21 pages • 42 minutes read
John DonneA Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1633A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“The Pulley” by George Herbert (1633)
George Herbert’s poem “The Pulley” employs metaphysical conceit through a reimagination of a creation myth. Herbert’s entire poem is built on conceit of the pulley and the paradoxical conflict of the device; Herbert claims that a lack of rest will bring man rest and that ultimately the “rest” will leave him restless. The poem is distinct compared to its contemporaries in its anthropomorphizing and humanization of god.
“The Canonization” by John Donne (1633)
Like “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” Donne’s poem “The Canonization” merges the themes of love and religion. The poem's title serves a dual purpose: While the speaker argues that his love will canonize him into a kind of sainthood, the poem itself functions as a canonization of the pair of lovers. In “The Canonization,” the metaphysical conceit is the canonization into sainthood. The poem is a parody of Christian sainthood and the “you” addressee of the poem represents the practical word which regards love as a silly affection. When read as counterparts, “The Canonization” and “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” exemplify the importance of paradox and metaphysical conceit in Donne’s work. In each, Donne creates a dichotomy of common love and sacred, holy love.
“The Flea” by John Donne (1633)
Unlike his predecessors, Donne was not a poet who deployed descriptions of sublime natural landscapes or romanticized classical ideals of female beauty. In “The Flea” (1633), a flea draws blood from two lovers which allows their blood to intermingle. The Russian Formalist concept ostranenie is useful here: Roughly translated as “to make strange,” ostranenie defamiliarizes the holy union of two lovers through the use of a pesky insect instead of god. Donne’s Catholic upbringing coupled with his social and financial hardship bred his use of such subverted and distinguished ambiguities. Similar to “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” the reader may note the poet’s keen use of irony, allegory, and refutation of tradition.
Further Literary Resources
The Well-Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry by Cleanth Brooks (1947)
This 1947 collection of essays by literary critic Cleanth Brooks touches on poems from Donne to Yeats. The first chapter, “The Language of Paradox” includes a close reading of John Donne’s “The Canonization” and elaborates on the metaphysical usage of paradox and conceit.
Introduction to The Selected Poems of John Donne by Ilona Bell (2006)
Ilona Bell’s introduction to Donne’s Selected Poems includes in-depth analysis to specific key poems such as “The Flea,” “The Canonization,” and more. This introduction also touches on prominent historical and biographical information to provide a more textured analysis of the poet.
The Poetry of George Herbert by Helen Vendler (1975)
Though not explicitly about John Donne, Vendler’s writing on George Herbert provides a wider lens into the metaphysical poetic tradition and elaborates on the key tenets that defined poets like Herbert and Donne.
Listen to the Poem
This recording from the Poetry Foundation is part of their audio Poem of the Day series.
Related Titles
By John Donne
