Analysis Of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

In the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” it is implied that the speaker will soon be leaving his lover. However, he does not take the time to tell her why or how he will be leaving. Instead, he focuses on the love they share and what it means before he departs. The speaker depicts to his beloved a heavenly and everlasting love that is illustrated though the comparison of earthly lovers, use of a “gold simile”, and compass imagery.
The speaker explains to his significant other that their love is much stronger than the earthly relationships seen around them. He first does this in the third stanza by saying, “but trepidation of the spheres. Though greater far, is innocent”. This quote is saying that even the distance between the planets …show more content…
In the sixth stanza he says, “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”. By breaking down this stanza, the reader will see the speakers’ references to the everlasting and heavenly love they share. Gold is one of the most precious metals known to man. On Earth it is used to signify importance and is held in very high regard. On the contrary, it is said that in heaven gold is so abundant that it is used to pave the streets, this is how the speaker creates the idea that their love is that of one from heaven. Continuing on, gold is a very strong but malleable material. The speaker uses this idea to create the idea of everlasting love. He states, “endure not yet a breach, but an expansion”. When gold is beaten it becomes increasingly thinner with every strike of the hammer. However, regardless of the number of blows it receives, it will not break. The speaker is saying that no matter how far they are stretched apart, they will be eternally linked by their pure and unfailing …show more content…
The speaker shows that they are eternally linked when he says, “Thy soul, the fixed foot makes no show to move, but doth, if the other do. This draws the picture that one cannot move with the other. Furthermore, it means that they complement each other as a compass does. Creating the image within the reader a compass needle, with one point showing north and the opposing side pointing south. Continuing with this imagery, the speaker personifies their love by saying that just like a compass needle, “when the other far doth roam, it leans and hearkens after it”. This draws an image of a compass needle going up and down at is axis in an attempt to hold true north. The reference to a compass also brings about the idea of their love being a safe haven, or heaven. A compass is meant to guide a man home, meaning that he finds security in their love just as he does in