A Valediction: forbidding mourning
As virtuous men passe mildly away,And whisper to their soules, to goe,Whilst some of their sad friends doe say,The breath goes now, and some say, no:
So let us melt, and make no noise,No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,T'were prophanation of our joyesTo tell the layetie our love.
Moving of th'earth brings harmes and feares,Men reckon what it did and meant,But trepidation of the spheares,Though greater farre, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers love(Whose soule is sense) cannot admitAbsence, because it doth removeThose things which elemented it.
But we by a love, so much refin'd,That our selves know not what it is,Inter-assured of the mind,Care lesse, eyes, lips, and hands to misse.
Our two soules therefore, which are one,Though I must goe, endure not yetA breach, but an expansion,Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate.
If they be two, they are two soAs stiffe twin compasses are two,Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if the'other doe.
And though it in the center sit,Yet when the other far doth rome,It leanes, and hearkens after it,And growes erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to mee, who mustLike th'other foot, obliquely runne;Thy firmnes makes my circle just,And makes me end, where I begunne.
Words in this poem
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- trepidation n.
- An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering. [F. trépidation, L. trepidatio, fr. trepidare to hurry with alarm, to tremble, from trepidus agitated, disturbed, alarmed; cf. trepit he turns, Gr. torture.]
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- sublunary n.
- Any worldly thing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Valediction: forbidding mourning is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Donne, A Valediction: forbidding mourning, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/a-valediction-forbidding-mourning.html, id L19865.
Form and metre
A Valediction: forbidding mourning is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB awayA · goeB · sayA · noB
- 2 ABAB noiseA · moveB · joyesA · loveB
- 3 ABAB fearesA · meantB · sphearesA · innocentB
- 4 ABAB loveA · admitB · removeA · itB
- 5 ABAB refin'dA · isB · mindA · misseB
- 6 ABAB oneA · yetB · expansionA · beateB
- 7 A-AA soA · two · showA · doeA
- 8 ABAB sitA · romeB · itA · homeB
- 9 ABAB mustA · runneB · justA · begunneB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As virtuous men passe mildly away, | 10 | ·/˘··//˘˘/ |
| And whisper to their soules, to goe, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whilst some of their sad friends doe say, | 8 | ········ |
| The breath goes now, and some say, no: | 8 | ········ |
| So let us melt, and make no noise, | 8 | ········ |
| No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| T'were prophanation of our joyes | 8 | ······/· |
| To tell the layetie our love. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Moving of th'earth brings harmes and feares, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Men reckon what it did and meant, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But trepidation of the spheares, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Though greater farre, is innocent. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Dull sublunary lovers love | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| (Whose soule is sense) cannot admit | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Absence, because it doth remove | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Those things which elemented it. | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| But we by a love, so much refin'd, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| That our selves know not what it is, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Inter-assured of the mind, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Care lesse, eyes, lips, and hands to misse. | 8 | ········ |
| Our two soules therefore, which are one, | 8 | /······· |
| Though I must goe, endure not yet | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A breach, but an expansion, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate. | 7 | ······· |
| If they be two, they are two so | 8 | ········ |
| As stiffe twin compasses are two, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show | 8 | ········ |
| To move, but doth, if the'other doe. | 8 | ········ |
| And though it in the center sit, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet when the other far doth rome, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It leanes, and hearkens after it, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And growes erect, as that comes home. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Such wilt thou be to mee, who must | 8 | ········ |
| Like th'other foot, obliquely runne; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thy firmnes makes my circle just, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And makes me end, where I begunne. | 8 | ······˘/ |
Notes from the edition 6
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 8, line 2 the other] my other Walton
- Stanza 8, line 3 It] Thine Walton
- Stanza 8, line 4 that] mine Walton
- Stanza 9, line 2 runne; Ed: runne. 1633-69
- Stanza 9, line 3 circle] circles 1639-54
- Stanza 9, line 4 makes me] me to Walton
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