Valediction: Forbidding Mourning — Analysis

AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."
                     
So let us melt, and make no noise, 5
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 ; 10
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove 15
The thing which elemented it.

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. 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.

If they be two, they are two so 25
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam, 30
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, 35
And makes me end where I begun.

John Donne in his youth

The first, and what many  (including celebrated poet, wit, and critic T. S. Eliot) would claim as the greatest metaphysical poet, English scholar, mystic, and Christian apologist John Donne endured an intriguing change in life views during the course of his study as a poet, an author, and later a pastor. Meditating first on erotic themes, the later Donne crafted some of the most exquisite sonnets and poems in the English language, demonstrated a hefty command of diverse professions, of profane and sacred subjects, joining together some of thhe most unlikely of elements to create conceits of the most intensing and inspiring meter. 

John Donne later in life

Before departing for the Continent, he composed "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," comforting his wife in true metaphysical form and formula, that even as he was leaving, in Spirit and truth he was and ever would be still with his wife. "Valediction" is a formal farewell offered to a graduating class, a warm send-off with good tidings in store for those who leave. In a similar fashion, Donne characterizes his departure as a graduation for himself and his wife, that they may cherish each other in faith, not just in matter and form, that their love:

endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat

Throughout this poem, the dichotomy and dialectic of spirit, or soul, and sense is evident, yet unlike for the "laity" of the world, the unseen realm of spirit dominates and triumphs for these two lovers.

In the first line, he highlights men of virtue, one of the traits celebrated by the Apostle Peter in his first General  epistle. When "virtuous men" whisper for their souls to go, they command a quiet respect in a world given to sound and sense. The calm of good men who pass away is contrasted with the natural disasters of "teare-floodes" and "sigh-tempestes", a metaphysical conceit which both mocks and pities the emotional flair and flare-ups of mere mortals.

'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Donne exalts the love which he cherishes with his wife, refusing to sully their warm and intimate affections, which he desires to "melt, and make noise." Their joys are too good, to pure to be shared with the "laity", with common folk who would pervert its meaning, its depth, confusing inner devotion with the commonplace outward explosions and professions of love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ; 10
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Here, Donne explains the depths of true love, which like the resouding and revolving music of the spheres, does not awaken men's physical attention or arrest their focus, for they do not sense it through their carnal capacities. While men are busy pondering the "moving of th'earth", a plain ambiguity which can be construed and dismissed as the casual turning of this planet as well as earthquakes and tremors, Donne compares the quiet "trepdation of the spheres", where "trepidation" suggests  pressure, shaking, trembling, even the revolutions of the planets, which are tremendous yet silent, immense yet immaterial in a corporeal sense.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove 15
The thing which elemented it. 
From the spheres to one particular sphere, Donne draws the reader's attention. Focusing on the Moon, long associated with love-lorn lovers and love-sick desire, the Pastor compares such allusions to a blunt instrument or an unseasoned dish — "dull". Even the alliteration "sublunary lovers' love" enhances a slow, dragging element to the verse, indicating how the passion of men and women absorbed only in themselves and their bodies loses its flair, its favor, its fine perfection.