A Valediction Forbidding Mourning Donne Analysis

A Puritan woman in the 1600’s who devoted herself to care for her family. Anne Bradstreet was a mother and a writer. Writing became a hobby when Bradstreet decided to give it a try because she had read much of poetry in so many styles and languages. Most of her pieces were written for teaching purposes in a small school where she served. The author kept most of the poems private for the following reasons: Bradstreet believed her work was unexceptional and at the time it was peculiar for a woman to be writing poetry. In the back of her mind, the author’s principal obligation was raising her children when writing was completed in her unused time. Through the use of metaphors, Anne Bradstreet connected among the

Anne Bradstreet was America's first noteworthy poet in spite of the fact that she was a woman. Both the daughter and wife of Massachusetts governors, Bradstreet suffered all of the hardships of colonial life, was a mother, and still found time to write. Her poem, "The Author to Her Book," is an example of Bradstreet's excellent use of literary techniques while expressing genuine emotion and using domestic subject matter.

“And I their Mapp, who lie Flat on this bed”. He describes his body as a map, a metaphor for his life being a journey, which his doctors attempt to read in order to discover his illness and his suffering and ultimately where his journey ends. In reference to Cartography, Donne refers to bearings, using the imagery of a map to point out that what we see on the western edge of a flat map is also to be found on the eastern edge, showing that he believes life and death are connected to each other. In the final stanza, Donne feels joy at the though of death as he feels he will recover his identity by reuniting with the lord. In the final stanza, he returns to the idea of the first stanza, summing up the poem’s central message with the use of a paradox. “Therefore that he may raise the Lord throws down.” This paradox shows that to rise up to heaven, one must be thrown “down” by death, so therefore one must suffer to be accepted and united in a place where one’s identity is established. His extreme suffering has purged and prepared him for paradise.

The poem “To my Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet, is not just an exceedingly felt expression of a wife’s marital love and commitment to her husband, as it is about a puritan women who is supposed to be reserved but she makes it her obligation to enlighten her husband of her devotion. A thorough analysis of the poem’s paradox, hyperbole, imagery and repetition reveals how she conveys her message.

Donne compares the lover’s souls to two parts on a working compass. When a compass draws a circle, the circle stays stationary while the needle leans toward the magnetic attractions of the North Pole. A compass magnet always follows Earth’s magnetic field. The stationary point helps to show the needle the way north which correlates with helping one get home. Thus, these two parts represent the husband and wife. The wife being the stationary point that draws the needle (husband) in the direction back home.

Anne Bradstreet's poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband, shows her profound love and undying affection for her husband. For a Puritan woman who is supposed to be reserved, Bradstreet makes it her obligation to enlighten her husband of her devotion. She conveys this message through her figurative language and declarative tone by using imagery, repetition, and paradoxes.

Love can be quite a difficult topic to write about, expressing one’s intimate and innermost emotions requires a great level of dedication and honesty. If done correctly, the outcome is truly stunning. John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and Katherine Philips’s “To Mrs. M.A. at Parting” are two masterpieces of this genre. These poems depict the concept of true love so meticulously that the reader cannot help but envy the relationships presented. Perhaps the reason that these works are so effective is due to the fact that they are incredibly similar to each other. Although some differences are present when it comes to structure and gender concerns, the poems share the same theme of love on a spiritual level and show many parallels in meaning.

In “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” the third stanza (lines 9-12) compares the married lovers separation to an earthquake. The idea brings panic and fear to mind and is thought to be catastrophic. Donne then says “Though greater far, is innocent.” (line 12), meaning that while the thought seemed so devastating, in reality it is just an innocent small rumble, or “bump in the road,” that doesn’t have damaging lasting effects. In “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” the sunset is an important metaphor.

In Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, Bradstreet mentions the reciprocal love her and her husband share and how she prays that God will realize the strong bond the couple shares and that their love will be ever-lasting and will persevere even after death. Bradstreet stressed how important it was to her to be a good and humble Puritan wife and her poetry exuded the beliefs, values, and ideals of Puritan life.

In order to describe the form which Donne gives to true love he chooses to create a scene of separation. He insists that when in love, absence is not a cause for despair. Stanza two describes the usual reaction lovers have to separation but explains that such reactions of tears and sighs do not prove one’s love but rather the

All love is fair if you trust the Love God with your all. Throughout this poetic piece, John Donne is speaking from the heart. The language presented is a sensation whom is loving, caring, adoring, and faithful. A past lover may have done him wrong and seems to ne reflected upon it. He speaks from the deepest of his soul, from a love so powerful that couldn't be. “Donne’s love poetry was written nearly four hundred years ago; yet one reason for its appeal is that it speaks to us as directly and urgently as if we overhear a present confidence.” (Poetry Foundation) The author mentions he has deep affections for a woman that does not reciprocate the same feelings. John Donne can not seem to conclude why the woman does not feel the same way about him if the woman has experienced love before. As hes speaking on his personal experiences it even gives off a sense of empathy towards the end of the

By making many references to the Bible, John Donne's Holy Sonnets reveal his want to be accepted and forgiven by God. A fear of death without God's forgiveness of sins is conveyed in these sonnets. Donne expresses extreme anxiety and fright that Satan has taken over his soul and God won't forgive him for it or his sins. A central theme of healing and forgiveness imply that John Donne, however much he wrote about God and being holy, wasn't such a holy man all of the time and tried to make up for it in his writing.

In fact, Donne is in a constant quest to find a deeper meaning of love, though he is only met with disappointments at the end. To elaborate on this point, though Donne concedes that he had once found love when he mentions, “I have loved, and got, and told” (line 3), he (Donne) still carries the disjointed feelings that he got from this love.

Near the end of the poem, Donne makes an unlikely comparison between the couple and a draftsman's compass. This is one of his most famous metaphysical conceits because the two elements which are being compared appear completely different, and yet, amazingly, Donne is able to connect them. He explains that his wife is his "fixed foot" that leans towards him as he roams and straightens again as he returns, but remains his center. Her firmness is what makes his circle complete, "[a]nd makes [him] end where [he] begun"(line 36). The imagery of the circle and the spheres in this poem solidify the eternity of their love and the knowledge that the speaker will always return to the place where he began. Donne's comparisons create an image of celebration rather than mourning.

The central theme, introduced quite early within the poem, is the helplessness of death. Throughout the poem the speaker belittles death and approaches it with such bravery and poise. Donne confronts death by saying it is not in any regard “mighty and dreadful” (2), but rather brings “much pleasure” (7). Death is personified in the poem, and in this regard, possess no greater power over man. The speaker of the poem is Donne himself. He uses his literary tools of rhetoric and poetic devices to belittle death. Throughout the poem, the speaker comes across as being slightly arrogant, but he refuses to show weakness. His arrogance shows that he is not afraid of death as he demands death not to be proud. Donne takes the association of death and sleep, and reinvents this comparison to a greater effect. He describes sleep as being “pictures” (5) of death and death is no more different or more frightening. He extends this metaphor throughout the poem. In the second last line of the poem he