John Donne was a major English poet and writer, specialized in composing meraphysical poetry. He also wrote about love poetry, religious poems, epigrams, elegies, songs, and sonnets. He was born into a Roman Catholic family. After his diligent study in theology, he ceonverted to Anglicism. This is the reason for most of his poetry to contain spiritual themes.(Wikipedia) In "A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning," Donne writes about a lover bidding farewell to his lady and at the same time discouraging her from mourning for his departure. This poem could allude to Donne's wife, Anne More on the occasion of his leaving for a continental trip in 1611.(Bloom 63) The speaker explains to his lover about the special love that they share compared to other lovers; one which is very strong and very distinctive.
Donne shows the reader about the separation of body and soul in the first stanza which says : "As virtuous men pass mildly away/ And whisper to their souls to go."
John Donne, one of the most famous Metaphysical Po...
John Donne in his shroud. He posed for this painti...
I believe this is a photograph taken of a portrait...(Donne 1-2) According to Donne, when a virtuous man dies, he "whispers" to his soul to leave him. This is indicative of the fact that Donne considers the body and soul as two separate entities. As said earlier, Donne was a theologian. Therefore the writer considers definition of a "virtuous" man as one who is holy. This is the reason why a virtuous person is ready to leave his body and die physically but not spiritually because he was a follower of God's will.
Donne then compares the friends of the deceased in : "Whilst some of their sad friends do say/ The breath goes now, and some say, No." (Donne 3-4) This also shows the reaction caused by the death of the virtuous man compared to the regular man. When the regular person...