“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Introduction

• Read the full text of “A Valediction: Of Weeping”

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Summary

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Themes

• 

  The Pains of Parting

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.
• 

  Love and Connection

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Valediction: Of Weeping”

• Lines 1-4

  Let me pour forth
  My tears before thy face whilst I stay here,
  For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,
  And by this mintage they are something worth,

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-9

  For thus they be
           Pregnant of thee;
  Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more,
  When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore,
  So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse shore.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 10-16

  On a round ball
  A workman that hath copies by can lay
  An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,
  And quickly make that, which was nothing, all;
           So doth each tear
           Which thee doth wear,
  A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 17-18

  Till thy tears mixed with mine do overflow
  This world; by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolvèd so.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 19-22

   O more than moon,
  Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere;
  Weep me not dead in thine arms, but forbear
  To teach the sea what it may do too soon.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 23-27

  Let not the wind
           Example find,
  To do me more harm than it purposeth;
  Since thou and I sigh one another's breath,
  Whoe'er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other's death.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Conceit

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Pour forth
• Thy, Thine, Thee, Thou
• Coins
• Stamp
• Mintage
• Emblems
• "When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore"
• Diverse
• Hath
• Afric
• Doth
• Yea
• "Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere"
• "Weep me not dead"
• Forbear
• Purposeth
• Whoe'er
• Hastes

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Valediction: Of Weeping”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Speaker

“A Valediction: Of Weeping” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “A Valediction: Of Weeping”

More “A Valediction: Of Weeping” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Metaphysical Poets — Learn more about the witty, brilliant 17th-century literary movement for which Donne is the poster boy.

  • Donne's Portrait — Admire a rather dashing portrait of Donne as a young lover.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Donne's life and work via the British Library.

  • Poems (1633) — Take a look at images from Donne's posthumous collection Poems (in which this poem was first printed).

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

  • A Hymn to God the Father

  • Air and Angels

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Apparition

  • The Canonization

  • The Dream

  • The Ecstasy

  • The Flea

  • The Good-Morrow

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed