John Donne- A Valediction: forbidding Mourning

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  • Donne wrote the poem to his wife, Anne More, who was heavily pregnant, in 1611 or 1612. The theme of parting from a lover is explored in ‘A Valediction: forbidding Mourning.’
  • Knowledge of biographical context will heighten understanding of the poem. The word ‘valediction’ is defined as, “a statement or address made at or as a farewell.”
  • Donne wrote the poem in 1611-12 and addresses his wife Anne More before he leaves to go on a trip to Continental Europe with Sir Robert Drury.
  • In a letter to Henry Goodyer, Donne described his regret at any separation from his “dear children” and his “utterly devoted wife” whom he calls “hujus aurea” (“this golden one”).
  • During Donne’s trip Anne miscarried - an event about which Walton says the poet suffered a “dreadful vision” of her with their stillborn child.
  • The poem is written in the form of nine four-line stanzas. Throughout the poem, Donne asserts his ideal of spiritual love.
  • Donne draws a parallel between the parting of the lovers and the leave-taking of “virtuous men,” who “pass mildly away” in death.
  • He asks and advises his wife to emulate the behaviour of the “sad friends” of virtuous men, hoping that she will “make no noise,/No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move”.
  • The poet warns against desecration or defilement of their love: “’Twere profanation of our joys/To tell the laity our love.”
  • Donne draws a distinction between “Dull sublunary lovers’ love” and the spiritual “refined” love that he and Anne More experience.
  • He cautions his wife against replication of the thoughts and feelings of “Dull sublunary” lovers, men and women who are senseless of the unseen motions of the spheres but for whom “Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears”.
  • Donne creates a stately rhythmic structure of iambic tetrameters to assuage his wife’s sorrow at their…

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