Line-by-line summary of John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” in English
By PKG SIR
# Stanza 1:
> As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
Summary:
Just as virtuous men pass away peacefully, whispering their souls to depart quietly, and their friends observe this serene death without clear certainty of the moment of departure, the lovers too should part calmly, without dramatic farewells or excessive emotion.
# Stanza 2:
> So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Summary:
The poet urges that their parting should be as calm as melting, without loud displays of grief—no floods of tears or storms of sighs. Expressing their love in such a common, emotional way would disrespect the sacred nature of their relationship, reducing it to something worldly or superficial.
# Stanza 3:
> Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Summary:
Earthly events, like earthquakes, cause fear and concern, and people try to interpret their significance. But the movements of the heavenly spheres (planets), though more significant, are silent and unnoticed by most, causing no harm. Similarly, their parting, though momentous, should be quiet and calm.
# Stanza 4:
> Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
Summary:
Lovers whose love is based on physical attraction and sensory pleasures (earthly, "sublunary" love) cannot bear absence because their love depends on being physically together. When they are apart, the elements that make up their love are lost.
# Stanza 5:
But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Summary:
Their love, however, is so pure and spiritual that even they cannot fully understand it. They are connected through their minds, and so physical separation, where they cannot see, touch, or kiss each other, does not diminish their bond.
# Stanza 6:
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
Summary:
Though they must part physically, their souls remain united as one. The separation is not a break but an expansion of their love, much like gold that can be stretched and beaten into thin sheets without breaking.
# Stanza 7:
> If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.
Summary:
If their souls are two, they are like the two legs of a compass. Her soul is the fixed foot of the compass, steady and unmoving, while his soul, the moving foot, circles around it. Though her soul appears still, it moves in response to his movements.
# Stanza 8:
> And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Summary:
Though her soul remains in the center, it leans towards his as it moves farther away. Like a compass leg, when the moving leg returns, the fixed leg straightens again, symbolizing the return to union when he comes back home.
# Stanza 9:
> Such wilt thou be to me, who must
Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
Summary:
The poet concludes by comparing their love to the compass once more, saying that while he must travel (like the moving foot), her steadfastness (like the fixed foot) ensures that his journey remains true and will ultimately bring him back to where he began—back to her.
Overall Summary:
In “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” Donne argues that true, spiritual love transcends physical presence. The poet advises his lover not to mourn their separation with outward displays of grief. Instead, he compares their love to refined gold and a compass, where even physical distance cannot break their deep connection. Their love expands and remains united, and just as a compass leg returns to its starting point, he promises to return to her.
th'
John Donne uses this contraction to maintain the rhythm and meter of the poem. It helps to keep the line short and smooth without changing the meaning, making the phrase sound more fluid in a poetic structure. So, "th'" simply means "the."
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