Here’s my rough notes on these:
Donne – A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning
First off, the title really strikes me here. I have to admit, I had to look up valediction in the dictionary.
“Valediction: saying farewell; a taking leave, an instance of this, a speech made at this time” (Webster’s New English Dictionary and Thesaurus, 623)
Hmmm… the multifaceted meanings of this word suggest a couple of different things…ok, so he is saying farewell. Consider the following footnote from my massive University text:
Izaak Walton speculated that this poem was addressed to Donne’s wife on the occasion of his trip to the Continent [Europe -- remember, the UK is an Island] in 1611, but there is no proof of that. Donne was, however, apprehensive about that trip; Walton also heard that, while abroad, Donne had a startling vision of his wife holding a dead baby at about that time she gave birth to a stillborn child (Adams, Greenblatt, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol 1 of 2. 1248 )
Yikes…heavy stuff!
So, Donne’s title could be referring to his wife in an attempt to help her work through her grief, but the title suggests that mourning be forbidden…hmmm….
The first stanza seems to examine how some people speculate when death will occur. It is confusing, but seems to suggest that ‘virtuous men’ die in a composed or ‘mild’ way (ln 1), telling their souls it is time to give up their body (2). This occurs while their friends sit around debating whether or not they are dead (3-4).
Second stanza – here comes the forbidding part… he calls for no noise (5), no big show of tears (6)
Then we jump into this discussion of earthquakes…and how it scares people (9) and they discuss the meaning behind them…ie was there some kind of judgment there from above, or is it a dark omen (10)
Donne seems to state ‘we’ (here I can’t help but jump to think it is him and his wife he is talking of….see where footnotes get you?!) have a love that is so pure (”so much refined” {17}) that it is foreign (18)
Ahhh…here comes the great part, in my opinion, and the part that may suggest or allude to the idea of Donne writing this to his wife prior to leaving on his journey. Line 22- 24 suggest that although they are parting ways, their love will be stretched out like gold–still in tact, still as beautiful and ‘refined’ as ever. I hate to say this because it sounds a bit corny, but it is like Donne is saying ‘our love will be a bridge that keeps us connected’ hmmm…bad metaphor. I apologize, but I think you get what I am meaning. Remember, they didn’t have e-mail or cell phones. This journey would be a long and arduous one (yikes, big word…better look it up to make sure it means what I think it means….yes! Thank you, Webster). Translation = they would be apart for a long time. I am sure any of you would love to hear someone you love say such a thing. Believe me when I say that when someone is saying it to you, someone you love, it isn’t corny.
Ok, so the reference to a compass (a great simile, no?) is not to a magnetic one, but to a compass you would find in your math set…you know, the one that people use to poke their classmates with during class (ok, so maybe you could use it for better things. My friends used to spread out the legs and put a rubber band between it…makes for a great improvised slingshot!). So, if people in love are two separate people, like Donne and his wife (25), they are still joined by their souls (27-28), or Donne’s wife is the one that keeps them steady by staying at home “Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show / To move” (27-28).
This is cool…continuing the simile about the compass, Donne suggests the one who stays fixed will somehow extend him or herself out after the one who is away “Yet when the other far doth roam, / It leans and hearkens after it” (30-31). He says that the person’s constancy is the anchor for himself, that brings him home: “Thy firmness makes my circle just / And makes me end where I begun” (35-36). What a beautiful ending!
I must say, when I first read this poem (yes, it is a first read for me), I ended wondering why they chose to put it in this course. I didn’t really understand it, but after reading it a second time and spending some time thinking on it, it is a great poem!
“Death Be Not Proud (Holy sonnet #10)” – uses apostrophe! and personification! (line1) also is a variation on iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) and rhyme scheme abba , abba, cddc, ee (3 quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet)
A great poem…
ln1-2 – death don’t be so proud, you aren’t so great
3-4 ref. to salvation? Those death “thinks thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me” (again, apostrophe here)
Donne acknowledges that death takes even ‘our best men’ (7)
Donne sees death as being subservient to ‘fate, chance,’ the act of rulers, and desperation (i.e. murder, suicide) (9), sickness, and war (10) instead of having the ability to act of its own accord.
He also makes reference to the use of opium and magic as either a means to achieve a more powerful death-like state, or to kill (i.e. overdose and curses?) (11)
the end couplet is a Christian declaration (or can be seen as such) — as we will awake to eternity (13) and Death will be conquered ref to I Cor. 15:26 — amazing jubilant ending! Death, however, has already been conquered.
Herrick, “To the Virgins…” a short one – rhyming couplets…
ln1 jumps out at me— it is a line quoted in a song by Sixpence None the Richer called ‘Meaningless,’ that I used to listen to. The song basically talks about how life is meaningless, like the book of Ecclesiastes does.
“So gather ye rosebuds while ye may
tomorrow you could lie in a silent grave
pawing the dust and awaiting the end of time
meaningless, it’s all meaningless
all my life and labour is foolish
and now I don’t have a reason to live anymore” – Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer)
I think the song echoes Ecclesiastes and also echoes the meaning of Herrick’s poem, that being our earthly life can be spent on trivial things and have it go by without us doing anything of value. Compare this to Herrick’s assertion that, “this same flower that smiles to day / To morrow will be dying” (Herrick, ln 3-4).
Lines 5-8 reflect on how time is ticking. Herrick relates the quick passing of time to the path of the sun, stating that as it nears the peak of it’s path it is that much closer to setting…this can be likened to life; as we near the peak of our lives, where we feel like we have hit our stride, we are really about half done and that much closer to death.
Herrick definitely has a view that the ‘twilight years’ are not as pleasant as youth (9-12). He also seems to recommend using your time wisely: “Then be not coy, but use your time” (12), although he does not say to use it well, and recommends ‘the Virgins’ get married (13) {apparently he thinks a single and chaste life is a waste….strange}, stating that once they lose the beauty of youth, it will be that much harder to catch a mate (15).
Ok, call me crazy, but I have to make another Biblical connection here. The title begs the comparison to Christ’s parable of the Virgins heading to the wedding feast, which is backed up by the content of the poem. If you recall, the virgins spend most of their time unwisely, and end up being late for the wedding feast. Herrick’s reference to ‘gathering rosebuds’ (1) is one of wasting time.
