A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Quotations
“As virtuous men pass mildly away…The poet says that he and his beloved should say goodbye quietly and peacefully, just like good men die. Their love is special. They should not show off their cry or sighs like ordinary lovers.Let us melt, and make no noise,
“(Whose soul is sense) cannot admitThe speaker argues that ordinary love cannot survive physical distance. Because that love is based on physical sensations like touch or presence.Absence…”
“But we by a love so much refined…The speaker says their love is spiritual. Distance cannot break this special love. So, they do not think about touch or kisses.Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.”
“An expansion,The speaker says their love stretches because of physical distance. He says that distance is not a break, just a stretching. Just like when gold is hammered into a thin sheet, it only gets bigger.Like gold to airy thinness beat.”
“If they be two, they are two soDonne compares the two souls of the lovers to the two legs of a drawing compass. One leg of the compass stands still, and the other moves, but they stay connected. This shows that even when lovers are far, their souls are still united.As stiff twin compasses are two;”