Slightly Unstable

A whiteboard or DaVinci notebook. They are the same to me.

While reading A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, my hand flew across the whiteboard, filling every open space with different colored EXPO markers trying to write down every bit of analysis of the poem that I could find. After reading it once, I fell in love with Donne's writing, the imagery, the theme, and after analyzing it, I was sold. I guess you could say, my notes on first glance looked like a blur of colors and the thought process of the mentally unstable. But that's just the way that I think..

1. Genre: This poem followed the ABAB rhyme scheme and was separated into nine quatrains. As a ballad it contained a music like element and therefore was plot driven. The abstraction of love was used to tell the story of a couple whose love would last, and even if they became separated, the two lovers would always find their way back.
2. Narrator/Persona: In this poem Donne is speaking to his, at the time, pregnant wife Anne. He is telling her his biased point of view that because of their refined love that she should not worry about it falling apart while he goes away to travel the Continental Europe.
3. Setting: Historically this was written to Anne before Donne left to travel the continental Europe, so one can assume that sometime in Britain in the early 1600's this poem took place. If the reader though, takes a step back from Donne's life, the poem can be placed in more than one setting. While reading I could just see two lovers at a train station where the husband is leaving for war and the wife watching the train long after it had left, or the husband telling his wife his last goodbyes on his deathbed as she weeps about the uncertainty of the eternities. While these could all be possibilities, there is not one setting in which Donne places the poem.
4. Tone: Donne's tone throughout the poem is one filled with raw emotion. His words are loving and soothing. Although it is a sore subject for the woman he is leaving behind, he displays his confidence in the words he says and shows that he is firm in his belief that their love will last forever.
5. Character: As previously stated, one can assume that the characters are Donne and his wife Anne, but with another look the lovers in the play can represent many other characters. Those being like the husband leaving for the military or on his death bed as previously described in the setting section.
6. Symbolism: One of the most beautiful aspects of this poem is Donne's symbolism of the compass. During the 1600's the compass was not only meant as a device to guide individuals but also meant eternal perfection. Donne uses it to describe to his wife, that not only is she the center of his world- his everything- but also that no matter what happens he will always come back to her. As the circle is never ending, so is their love.
7. Style: Donne's style can be used in many ways. Some words that first came to mind were: beautiful, lyrical, and articulate. Beautiful because there is something so pure about the love he expresses. Lyrical because of the rhythm throughout and the way the words portray his love. And finally articulate because he knew what he meant and there was no way to confuse his feelings.
8. Historical Background: In order to fully understand the thoughts and worries of the lover Donne is feeling the reader must look at what was going on throughout the 1600's. This time period not only had the plague and deaths upon the young, but was also a time of exploration and scientific revolution. Donne and many other individuals were full participants of this era and living up the exploration that came with it. So many things though could go wrong, especially with mortality rates so high, and so it only makes sense that the lover is concerned when he leaves. This increase in exploration also further explains Donne's use of the compass, as a symbol of the era and his love.
9. Audience: Donne's intended audience was his wife, the woman he wanted to proclaim his never ending love and reassurance. Although now days, this poem's audience ranges from hopeless romantics who can't help but be love sick, to English majors who are required to read it for their class and analyze it.
10. Persuasion: Throughout the poem, Donne is trying to and is pretty successful in his persuasion to his lover that his leaving is not the end but rather just another moment that will bring them back together again. He uses pathos as a key strategy, because it is his emotions, his thoughts and feelings that will keep them together, or bring them back together in the end.

So I hope that no one was too bored reading my analysis, and that some of it made sense! I'm a little new to this whole Donne world haha but I really enjoyed looking a little deeper into the why behind the beautiful poem.

And yes that is a picture of my whiteboard of notes that I took today.