The Style and Poetry of John Donne 1572-1631

Metaphysical Poetry Of the 1600’s Of or relating to the transcendent or to a reality that is beyond what is perceptible

Metaphysical Poetry Abstract and theoretical reasoning Devotional Mystical Uses intellect, logic, and argument Slightly irreverent Unconventional imagery

Metaphysical Poetry Conversational vocabulary, but complex sentence patterns Metaphysical conceit-an extended metaphor comparing two seemingly dissimilar objects Paradoxes-statements that seem to contradict themselves Witty plays on words

John Donne 1572-1631 Death was a prominent theme.

Big Question: What is the role of life in death?

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” pages 516-520 is one of Donne's most famously metaphorical poems. Donne wrote the poem in 1611, just before he left for a long trip from his home in England to France and Germany. His wife Ann was going to be stuck at home, and that was probably going to be pretty tough. See, she bore him twelve kids—an even dozen. So, he wrote her a gorgeously romantic poem to try to say: "Look, we have to be apart, but that doesn't mean we have to fall apart."

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” The poem is an argument. Donne had the education of a lawyer and was also a famous preacher so most things he wrote had a pretty strong logical, oratorical bent. His argument unfolds as a catalogue of bizarre comparisons. He compares their love to dying old men, earthquakes, stars, gold, and a mathematical compass. It's tricky to follow, but comes together to form a perfect picture of love, love that isn't tied to a person's physical presence, but a spiritual love that can endure even the toughest situations.

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” As virtuous men pass mildly away,     And whisper to their souls to go,  Whilst some of their sad friends do say     The breath goes now, and some say, No: 

So let us melt, and make no noise,     No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;  'Twere profanation of our joys     To tell the laity our love. 

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,   Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,     Men reckon what it did, and meant;  But trepidation of the spheres,     Though greater far, is innocent. 

Dull sublunary lovers' love     (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit  Absence, because it doth remove     Those things which elemented it.   

But we by a love so much refined,     That our selves know not what it is,  Inter-assured of the mind,     Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss. 

Our two souls therefore, which are one,     Though I must go, endure not yet  A breach, but an expansion,     Like gold to airy thinness beat. 

If they be two, they are two so     As stiff twin compasses are two;  Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show     To move, but doth, if the other do. 

And though it in the center sit,     Yet when the other far doth roam,  It leans and hearkens after it,     And grows erect, as that comes home. 

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,     Like th' other foot, obliquely run;  Thy firmness makes my circle just,     And makes me end where I begun. 

“Holy Sonnet 10” NEXT! Page 521

In this sonnet, the speaker warns Death not to be proud of its fearsome reputation. He explains that those who die live on eternally; therefore, as Death is forever out of those people’s lives, Death dies for them.

“Holy Sonnet 10” The poem takes an assertive stand against mortality. It makes the paradoxical statement that mortality is itself mortal. In other words, death doesn’t exist in the long run. But, the speaker wouldn’t make this argument if he doesn’t fear that maybe death is the end. As readers, we must decide whether the poem’s boldness masks some very deep terror about the "void" on the other side of life. After all, is it really possible to talk oneself out of this fear? And, if not, what’s the point of writing the poem?

The big dream and hope in the poem is to defeat Death and go to Heaven The big dream and hope in the poem is to defeat Death and go to Heaven. The speaker is confident that his faith in God won’t let him down, but that’s the thing about faith: it doesn’t come with a guarantee. Unfortunately, the speaker doesn’t have a lot of other options. He must die, no matter what. Although he states the final assertion – "Death, thou shalt die" – as if it’s a fact of life (like gravity), it’s really an expression of hope for the unknown future.

Throughout the entire length of the poem, the speaker never once drops his guard. In fact, he grows more confident in the second half. But, is it courage or delusion? Maybe real courage is to accept that death is the end of life as we know it, and anything that comes after that is a mystery.

The poem is more concerned with spinning out clever and complicated arguments than with reciting prayers or religious scripture. Does this take away from the religious message of the work? Or, does it make that message resonate even more?