Share this page :
John Donne (24 January 1572 - 31 March 1631 / London, England)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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;
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 refin'd,
That ourselves 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 fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the' other do.
And though it in the centre 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.
Read poems about / on: sad, home, love, running, fear, friend
People who read John Donne also read
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
Invictus
William Ernest Henley
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
What Donne elevates in this poem is the marriage of true minds. A relationship based on sensual attraction is vulnerable to absence, but a relationship based on a love which is not dependent on the senses is stronger. What a pity that those who give such a poem low marks cannot be asked to justify themselves.
Though the distance away from one another seems surmountable and the speaker - due to the gravity of the beloved - ends where I begun, isn't it sad that carrying out the full conceit means the two lovers will never meet? The speaker relies on the beloved for a reference point, but as a compass, they will act like repelling magnets, influencing each other's movements but never touching.: (
One of the masterworks of English poetry, the epitome of the metaphysical style. Period.
Why can't I print this poem?
Metaphysical poems of John Donne are well known in literary circle. The imagery of compass expressing the idea of two lovers in union is wonderful indeed!
I remember first reading JD and, without understanding fully what I was reading, becoming transfixed by the poetry. My first league poets are Shakespeare, Donne and Blake.
I just love Donne'/s style of writing... this poem is amazing.
A beautiful, soulful, spiritual poem full of truth that is not often acknowledged. So thought provoking.
I think this beautiful poem is very sad.
When the spiritual and the physical join,
that is sustenance, the perfect golden circle.
This poem is beautifuly written. Donnes idea of love on a spiritual level rather than on a physical one is an idea that I feel should be shared with the world.