S AM PLE O R AL C OM M EN TAR Y
A V ALED ICTIO N :
FOR BID D IN G
M OU R N IN G
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:
1
2
3
4
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.
5
6
7
8
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.
9
10
11
12
Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.
13
14
15
16
But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.
17
18
19
20
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
22
23
24
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 th' other do.
25
26
27
28
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.
29
30
31
32
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.
33
34
35
36
•
•
Do you think Donne achieves a successful fusion of thought and feeling in this poem?
Comment on those features of poetic technique (e.g., the use of conceit) that you find most striking here.
John Donne
InformationadaptedprimarilyfromWikipedia.
JohnDonne(1572-1631)wasanEnglishpoet,satirist,lawyerandaclericintheChurchofEnglandanda
contemporaryofWilliamShakespeare.Hespentmuchofthemoneyheinheritedfromhisfatherduringandafter
hiseducationonwomanizing,books,thetheatre,andtravel.Thus,despiteanOxfordeducationandpoetictalents,
Donnelivedinpovertyforseveralyears,relyingheavilyonwealthyfriendsandpersonalconnections.Yetin1601,
DonnebecameprivatesecretarytoViscountBrackleyandamemberofQueenElizabeth’slastparliament.Laterthat
year,29-year-oldDonnesecretlymarriedAnneMore,the17-year-oldnieceofBrackleyandthedaughterofSir
GeorgeMore,theChancelloroftheGarter.Enraged,SirGeorgehadDonnedismissedfromhispostasBrackley’s
privatesecretaryandbrieflyimprisoned.
Donnelaterservedasamemberofparliamentin1614,butin1615hebecameanAnglicanpriest.Although
hewasaCatholicanddidnotwanttotakeAnglicanorders,hedidsobecauseKingJamesIpersistentlyorderedit.In
1617,Donne’swifediedatage33soonaftergivingbirthtotheir12thchild.In1621,hewasappointedtheDeanofSt
Paul'sCathedralinLondon.
JohnDonne’sworksarenotedfortheirstrong,sensualstyleandincludesonnets,lovepoetry,religious
poems,Latintranslations,epigrams,elegies,songs,satiresandsermons.Hispoetryisnotedforitsvibrancyof
languageandinventivenessofmetaphor,especiallycomparedtothatofhiscontemporaries.Donne'sworksarealso
witty,employingparadoxes,puns,andsubtleyetremarkableanalogies.Hispiecesareoftenironicandcynical,
especiallyregardingloveandhumanmotives.CommonsubjectsofDonne'spoemsarelove(especiallyinhisearly
life),death(especiallyafterhiswife'sdeath),andreligion(especiallyafterbecomingapriest).Hisearlypoetry
demonstratedanimmenseknowledgeofEnglishsociety,andheoftensharplycriticizedsocialbeliefsandcustoms.
AnotherimportantthemeinDonne’spoetryistheideaoftruereligion,somethingthathespentmuchtime
consideringandaboutwhichheoftentheorized.Healsowrotesecularpoemsaswellaseroticandlovepoems.
Donneisconsideredthepre-eminentrepresentativeofthemetaphysicalpoets,aloosegroupofBritishlyric
poetsofthe17thcenturywhoseworkwascharacterizedbyitswitandtheinventiveuseofconceits—extended
metaphorsthatcombinetwovastlydifferentideasintoasingleidea,oftenusingimagery.TheircontemporaryBen
Johnsondefinedmetaphysicalconceitsas"...acombinationofdissimilarimages,ordiscoveryofoccultresemblances
[i.e.,hidden,secretorpossiblysupernaturalsimilarities]inthingsapparentlyunlike."
Themetaphysicalpoetswerenotformallyaffiliated;mostofthemdidnotevenknoworreadeachother.
Theirpoetrydivergedfromthestyleoftheirtimes,containingneitherimagesofnaturenorallusionstoclassical
mythology,aswerecommonatthattime,choosinginsteadtoexploreloveandreligionthroughreasonedanalogies.
Severalmetaphysicalpoets—especiallyJohnDonne—wereinfluencedbyNeo-Platonism,notablytheideathatthe
perfectbuttemporalbeautyofthebelovedmirroredtheperfectbeautyoftheeternalrealm.Theirworkoftenused
imagesdrawnfromcontemporaryscientificorgeographicaldiscoveriestoexaminereligiousandmoralquestions,
oftenusinglogicalreasoningtoresolvemoralproblemsanddefinetheirunderstandingofGodortheirpersonal
relationshipwithGod.
Donneisconsideredamasterofthemetaphysicalconceit.Oneoften-citedexampleofthemetaphysical
conceitisthemetaphorfromDonne's"TheFlea",inwhichafleathatbitesboththespeakerandhisloverbecomesa
conceitofthecouple’sunion,arguingbecauseofthisunionhisloverhasnoreasontodenyhimsexually,although
theyarenotmarried:
Ohstay!threelivesinonefleaspare
Wherewealmost,yeamorethanmarriedare.
ThisfleaisyouandI,andthis
Ourmarriage-bedandmarriage-templeis.
OneofthemostfamousofDonne'sconceitsisfoundin"AValediction:ForbiddingMourning"wherehe
comparestwoloverswhoareseparatedtothetwolegsofacompass.Donnewrotethislovepoemin1611or1612
forhispregnantwifeAnnebeforeheleftonatriptotheEuropeanmainlandseeking,unsuccessfully,apositionthat
wouldimprovehisfamily’sfinances.Althoughoneofhismostfamouspoems,itwasn’tpublisheduntil1633,two
yearsafterDonne’sdeath,inSongsandSonnets.
Donne’smostquotedconceitisfoundinhisMeditationXVII,aprosesermonhewrotein1623ashe
recoveredfromaseriousillness:“Nomanisanisland,entireofitself;everymanisapieceofthecontinent,apartof
themain.Ifaclodbewashedawaybythesea,Europeistheless,aswellasifapromontorywere,aswellasifa
manorofthyfriend'sorofthineownwere:anyman'sdeathdiminishesme,becauseIaminvolvedinmankind,and
thereforeneversendtoknowforwhomthebelltolls;ittollsforthee.”
JohnDonne'spoetryrepresentedashiftfromclassicalformstomorepersonalpoetrynotableforits
changingandjaggedrhythmsthatcloselyresembledcasualspeech.Itwasforthisthatthemoreclassical-minded
BenJonsoncommentedthat"Donne,fornotkeepingofaccent,deservedhanging".
A V ALED ICTIO N : 1 FOR BID D IN G M OU R N IN G
John Donne (1611 or 1612)
In this manner…
…should we to part.
This other way would ruin it.
Consider this metaphor:
earthquakes have a particular effect
on people… but planetary
movements are like this…
Our love is not like this kind of
love…
Our love is like this…
Thus, our two souls are ironically
really like this…
But if our souls are really two
separate souls, they are two like this
thing is two…
…And function the way the above
analogy does...
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:
1
2
3
4
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation2 of our joys
To tell the laity3 our love.
5
6
7
8
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres4,
Though greater far, is innocent.
9
10
11
12
Dull sublunary5 lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented6 it.
13
14
15
16
But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.
17
18
19
20
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold7 to aery thinness beat.
21
22
23
24
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 th' other do.
25
26
27
28
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.
29
30
31
32
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
33
Like th' other foot, obliquely8 run ;
34
Thy firmness makes my circle just9,
35
And makes me end where I begun.
36
Do you think Donne achieves a successful fusion of thought and feeling in this poem?
Comment on those features of poetic technique (e.g., the use of conceit) that you find most striking here.
And have this effect upon me…
Which is why you should stay home
and… (see title).
•
•
valediction: an act of bidding farewell or taking leave.
profanation: blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character.
3 laity: members of a religion who are not ordained ministers or priests; congregation members.
4 trepidation of the spheres: the sometimes retrograde movement of the stars and planets in the ancient Greek geocentric model of
the universe, in which celestial bodies are mounted on concentric crystal spheres centered around the Earth.
5 sublunary: beneath the moon, thus under its influence.
6 elemented: composed; brought into material form, as opposed to the four elements themselves air, earth, water, and fire, scientific
categories that are intellectual constructs rather than specific material objects.
7 The circumpunct—a circled dot, ¤—is the alchemical symbol for gold. This is also the shape made by the path of a compass, a
conceit developed in the next three stanzas.
8 obliquely: in a slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; but also in a roundabout or indirect way.
9 just: precise; exact; but also acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good: righteous.
1
2