METAPHYSICAL POEMS OF JOHN DONNE

A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING                                                                                                                                                                              By -  JOHN DONNE

                 

" A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning" is one of the better known poems of John Donne.  It is a love lyric and has autobiographical value.  In this poem, the poet advises his beloved not to mourn at the moment they bid farewell to each other.

According to the poet, virtuous people are not afraid of death and they ask their souls to depart from this world without any morning and crying.  Similarly, the poet wants him and his beloved to bid good - bye to each other without making any noise about it.  Then, the poet says that their love is so spiritual and refined that even they themselves do not understand its real nature.  It is a mystery to them.  They are so sure of each others soul that physical self, eyes ears lips, hand, etc. does not matter all all to them.  Love has fused their two souls into one.  The poet compares themselves to a compass, whose two feet appear to be separate but they are united at the top.
The beloved has the same relation with the lover as the fixed foot of the compass has with the moving foot, which moves and draws a circle.  The poet's going away from home would be like the moving of the foot of a compass and they would be united when he returns home.  It is the firmness of the fixed foot which enables the moving foot to draw the circle correctly and then return to the place from where it began.  Similarly it is her love and faithfulness which would enable him to perform his journey successfully and then return home.

                                                                                                                                                    

THE FLEA

                                                                                                                  By - JOHN DONNE

'The Flea' by John Donne is a dramatic lyric.  Here, the lover is the speaker and the beloved is the silent listener.  The poet asks his beloved to observe the flea carefully.  The flea sucked her blood, and then sucked his and in this way in its body their respective bloods are mixed up.  But she must acknowledge that this mingling of their bloods in the body of the flea is neither sin, nor shame, nor loss of virginity.  The poet regret that such direct enjoyment is not possible for human being.

The beloved must not kill the flea because in its body her blood and his blood are mingled.  Therefore, the body of the flea is not only their wedding temple, but it is also theri bridal bed.  Their bloods mingle in the body of the flea as they mingle in the sex act despite the objections of her parents.  According to the poet, she should not kill the poor creature, because it would be triple murder.  She would kill the flea, as well as the poet whose blood it has sucked.  It will also be a self - murder which is prohibited by religion.

But, the beloved has already killed the innocent flea.  She herself admits that the loss of adrop of blood which the flea sucked has in no way made her weak.  She has also lost no honour in this way.  The beloved is triumphant and says that neither she nor her lover is in any way weaker for having killed it.  From this she should learn that her fears of losing her honour through yielding to the advances of her lover are false.  Just as she has lost little life in the death of the flea which sucked her blood, so she will lose no honour in yielding herself to him.

                                                                                                                                                 

THE ANNIVERSARIE                                                                                                                                                                                                                    By - JOHN DONNE

'The Anniversarie' is a dramatic lyric by John Donne in which the poet celebrates his love which is now one year old.  Here, the poet is the speaker and his beloved is the listener.  The central theme of the poem is the immortality of true love which transcends death itself.

The poet and his beloved first met each other, Kings and all their favourites have aged, the glory of honour, beauty and wit has passed away.  All other things are hastening to their decay, their love alone knows no decay.  Neither tomorrow nor yesterday does affect their love.  Their love never changes as it is eternal.  Time has had no influence on their love.  Their love, like a current of water has flowed on during this time.  Their love is immortal.  It is the same to-day as it was yesterday and it will remain the same in the future also.

The graves must hide their corpses.  If one grave might cover the two corpses, death would not separate them.  Their souls shall prove the constancy of their love.  Their love will increase still more in heaven when after death their bodies sink into the grave and the souls ascend to heaven.  In heaven, they shall be thoroughly blest.  They are Kings on earth in their love.  None can do treachery to them, unless one of them turns faithless.  That's why, the poet wants himself and her beloved to love nobly and live adding year to year until they are sixty.  Then they will celebrate their golden jubilee, it is only the second year of their love.