This essay examines John Donne's use of metaphysical conceits drawn from contemporary science in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" to argue that his beloved's spiritual love transcends physical separation. The paper demonstrates that while Donne employs ingenious analogies from astronomy, seismology, metalworking, and mathematics to support his claims about the superiority of spiritual over physical love, these very scientific images inadvertently generate opposing implications. Through detailed analysis of the spheres conceit, the gold conceit, and the compass conceit, the essay shows how Donne's scientific knowledge ultimately invalidates rather than substantiates his central argument, revealing an unintended paradox at the heart of the poem's rhetoric.
English history provides a broad range of influential and famous poets as well as numerous scientific innovations. In the sixteenth century, English poets began creating works that addressed issues such as unreturned love and the greatness of their beloved women. In the early seventeenth century, the so-called metaphysical poets drew on the Petrarchan tradition, challenged it, and ultimately created an entirely new approach to this form of literature by employing wit and unlikely analogies from other disciplines. John Donne is considered the father of metaphysical poetry and ranks among the most famous poets of English literature. In his work, he uses unlikely imagery and establishes far-fetched and extended metaphors, called conceits, to make his work witty and to portray certain images and ideas to his audience.
His poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a prime example of the poet's use of this imagery, as his ideas are most notably illustrated by ingenious similes and metaphors throughout the work. Donne's main intention in applying such metaphysical conceits was to support and illustrate his assumptions about the value and attributes of his relationship. He argues poetically that the modest and spiritual love between him and his beloved unifies their souls and that it is accordingly superior to more profane forms of love. According to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, "new scientific theories were in the air" during the time of Donne's composition. Galileo, for instance, challenged the universally accepted model of the universe and developed new scientific tools. This scientific setting forms the basis of Donne's unlikely imagery in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" and was used by him to shape and support his claims. However, this historical background simultaneously creates conflicting images and concepts to his line of argumentation. Thus, Donne's scientific environment is ultimately responsible for the incorporation of imagery into his poem that eventually invalidates and opposes his initial assumptions about the qualities of different kinds of love.
In the first two stanzas of his poem, Donne seeks to allegorically convey the intention of his work. He first compares the passing away of noble men to the act of bidding farewell in a modest manner. He states that "virtuous men pass mildly away" and that they say goodbye to their souls in a decent way so that their surrounding friends are unable to discern the point of their actual deaths. According to historical sources, Donne addressed the poem to his wife as a farewell poem since he had to leave her for a longer trip to Europe at the end of 1611. Accordingly, Donne wanted to point out in these lines that he and his beloved have to depart in a similar manner from each other by "mak[ing] no noise, / No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move."
Donne subsequently argues that such emotional and sensual behavior would be a "profanation," which according to the OED means a "desecration or violation of that which is held to be sacred" as well as a "degradation." Hence, he characterizes earthly demeanor as inferior and further suggests that his and his wife's love is of a transcendental and superior nature because it is not based on such sensual characteristics. In consequence, Donne addressed his beloved in the first two stanzas to communicate to her that their departure should be modest, as he regards other behavior as earthly and inferior while simultaneously referring to his own spiritual form of love as superior.
In the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas, Donne continues to support his claim that their love is sovereign and can endure his absence by using further analogies drawn from certain academic fields, namely the "professional employments of his age." The Norton Anthology notes that "Donne prided himself on his wit and displayed it in his conceits of learned discourses ranging from theology to alchemy, to cosmology." In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," the author makes use of these particular subjects when he informs his wife that many people are disturbed by earthquakes since the "[m]oving of th'earth brings harms and fears." However, he states that no one cares about the "trepidation of the spheres," although their movement is "greater far."
Here, Donne refers to the scientific convictions of his time to support his argumentation. According to the OED, spheres in the context of early modern astronomy were "hollow globes imagined by the older astronomers as revolving round the earth and respectively carrying with them the several heavenly bodies." In addition, a trepidation in astronomy was considered to be "a libration of the eighth (or ninth) sphere, added to the system of Ptolemy" and thus a movement of celestial bodies. Accordingly, at the time of the poem's composition, the predominant world view was the Ptolemaic geocentric model of the universe, and Donne invoked an inherited body of these concepts to shape his simile. Subsequently, the poet points out that "dull sublunary . . . love" has no spiritual attributes and cannot endure separation because its "soul is sense." The OED states that sublunary was an adjective for being inferior as well as earthly, and accordingly the poet refers to love beyond the spheres as earthly, profane, and inferior.
Following this, Donne relates the sensual basis of earthly love to physicality as it solely relies on bodily elements such as "eyes, lips, and hands." Donne, on the other hand, compares his own love with these heavenly spheres, which were supposed to be perfect and incorruptible above the level of the moon. In consequence, the poet makes use of the scientific knowledge of his time to contrast the spiritual love between him and his wife to more profane forms of love. Donne ultimately regards his own relationship, which he compares to celestial spheres, as superior, heavenly, and above forms of love based on physicality, which he in turn relates to terrestrial affairs.
Nevertheless, this specific scientific imagery stands simultaneously in an odd contrast to Donne's assumption about spiritual and physical love. As previously shown, the poet equates his love with the "trepidation of the spheres" to stress its greatness and composure. Since the OED indicates that the term sphere stands for "motions of the celestial bodies" and a trepidation is likewise considered a "[t]remulous agitation," it can be concluded that the love of Donne and his wife might also tremble and suffer from disturbances. The poet acknowledges the fact that cosmic events can be substantially more harmful and fearsome than mere earthquakes as he labels their movement as "greater" and thus more considerable. Yet he adds that their agitations are still innocent to us, and thus his simile implies that his spiritual love is acting in a superior kind of way.
However, it is safe to say that planetary movements and collisions only appear to be more harmless and innocent to us because they are too far away for our senses to perceive their repercussions. Earthly movements are easy to discern because of their closeness to our sensory perception. Following this train of thought, disturbances in a physical love can easily be perceived by its lovers as well, and thus they are more likely able to react to such affairs in an appropriate way. Astronomical affairs, on the other hand, which represent Donne's kind of love, are beyond perception and defined by a state "so much refined / That our selves know not what it is." Thus, their movement only appears innocent to Donne because he is deprived of an immediate sensual response to these events.
Equally, spiritual lovers are separated by great distances and due to their physical absence from each other are similarly unaware about the state of their beloved ones, and thus their love also appears to be calm and innocent. Yet, as Donne acknowledged, these celestial events can indeed have a greater harmful impact than earthly ones. In accordance with this reasoning, spiritual love can potentially also be harmful and just as trembling as earthly love. Therefore, the complex science that Donne used in his abstract simile to illustrate his assumptions can equally imply an opposing viewpoint about the qualities of his love. Donne's goal to compare the attributes of different kinds of relationships by using his respective knowledge of seismology and astronomy turns accordingly out to be delusive and eventually even contradictory to his postulated assertions.
Following this, Donne makes use of another field of science that he incorporates into a new metaphysical conceit to depict the concept of spiritual unity between him and his wife during separation. The poet claims that their "two souls . . . are one" and thus that they cannot be separated but rather expanded. He illustrates this idea by comparing their two souls to gold which was beaten thin. Hence, Donne refers to the science of metalworking in order to convey a particular notion about love and spirituality. He uses the value and elastic attributes of gold in an ingenious conceit to depict the love between him and his wife as superior and to portray that their souls cannot be separated through physical absence. As a result, Donne communicates simultaneously that the relationship of profane lovers would experience a break if they separated from each other since such love solely relies on physicality.
However, the science in Donne's use of imagery yet again implies divergent conclusions in reference to his assumptions about love. It is important to consider that Donne compares their souls to gold because this material can be expanded. Because of that, and likewise due to his statement that earthly love can only survive if it is physically connected, the poet implies that the souls of profane lovers would be made of a material which is strong and solid as a whole but which cannot be broadened. However, because gold can be stretched, it is in itself less solid than other metals. Further, beaten gold also becomes more brittle and it is easier to tear it apart than a solid nugget of gold or of another form of metal. Thus, his conceit suggests that the souls of him and his wife are precious and fairly solid when they are physically together. If their souls get separated or beaten thin, however, they will, although they are still connected with each other, have to endure more fragility when the gold's thinness or rather the distance between them increases too much. Accordingly, Donne's conceit also implies that their love has to be handled with greater care when they are separated from each other and that the physical love of an earthly relationship might in fact be stronger than the love between him and his wife, provided that the profane lovers do not get separated from each other. As a consequence, due to Donne's incorporation of scientific knowledge into his metaphysical conceit, he anew disproves his own argument that his spiritual love is superior to profane forms of love.
The last three stanzas of the poem refer to the scientific context of Donne's time as well and contain an equally delusive yet ingenious conceit which ultimately invalidates the poet's line of argumentation. Yet again, Donne wants to highlight the transcendental connection between the souls of him and his wife and draws up another major metaphysical conceit which was inspired by science. To be exact, he relates their souls to a recent mathematical tool of his time, namely a compass, which was invented by Galileo only two years prior to the creation of this poem. In particular, Donne states that "they are two so / As stiff twin compasses are two" and thus he compares the unity of their love with the feet of a compass, meaning that they are individual parts of a unified entity.
Accordingly, the conceit implies that these feet, or rather their souls, can be separated from each other but will still remain connected at a fixed point above them. Thus, he further relates to their heavenly and transcendental connectedness and illustrates simultaneously that a separation of their souls is not possible. Moreover, he elucidates that his "[wife's] soul, [represents] the fixed foot" of the compass whereas the moving foot personifies Donne. As a result, the poet points out that "the fixed foot, makes no show / To move, but doth, if th'other do" and hence that his wife will remain at her position while Donne, the other foot, moves around.
The poet states that the fixed foot's "firmness makes [his] circle just, / And makes [him] end where [he] begun." Deducing from this statement, the moving foot is able to create a perfect circle which can be regarded as a symbol of their eternal connectedness as well as of the perfect and superior state of their love. This completeness, however, can only be achieved through the firmness of the fixed foot and accordingly, the role of the fixed foot is essential for the sublimity of their love. The OED points out that firmness can be defined as "cohesion [or] resistance to pressure" in general as well as "[t]he quality of being to a large extent unmoved or immovable . . . [due to] stability." Relating to the attributes of a compass, however, the firm foot always "leans and hearkens after [the moving foot]."
In this light, it is important to realize that the more the moving foot moves away from the fixed one, the more the center foot has to lean inwards to follow the departing foot. As a result, this decreasing angle creates a situation in which the firm foot increasingly approaches a horizontal position. Therefore, the chances grow that it will slide away laterally at some point and hence that it eventually loses its stability and firm stance. This imbalance will accordingly result in a distorted circle which likewise points out that absence and distance might harm spiritual love as well. Further, a compass can only be extended to a certain degree. If one foot roams too far away from the other, the pressure on their fixed joint above them will increase to a point at which the compass will ultimately break. Thus, in accordance with Donne's conceit, the spiritual unity and superior nature of their relationship, which is represented by this connecting piece, might break as well by implication.
On the contrary, however, the poet's imagery implies that the feet of profane lovers, which rely on physical connectedness, will remain in an upright position and accordingly they would never lose their firm ground and stability, provided that they will not get separated. Donne's imagery consequently suggests anew that a separation of spiritual lovers might potentially result in a fragility or in an imbalance of their love. Thus, it was demonstrated once again that the scientific context which Donne incorporated in his imagery eventually created major contradictions in his line of argument and thus invalidated his notions about his love and his relationship.
All in all, Donne made use of ingenious metaphysical conceits in his poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," which provided his audience with very unlikely similes and metaphors. He used this imagery to illustrate the qualities of his relationship and to prove that distance between him and his wife will not harm their mutual love. Further, the poet sought to highlight the superiority of his kind of spiritual love over profane and physical forms of love. He intended to illustrate that "dull sublunary lovers," who only rely on their senses and on being physically together, share a less pure and less virtuous form of love.
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