The Circle Of Souls In John Donne’s A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

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reconnect. Donne’s monologue is unique because he uses metaphysical comparisons to show the union of the lovers during their period of separation.
The poem begins with a metaphysical comparison between virtuous dying men whispering to their souls to leave their bodies and the two lovers saying goodbye before a journey. The poet states, “Let us melt and make no noise… ‘Twere profanation of our joys/To tell the laity of our love” (lines 5-8). The word “melt” implies a change in physical state. The bond of the lovers will dissolve quietly like the soul of the dying man separated from his body. “Noise” refers to “tear floods” and “sigh tempests” that the speaker implores his love not to make (line 6).
The speaker continues by comparing natural phenomena to a love relationship, the “sigh tempests” relate to the element of air, and the “tear floods” relate to the element of water. The speaker uses this hyperbole to demand that his love remain stoic and resist any show of emotion upon his ...

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of the spheres to suggest that matters beyond ones control should be approached rationally (lines 11-12)
In quatrain four and five, the speaker urges his love to remain stoic by making any change in their relationship as imperceptible to others as the trepidation of the spheres. Again he uses terms from astronomy to illustrate his point. The term “sublunary” refers to the surface below the moon.
According to the Greek astronomers, this sublunar area, composed of the four elements, was imperfect. The sphere’s surface, composed of quinta essenta, the perfect part, radiates light and heat.
In relation to the poem, the dull sublunary lovers are imperfect human beings who do not practice ...

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