A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
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Submitted by freefortermpapers on 06/24/2008 03:00 PM
- Category: American History
- Words: 310
- Pages: 2
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A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
Donne's poem is also about the effect of absence on two lovers. But where Shakespeare takes a rather conventional attitude (your absence made me miserable), Donne, characteristically, seeks a paradox: the stronger and purer the love, the less it ought to be affected by absence. The result is a quintessential metaphysical poem.
Once again, we should begin by trying to figure out, literally, what Donne is talking about. Here we should probably begin with the title. A valediction is a saying goodbye; "forbidding mourning" suggests that the saying goodbye shouldn't involve manifestations of grief. This is pretty much the theme of Donne's poem, so it helps if we get the title more or less straight.
Shakespeare began "How like"; Donne begins "As"--implying another simile. In fact, "as" is likely to intrroduce a more complex simile, and we can peek down to the beginning of the second stanza and see the "so" that will complete the comparison. The second stanza, then, is likely to give us the reality; the first stanza will give us something to which that reality is being compared.
Once again, we should begin by trying to figure out, literally, what Donne is talking about. Here we should probably begin with the title. A valediction is a saying goodbye; "forbidding mourning" suggests that the saying goodbye shouldn't involve manifestations of grief. This is pretty much the theme of Donne's poem, so it helps if we get the title more or less straight.
Shakespeare began "How like"; Donne begins "As"--implying another simile. In fact, "as" is likely to intrroduce a more complex simile, and we can peek down to the beginning of the second stanza and see the "so" that will complete the comparison. The second stanza, then, is likely to give us the reality; the first stanza will give us something to which that reality is being compared.
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