Bryan Luu Eng102 Professor Stromberg 11/1/13 One Love to Rule Them All

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John Donnes A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a farewell poem about the power of love during the absence of ones lover. The speaker reasons that the love for his counterpart is a unique bond which will cover the sorrow and grief usually associated around lovers separation. The speaker compares and contrasts their love to imagery which reveals the pairs affections demonstrate the ultimate love. The speaker opens by alluding to the death of virtuous men: As virtuous men pass mildy away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, Now his breath goes, and some say, No. (Lines 1-4) The stanza describes how in their death, virtuous men pass seemingly unnoticed and even friends are unaware of their condition. It is assumed that virtuous men are humble, and in their humility choose to avoid attention, thus passing quietly. Donne uses keywords such as mildly and whisper to reinforce the idea of a silent passing. This stanza correlates directly to the second where the speaker urges his lover to respond with a similar silence during the time he is gone. He says, So let us melt, and make no noise, /No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; (56). The speaker asks his lover not to cry or sigh, and provides her with an explanation in the following lines. Donne writes, Twere profanation of our joys/to tell the laity of our love (78). Here is the first instance where Donne introduces the concept that their love is different than others. According to the speaker, expressing sorrow does not adequately define their love.

Luu 2 Instead, it understates their love to be similar to that of the laity, who do not understand the speakers devotion to his beloved. He expands on the cons of practical love in stanza four where he says, Dull sublunary lovers love/--Whose soul is sense-- (13-14). Immediately, he ridicules practical love as dull. He also uses the word sublunary which means beneath the moon or earthly; in other words, practical love is plain. Line 14 supports this by saying practical love is only made up of the physical senses. The speaker finds practical love lacking when compared to his love. The stanza implies that his love is a transcendent connection with his lover. A common image throughout the poem is of gold. Most likely this represents the purity and value of the love the speaker claims to have. In line seven, So let us melt, and make no noise (7), the speaker relates the significance of silence to gold in addition to the virtuous gentlemen mentioned in the previous stanza. Line 17 describes their love as refined, another term associated with the purifying of gold. Love that is refined has constantly been tested through trials until it is flawless; the speaker and his beloved exhibit the perfect love. Once again, he compares his love to gold in stanza six where he assures his lover they are not separated, but stretched:
Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to aery thinness beat. (21-24) A small piece of gold can be hammered into a wide sheet of gold. His lover is not alone in his departure because like gold, their souls, which are one, can extend to the far reaches of his journey, but remain connected.

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The strongest image of their love is love as a drawing compass which is introduced in stanza seven. It is the strongest image because Donne chooses to picture it using three stanzas where as the others were portrayed in two stanzas at max. In comparing his love to a compass used to draw circles the speaker portrays the perfection of his love; circles symbolized purity and flawlessness in Classical times. Donne writes, Thy soul, the fixd foot, makes no show/To move, but doth, if th other do (27-28). The speaker emphasizes the idea that their souls are one by comparing it to how one compass foot moves only if the other moves. Continuing in stanza eight, the speaker reiterates how the souls stretch: Yet, when the other far doth roam It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. (30-32) Unlike the example of flattening gold, here the speaker addresses how both ends of the soul not only expand, but attempt to move toward each other as one gets further away. Furthermore, Donnes use of Erect adds sexual undertones to the poem which stress the intimacy of the speakers relationship. In the last stanza, the speaker describes his lovers role to him as a part of their relationship. He says, Thy firmness makes my circle just,/and makes me end where I begun (35 36). She is the anchor of his journey and her existence gives him reason to return. The speakers infatuation with his beloved leads him to believe that their love his like no other. He consoles his lover in his absence by telling her she has no reason to mourn. Rather, she should be silent when he departs because their love is too strong to be expressed with grief, as ordinary love might be. Sublunary love lacks strong connection, whereas the speakers love extends beyond physical boundaries. It is a spiritual bond that stretches and expands to reach its counterparts. Like a compass, his beloved acts as the anchor foot of his soul which leads and guides

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him home in full circle. The poems vivid imagery allows the speakers love to become reality, illustrating it as the greatest expression of love.