A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

     A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne speaks of two lovers, which are identifies as the laity and the priesthood. Throughout the poem, Donne uses an ample amount of similes. He begins the poem with a simile showing the idea of death, reading, "As virtuous men pass mildly away..." (Donne, 801). This simile is important when analyzing the poem. One question following the poem asks the reader to decipher whether the speaker is about to die or simply leave for a journey (question three). By taking the first simile into account, one can carefully read the rest of the poem to tell which option it is. After reading the poem a few times, I found that the reader is simply leaving for a journey. I found this because the first line says "As virtuous men pass mildly away..." This shows that people aren't actually dying, but it is similar to that. Also, near the end of the poem, it says, "Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home (Donne, 802). This shows that one lover is simply departing far away, but will return. This poem clearly fits into to this theme of love.