Let's Give It a Shot!

Here's a first attempt at literary analysis of John Donne's poem Valediction: A Forbidding Mourning.  Coming up with all the aspects of the analysis was difficult, but I'm glad that we'd gone over a few of them in class.  I did, however, have some difficulty finding quotes from the poem for some points.

1.       Genre

        This is a 36-line poem broken into nine stanzas with an ABAB rhyme scheme.  This is an abstract poem, since it describes love, which can't be seen.  However, Donne uses various rhetorical tools and concrete images, like "stiff twin compasses" or "gold beat to airy thinness" to help readers understand the depth of his feeling.

2.       Narrator

         The narrator of this poem can be assumed as Donne.  He wrote it to his wife, Anne, before leaving on a long trip as a way to comfort her.  Donne is very tender in these lines, as opposed to his saucier poems like The Flea; especially when he refers to their separation as “not yet a breach, but an expansion.”

3.       Plot

         Donne’s poem, like most poems at this time period, doesn’t contain much of a plot.  His focus is more on describing a situation or state of emotion.  There is no beginning, middle, or end, nor is there a storyline.  However, the purpose of the poem (consoling his beloved:  "...no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests) is easily conveyed despite the lack of action.

4.       Character

         

There are two characters in this poem (if we are to analyze the use of the word “we”).  They consist of the narrator and his beloved.  We don’t know much about them or their personalities based on the information given in the lines, but we catch a glimpse of the affection they feel for one another based on the comparison that Donne makes throughout the work.  He makes good use of metaphysical conceit here, which compares spiritual concepts to things in the actual world in order to give readers a better understanding.  He compares the his soul and the soul of his beloved to “stiff twin compasses” and then proceeds to describe how his beloved will serve as “a fixed foot” that remains in the same place, but still hearkens after the other side of the compass and leans toward it, no matter how far it may roam.  This description shows readers the depth of the love and the relationship between the two.

5.       Setting

         This poem has no time or setting that we can ascertain from the text.  Donne does not give any hint to where the characters might be located nor when the event could be occurring.  However, if Donne we assume Donne as the speaker, the poem probably took place in Britain during his lifetime.

6.       Language

         John Donne is a master of figurative language, and Valediction: Forbidding Mourning is an excellent example of his work.  He uses vivid metaphors and analogies that bring an abstract concept, like missing someone, love, or separation, to the mind with ease.  He describes the “expansion” that will shortly remove him from his beloved as “gold to airy thinness beat.” 

7.       Tone and Style

        Donne’s tone is romantic, comforting, and reassuring here.  Again, he tells his beloved that mourning their separation would be a "profanation of our joys to tell the laity our love." He talks about preserving the sacred and dignified nature of the love that he and his beloved feel for one another by keeping it free from tears and mourning.  He promises her that their love can stretch beyond separation through his analogies the metaphysical conceit. 

8.       Rhetoric

         Rhetoric is meant to persuade, and Donne is certainly doing his best to be persuasive here.   One of the rhetorical tools already discussed here is metaphysical conceit.  By linking their souls to “twin compasses,” Donne creates an association in the mind of his beloved so that each time she sees a compass, she will think of their relationship and the purity and power of their love.  This is a masterful tool, and assures that his message will remain in her mind long after he has departed.

9.       Visual Design

        The grouping of the lines in this poem is not particularly special in its design.  The four lines each incorporate an idea, so the spaces between the stanzas serve as a separation that’s easy to follow.

10.   Textual Awareness

        Like I mentioned before, this poem has similarities and differences to Donne’s other poem, The Flea.  Both poems use metaphysical conceit, and both are of a persuasive nature.  However, Valediction is a much more somber, tender, and serious poem, whereas The Flea is lighthearted with subtle hints at the author’s true intentions.

All in all, the process wasn't that bad.