Forbidding Mourning

John Donne's poem, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a poem of one lover speaking to the other about death. To explain the lover's ideas and beliefs of death, Donne using altering stanzas dealing with the ideas, actions, and beliefs of the general public, and the ideas, actions, and beliefs of the lovers. The first stanza is posed to be speaking about people in general, and how as someone passes away, they may be at peace with themselves, however their friends, and those that care about him/her, can either be at peace with the death as well and accept it, or can be in denial, and mad or depressed. Donne uses this to introduce the situation of the lovers, as one lover tells the other that in their death situation, they should accept the situation, and be at peace with the death of the other. The next two stanzas are once again in general. The first stanza in this is:

"Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent. "

I took this to be taken as the general view of death. Donne relates how men fear the unknown, and make up meaning and explanations for it, however the unknown is not necessarily bad or evil. This is just like death, many view it to be bad, and a tragedy, however simply because it is unknown does not make it a bad thing.
The second stanza in this series of general is used to describe the difference between normal lover's love, and their love. The speaker compares how regular lovers can't admit the death of their lover, or the "death" of their love, because they need it. The speaker however, says that their love is above that of regular love, and it is not the physical sense that is important, but that they are connected in their very being and mind. The speaker further goes on to explain (in the rest of the stanzas) that very difference. About how unlike other lover's, the separation that their souls endure because of the death is a new adventure, it strengthens their love, and their souls.

“The Good-Morrow” Commentary

“The Good-Morrow” by John Donne is yet another poem about love by Donne, in which he expresses the feelings and effect of love through metaphors and imagery. The metaphors and imagery are split into three different phases; before love, as seen in the first stanza, during love, as seen in the second stanza, and finally, what love is, or the total accumulation of what love is, as seen in the third stanza.
In the first stanza, Donne expresses how pointless life was without love. The main metaphor used to express this was with the line “But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?” Donne compares how his life before love was simple, or meaningless, through using country pleasures. “Country pleasures” is meant to mean lust based relationships, meaningless relationships.
The second stanza is used to talk about how love makes one feel. Donne says that love “makes one little room an everywhere.” The little room refers to how love, physically, is a small thing between two people, however mentally, love is unconfined to “a little room,” it is boundless, it is anything and everything.
Finally, in the last stanza, Donne tries to express what love is through the metaphor “Where can we find two better hemispheres, without sharp north, without declining west.” In using hemispheres, Donne makes a comment how there are two parts to the one whole, two hemispheres to the one world, two people to make up one world. However, Donne further comments upon the overall unity of love by stating how though though the two hemispheres are separate, they are “without sharp north, without declining west,” meaning that they do not have bounds or limits. So Donne is saying that though physically two people in love are separate, they make up one whole, and are not bound to stay separate.
Throughout the poem, Donne uses imagery and metaphors to communicate the ideas and feelings he has about love, to help everyone understand and relate to his ideas of love.