Valediction:Forbidding Mourning A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Although the subject matter of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning could be applied to any couple pending separation, John Donne wrote his poem for his wife on the eve of his departure for France in 1611.In the poem, the speaker pleads with his lady The speaker defines and celebrates a love that transcends the physicaland can therefore endure and even grow through separation. In arguing against mourning andemotional upheaval, Donne uses a series of bold and unexpected comparisons for the lovebetween the speaker and his lady. Donne makes his first surprising analogy in the first stanzawhen he compares the impending separation of the lovers to death. The speaker compares hisparting from his lover to the parting of the soul from a virtuous man at death. According to thespeaker, “virtuous men pass mildly away” (line 1) because the virtue in their lives has assuredthem of glory and reward in the afterlife; hence, they die in peace without fear and emotion. Hesuggests that the separation of the lovers be like this separation caused by death. In the secondstanza the speaker furthers his comparison for a peaceful separation. “So let us melt, and makeno noise” (line 5) refers to the melting of gold by a goldsmith or alchemist. When gold is meltedit does not sputter and is therefore quiet. The speaker and his love should not display theirprivate, intimate love as “tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move” (line 6). The speaker thinks thatit would be a “profanation” (line 7) to reveal the sacred love he shares with his lady. It would besimilar to priests revealing the mysteries of their faith to “the laity” (line 8), that is, to ordinarypeople. The loud display of grief upon separation would therefore desecrate the sacred love ofthe speaker and his lady to the less elevated love of ordinary people. The second stanzaintroduces...
