Page 1 of 5
Annotated Reading
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
Unit.Lesson.Activity #_______
British and World Literature
Stanza 1
The subject of the poem is how the narrator's love is affected by his love's absence. So why
would Donne begin the poem with four lines about death?
Note that the men in the first line are "virtuous" and that they whisper to their souls to go
— they're not afraid to part with them. Where might a virtuous man's soul go? What
significance might this have in terms of other departures in the poem?
Make a note of the rhyme scheme and meter. Are these typical of a Metaphysical poem?
Note: Once you've read through the poem w ith comments, read through the uninterrupted
version at the bottom of this annotated version (this is how the poem was intended to be
read).
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,"
Stanza 2
Note the "tear-floods" and "sigh-tempests." The narrator w ishes to avoid these clichés of
Elizabethan love poetry, and the author gently satirizes them through exaggerat ion. The
implied sense that this is a love that surpasses clichés is in keeping w ith the general tone of
the poem, in which the narrator portrays a love that "the laity" would not understand.
So let us me lt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Let our parting be like that
of virtuous men and their
souls
It would be a desecration
Common people; also,
persons not in the clergy
Stanza 3
This is one of the poem's most obscure stanzas. Donne introduces two kinds of existence:
physical and spiritual. He contrasts the Earth (physical) with the movement of the spheres
(spiritual). On one hand are relatively small forces (earthquakes) that cause "harms and
fears." On the other are the far greater movements of the spheres, which are "innocent."
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Page 2 of 5
Annotated Reading
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
Unit.Lesson.Activity #_______
British and World Literature
In other words, the narrator is hinting that his love has more in common with the spheres:
It is more powerful than "sublunary" love (see stanza 4), and is immune to the effect s of
time and change that plague the physical world.
Note: In Donne's time, people believed that Earth was surrounded by hollow, concentric
spheres that made up the heavens.
Moving of the earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did and mea nt;
But trepidation of the sphe res,
Try to find meaning in it
Motion of the concentric
spheres of heaven
Though greater far, is innocent.
Stanza 4
According to the narrator, "sublunary lovers' love" is weak for two reasons. First, it is
subject to the changes in the phases of the moon, and thus impermanent.
Second, the "soul" of their love is "sense": Their love is physical only, and thus cannot exist
when one lover is absent. Donne is setting up his next stanza, in which he defines his love
as superior because it doesn't rely on physical proximity.
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Under the moon
Which is grounded in the
five senses
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things whic h e lemented it.
Of which it was composed
(e.g., the physical body of
the other person)
Stanza 5
The line "That our selves know not what it is" reflects a sentiment common to Donne's
poetry: Real love between two people exists beyond their exact grasp of it. It is subt le, and
cannot be easily defined.
Consider also the phrase "Inter-assured of the mind." Here the narrator suggests that the
lovers are connected by their minds, not their bodies. This allows them to separate without
feeling loss, as each lives in the mind of the other (see the first line of the next stanza).
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Page 3 of 5
Annotated Reading
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
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.
Unit.Lesson.Activity #_______
British and World Literature
This stanza may be
paraphrased as follows:
Our love is so pure — even
we can't define it — that
we care less than
"sublunary" lovers whether
or not the other is
physically present.
Stanza 6
Here Donne states the logical conclusion of the preceding stanza, that he and his love are
one, and therefore inseparable even when apart (note the paradox here).
The last line not only compares the narrator's love to gold — it is precious and rare — but
also hints at the idea that it becomes even more so when it loses its physical substance
(that is, when it is beaten to an "airy thinness").
Note: Gold may be hammered into very thin sheets without falling apart. In the final line of
this stanza, the gold is beaten almost as thin as air, while at the same time expanding
outward at the edges.
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.
The narrator's departure is
not a break ("breach") but
a kind of increase
("expansion").
See note in comments
above
Stanza 7
Here the narrator compares himself and his love to a drafting compass (consisting of two
pointed arms connected by a moveable hinge). They are two in the sense that the compass
consists of two arms that are joined. In this conceit, the narrator's love remains stationary,
yet rotates as the narrator revolves around (or travels away from) his love. In this
metaphor, Donne introduces the poem's central conceit.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two:
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
One arm of the compass is
rooted to the page while
the other rotates around
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Page 4 of 5
Annotated Reading
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
To move, but doth, if the other do;
Unit.Lesson.Activity #_______
British and World Literature
the axis of the stationary
arm (the "fixed foot").
Stanza 8
To understand this stanza, it's helpful to imagine a drafting compass: One arm remains
stationary while the other revolves around it, tracing a circle. The farther the moving arm is
from the other, the sharper the angle between the arms and the paper — they appear to
lean toward each other. The closer the arms, the straighter (more "erect") each arm
stands. Now substitute "lover" for "arm" and you get the picture: The movement of one
creates an identical, sympathetic movement in the other.
And though it in the center sit,
The "fixed foot" from the
previous stanza
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
The other arm of the
compass; hear kens means
"listens" or "gives
respectful attention."
Stanza 9
Here Donne completes the conceit. The circle is a symbol of perfection, wholeness, and
symmetry. By referring to circles here, Donne draws our attention to this without having to
say "Our love is perfect." In the final line, the narrator simultaneously alludes to his
eventual return and reinforces his mutual connection to his love by suggesting that the two
souls meet again — though their physical bodies are far apart — maybe in life, maybe in
death (see the "mourning" of the title).
Note: Think about the last two lines of the poem. When t he narrator says "Thy firmness
makes my circle just," he's saying that his lover's stability and steadfastness make his
travels worthwhile, just as the firmness of the stationary foot of a drawing compass makes
the circle traced by the outer arm "just," or perfect. In this way, too, the narrator "end[s]
where [he] begun," just as the outer arm of a compass will return to its starting point.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Will
Like the other foot, oblique ly run;
On an incline; indirectly
Thy firmness makes my c irc le just,
See note under stanza 9
above
And makes me end whe re I begun.
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Page 5 of 5
Annotated Reading
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
Unit.Lesson.Activity #_______
British and World Literature
"A Vale diction: Forbidding Mourning" Uninterrupted
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 the 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 the other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
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