January+Poetry+Project



John Donne, in his poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," composes a request to "bond" with his lover through painting various images of an ideal connection that involves only one body which en**compass**es both of their spirits.
 * Valediction Analysis **

The first provoked image of Donne's desired bond appears in the fourth line of the poem in which he presents his main request for the reader, to "let us melt and make no noise." This is the basis for Donne's further elaboration of the relation. His wish portrays his belief for a perfect love- a mixture of the two bodies of the couple, achievable after a certain "melting" occurs between the pair. Judging by Donne's defense of the melting through characterizing it as "silent," "refined," and "innocent," it is more than likely that he is referring to sex, his perception of a "sublunary lover's love", and that this entire poem is written for the purpose of imploring coitus.

Donne's image of two conjoined bodies continues in the poem's conceit, in which he compares the close love to a compass. Both legs of the compass denote either of the lovers- no matter how far they stray from each other, they always remain as one entity joined by love and yearn for their partner. Donne explains that, while he may seem run in circles, his lover's love justifies his actions and breathes purpose into what he does. This appears very sweet and well-thought-out until you consider that the compass' hinge that allows both legs to remain joined is sex, and John Donne wants to have sex, and that everything is about sex, and sex sex sex sex sex.

For most the Renaissance Era is viewed as a time of radical transformation- an age when mathematical mastermind Leonardo da Vinci introduces the basis of modern inventions and explorer Bartholomew Dias sails around the continent of Africa. Writers of this time period are not excluded from this air of progressiveness, although their works reflect on a much more //teenage// sort of liberality. Poets of this period such as Herrick and Donne are most notable in their promotion of noble and honorable human values including frequently bumping uglies with people who are virtually strangers and generally "getting the most out of youth" aka acting like a degenerate hedonist. Compositions of the Renaissance predominantly reflect upon this sort of promotion of promiscuity or the encouragement of active relationships, topics seen in a high number of post-medieval works.
 * Thesis **

The fortification of fornication is a key Renaissance perspective of love, observed in many poems throughout the time period. Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" is one such piece that reflects upon this belief. The work reads as a letter composed by a shepherd to one he adores in an attempt to convince her to "come live with [him] and be [his] love." Throughout the poem the shepherd (or Marlowe) provides idyllic images of the countryside and idealized characterizations of their hopefully-soon-to-be relationship in an effort to convince the woman to join him in "these delights." "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick is a poem that advocates not even a sensual relationship as does "The Passionate Shepherd", but rather a sexually active lifestyle entirely. Herrick addresses young women and aims to inspire promiscuity through convincing them that their youth is short lived, and they are wasting it away in shyness and reservedness.

Much of this era's poetry uses time in a manner of examining how sexual activity should be handled. As mentioned before, Herrick's "To the Virgins" suggests that the most should be made out of youth before time withers it away as it does with all things. Sir Walter Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" handles the perception of time in a completely different manner. Rather than argue that it's ideal that a girl take advantage of youth before time strips it from her hands, Raleigh expresses the belief that short-lived, pleasure-seeking love is fruitless as time will eventually destroy it along with youth. Raleigh's nymph cleverly states that she will accept the offer to become the shepherd's lover as long as their youth persists on forever, a condition which cannot be fulfilled. She mentions that if that is not the case, then time will wipe everything he has offered to make for her, and the world will grow dull.



**Artist:** French (Fontainebleau) Painter (third quarter 16th century) **Medium:** Oil on wood **Dimensions:** 26 x 47 3/4 in. (66 x 121.3 cm) This work was painted after an engraving of a composition by Rosso Fiorentino (1494–1540) intended for the decoration of the Galerie François I in the château at Fontainebleau.