Valediction of Weeping

Question 1

Overview:

Answer 1

This poem is about parting, with the central conceit of water used to highlight the extremes of the lovers grief. The grief of the lovers is personified through the poem to have the ability to control natural bodies of water.

Question 2

Context:

Answer 2

• Written perhaps before one of Donne’s expeditions.
• Participated in a series of expeditions - eg trip to France - accompanied sir Walter Raleigh to Cadiz.
• May be a direct appeal to his wife Anne Moore.

Question 3

“let me pour forth/ my tears before thy face”.

Answer 3

• Donne seeking permission to exhibit his emotions.
• “pour” - connotations of a large volume - representing the extent of Donne’s sadness.

Question 4

“for thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,/ and by this mintage they are something worth”.

Answer 4

• conceit of coins - connotes the value of his emotions.
• like the metal of the coin is worthless until it has the stamp of a king/queen, so are the tears when the lover is not present.
• Donne’s tears holding the image of his lover makes the worth something.

Question 5

“so thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse shore”.

Answer 5

• Argument then when the lovers are separated, the images in the tears are lost and therefore the tears loose their value.
• No point in crying when the lovers have parted.

Question 6

Conceit of cartography:

Answer 6

• “A workman that has copies can lay… and quickly make that, which was nothing at all”/
• paradox in making “all” from nothing is explored through the image of a featureless ball being crafted into a globe.
• microcosmic image as the globe itself represents something far greater.
• Grief can quickly for a globe.
• Donne and his lover are the world to each other.

Question 7

“O more than moon”

Answer 7

• Complaints the image of round things - tears, coins, the earth.
• Circular image represented typographically through the exclamative.
• Moon may be a flattering comparison for his lover - associated with fertility.
• Moon can control the tides, Donne pleads with the lover to avoid using her powers to influence the seas to overwhelm him.

Question 8

“weep me not dead in thine arms, but forebear/ teach the sea what it may do too soon”.

Answer 8

• Donne presents a tension between loving and killing.
• Suggests that his beloved’s love for him has the potential to kill him.
• His argument is that her tears are so powerful they could act as an example for the sea - if her tears nearly drown him it may act as a model for the sea.

Question 9

Structure:

Answer 9

• untypical verse form - complaints the sense of the upsetting emotional state described.
• regular rhyme scheme - powerful sense of connection.
• Dramatic monologue - allows Donne to present deeply personal feelings in a direct form.