John Donne
Metaphysical Poetry
About John Donne:
- Born: January 22, 1572
- Died: March 31, 1631
- Hometown: London, England
- Occupations: English poet, cleric at the Church of England, and lawyer
- Wife: Anne More
- Founder of Metaphysical Poetry
- Born into a Roman Catholic family --> very passionate about his faith
- Studied at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities (He didn't get any degree from either school because he would've had to sign a doctrine that defined Anglicanism.)
- Became Anglican after his brother died from being imprisoned because he was Catholic
- He and his wife suffered financial and social instability because her father didn't approve of their marriage.
- His wife died after giving birth to their 12th child.
(Young) John Donne
- Portrait of Donne when he was younger
Anne More
- Donne's wife
- She birthed their 12 children.
Elizabeth Heywood
- Sometimes considered Donne's mother and father because his father died when he was really young
- Grand-niece of martyr, Thomas More
"No Man is an Island"
"Death Be Not Proud"
"For Whom the Bell Tolls"
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne
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 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 th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
Summary
The speaker is reassuring to his love that although he has to go away, the distance between them cannot break their strong and faithful love. He does not believe that there is a need to be sad because he is so confident in the power of their love.
Literary Devices
- Form/Rhyme Scheme: "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:"
- Hyperbole: "No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests."
- Metaphor: "But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent." - Simile: “Like gold to airy thinness beat”
- Imagery: Celestial spheres; Compass; Gold; Virtuous death
Themes
- Love: True love is unconquerable by distance or time.
- Loyalty: Faithfulness and enduring love keeps their relationship alive.
- Lust: Lust is the opposite of love, but in the poem, it is the selfish love that they feel when
- Spirituality: The poem contrasts physical and spiritual love.
Quotes
- "But we by a love so much refined...
Inter-assured of the mind..." - "Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion..."
- "Dull, sublunary lovers' love... cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it." - "As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go..."
Lyrics - "Hey There Delilah"
- "Don't you worry about the distance. I'm right there if you get lonely."
- "Even more in love with me you'd fall. We'd have it all."
- "A thousand miles seems pretty far. But they've got planes and trains and cars. I'd walk to you if I had no other way. Our friends would all make fun of us, And we'd just laugh along because we'd know That none of them have felt this way"
Works Cited
""A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne (read by Tom O'Bedlam)." YouTube. Trans. Tom O'Bedlam. YouTube, 8 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
"John Donne Biography." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
"John Donne." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
"John Donne." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
Rosenblum, Joseph. "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." EBSCO. Jan. 2002. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Ahlersmeyer, Bob. "Enlightenment Era: John Donne - A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning (Lecture)." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Ahlersmeyer, Bob. "Enlightenment Era: John Donne - A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning (Lecture)." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning Theme of Love." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
"Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah Lyrics." YouTube. YouTube, 9 May 2009. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.