This poem's meaning is in its title: A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Vale= Latin for "farewell" and Diction= "speaking". Thus, "A speaking farewell but forbidding mourning". Knowing this, the first line of the poem makes so much more sense. In this first stanza, Donne writes of a funeral. Virtuous men pass mildly away into the next life because they do not fear what is on the other side. They are virtuous, true, and God-fearing and well-behaved. In fact, they pass away so mildly that the people in the room argue about the exact moment of passing--"Whilst some of their sad friends do say, The breath goes now, and some say, No".
So, as they leave without fear of the future, so must the speaker of the poem and his wife leave one another without fear of their future.
In the remainder of the poem, he assures his wife that they are not the normal lovers--they are connected in more ways than just the physical. They are connected mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Therefore, a brief absence will not cause their relationship to be damaged in any way, but only make it stronger.
Two metaphorical conceits he uses to compare their connection is that of a compass--she is the fixed foot and he the part with the pencil which travels out and returns to her after completing his circle back to the one who completes him.
The other is of gold--a malleable metal that only thins as it is beaten, never breaking
No comments:
Post a Comment