"Saucy Pedantic Wretch" - AnnaKate
Hello and Goodbye, my dearest blog-post-readers. After the longest academic year ever, it is finally time for the final blog post of the 2018-19 school year. In true AnnaKate fashion, my title has nothing to do with the content of my post and it's just a line from the reading that made me laugh.
When I saw that "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" was in this packet of poems, I got really excited because this has been a favorite of mine for years.
When I saw that "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" was in this packet of poems, I got really excited because this has been a favorite of mine for years.
"Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two"
(lines 21-24)
I've always loved Donne's analogy of the gold being spread thin. No matter how thin it gets, it does not break. It is simply refined. He's talking to his wife in this poem, and the hopeless romantic in me always eats up stuff like this. The picture of life-lasting, sanctifying love that he paints in this poem has always stood out to me. (I got a little emotional rereading this poem today while I had "The Sixth Station" from Spirited Away playing in the background if I'm being completely honest.) Donne's compass analogy is also such an elegant picture of love, in my opinion. I'm attaching an image of what a twin compass is for anyone who was previously unaware so that the analogy will have its full effect.
Twin compasses move in sync with each other. They cannot move in opposition, hence the word "stiff." Donne continues this analogy at the very end of this poem, stating "Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end, where I begun." He's painting a picture of people in such complete harmony with each other. And I honestly don't really know what point I'm trying to make in talking about this. I am just completely moved by this poem every time I read it, and I started this year in Honors rambling about absolutely everything and nothing at the same time, so it seems fitting to close in the same fashion.
cade & josh (except they wouldn’t post so I texted them to Zelda)
I love the compass analogy! No matter how far apart the two ends are, they always work together and they always come back together. I always like analogies like this, the ones that take simple objects and give them entirely new meanings. You never really thought about it like that before, but now you can't see the object in any other way. It's beautiful, really.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, this poem of his is absolutely beautiful. The idea of perfect harmony to that level is so peaceful and perfect, it is complete and unprovoked. It almost reminds me of what Adam and Eve were before the fall, perfectly together without fault.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of beauty that Donne writes with, even in his prose. It is very aesthetical and polished, clean and well understood. I enjoy the emotion that you put behind the poem and the connectino that you share with it. Zane Duke
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to me to see what everyone's opinions are on these poems. When I read this, I only thought it was a sappy poem and didn't really care much for it. Then I come and read these other people's posts and realize everyone sees so much more in them y, than I do. I never would have made all these connections or even understood these analogies without reading your post (frankly i still don't really get it.. but that's okay). Anyways, this was cool to read and partially understand.
ReplyDelete