'drown me in they sphere'- convention. Trying to flatter someone? Adds emotional weight.
      • Lists; 'Europe, Afric and an Asia' quickens pace and conveys excitement.
    • AO4
      • Petrarchan convention of 'tears' 'winds' and 'sighs'. Donne conform s to convention which is unusual.
      • Discovery; 'divers shore' = foreign country- world bigger then so further away than now (means of transport)
        • Cartography was new and exciting. 'Round ball' as globe = playful/ fun. 'Copies' = Edward Cartwright worked out the maths of placing flat images onto a 3D object. Donne using modern science- metaphysical technique.
      • Noah and the Great Flood; 'overflow this world'- punishment from God to sinners. He is a sinner, she is God.
      • Neoplatonism; 'sigh one another's breath' Greek- 'soul' and 'breath' mean the same thing. Their soul's are joined, they are 'one'  and therefore breathe together.

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