A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
by John Donne
1. What is the central theme of the poem ‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’?
Ans: The central theme of the poem ‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’ is the unity of kindred souls.
2. What does the word “Valediction" mean? [NU 2013, 2017]
Ans: The word 'valediction' means the act of bidding farewell.
3. Why does the poet forbid his beloved to mourn?
Ans: The poet forbids his beloved to mourn because mourning will profane their love by bringing it to the knowledge of other people.
4. What does Donne mean by sublunary lovers?
Ans: By ‘sublunary lovers’, Donne means the lovers whose love lacks brilliance because it is based on the senses. They are mundane and sexual lovers who cannot tolerate bodily separation.
5. What does the poet compare their souls to in the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning?
Ans: In the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, the poet compares their souls to two feet of a compass.
6. Which geometrical figures are used to indicate the love of the poet and his beloved?
Ans: The geometrical figures of two parallel lines are used to indicate the love of the poet and his beloved.
7. Whom does the poet compare with a pair of twin compasses as we find in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
Ans: The poet compares himself and his beloved with a pair of twin compasses in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning". Here the poet compares himself to the moving foot and his beloved to the fixed foot.
8. What is the nature of love between the poet and his beloved?
Ans: The love between the poet and his beloved is spiritual in nature. It is “so much refined” and “Inter-assured of the mind”.
9. In what sense, Donne's love is platonic in the poem "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"?
Ans: In the poem "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" Donne's love is platonic in the sense that his love is spiritual and different from sublunary sensual lovers.
10. Point out an example of metaphysical conceit from the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning".
Ans: “If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two.”
11. "If they be two ......... if the others do." – Explain.
Ans: Donne compares his relationship with his beloved to that of the two legs of a drawing compass. The poet and his wife are separated like the legs of the compass. Yet they are united because they are the parts of the same soul.
12. "Thy firmness makes my circle just" – Explain.
Ans: Here the beloved is compared to the fixed foot of a compass and the lover to the roaming foot. The firmness of the fixed foot is required to make the circle perfect (just). It means that if the beloved is firm in her position, the lover can come back to the same point from where he, the roaming foot, starts his journey.
13. In which poem do you find the image of the 'compass'?
Ans: We find the image of the 'compass' in the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne.
This answers help a lot but it would be more better if long answers were also explained 🪄
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