Literary Comparison and Analysis of Two John Donne’s Poems
John Donne, an author from the same time period as Shakespeare, wrote mostly his poems based on love. In the “A Valediction: Forbidding Love” and “Sweetest Love, I do not go”, Donne chooses to focus on the theme of love never dies and how it will come back around. Although Donne wrote “A Valediction” as a farewell address to his wife and “Sweetest Love, I do not go” employs a soldier leaving for duty, both works contribute to the common theme of love never dying and how it will always come back around. John Donne dedicated the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Love” to his beloved wife Anne More, before they separated in 1617. Donne uses the symbol of a compass throughout the poem to describe the relationship he had with his wife. In the lines of the first stanza it says, “As virtuous men pass mildly away… whilst some of their sad friends do say, “The breath goes now,” and some say, “No. ””, Donne expresses how he wants their separation to be peaceful like the death of a good man. To also connect the theme of love, in line 11 he calls a specific kind of love “Moving of the earth” and how it “brings harms and fears”. In this stanza Donne is comparing a low level love to a love like theirs in which he believes that just like the planets orbiting around each other. No matter how far apart they go, they will always come back and find each other.
Lastly, Donne uses a metaphor in which he compares a compass, that is often used in math, to the power of their love. The author calls their two souls, “one” and the “fixed foot” part of the compass. The two souls combined together stay in one spot forever and the part that moves in circles, “comes home. ” just like the theme. In the other poem, written about a soldier leaving on duty, Donne connects to the theme of love never dying as well as it coming back around. For example, in the second stanza of the poem, it talks about how “yesternight the sun went hence, and yet it is here to-day…”, this translates to the husband leaving on duty explaining to his wife that the sun goes down at night, yet it comes back the next day. The beloved man obviously has a sense and a desire to come back to his lover. This immediately connects with the theme. Donne wrote this poem in which the man explains to his wife he will come back like the sun always does. Finally, the last stanza in the last few lines it says, “But think that we are but turn’d aside it sleep. They who one another keep alive, ne’er parted be. ” The author wants the audience to realize that the man wants his wife to think of them as falling asleep and in a dream while he is away at war and someday they will eventually awaken. In conclusion, John Donne uses his two poems “A Valediction: Forbidding Love” and “Sweetest Love, I do not go” to make a bold statement about love. He highlights the theme of love never dying and how it will always come back to you.
Although, these two poems have completely different plot lines, the main point of them is simple. Both “A Valediction: Forbidding Love” and “Sweetest Love, I do not go” are, in their own different way talking about love, but talking about love and how it will not betray you. By reading these two poems, Donne not just wants the reader to identify and understand what the men had to endure during this time period, but connect to it. The topic of love by John Donne differs in every poem, and by utilizing the power of love through each poem, he allows the audience to connect them together through one simple theme.
