A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a metaphysical song by John Donne. As a metaphysical poem, it is an argumentative form of poetry, in which the poet explains his thought about a problem of the human being or a particolar feeling.

First of all you have to analyse the title. Its translation is "Un invito che proibisce di lamentarsi".

The reader cannot immediately understand the situation because through the title he cannot imagine what the song may speak about.

While you are reading the text you can gradually realize the situation and the message that John Donne wants to convey.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a love song. The poet speaks about two lovers that are going to separate. The speaking voice, probably one of them, invites the other lover to meld without making noise, without crying and without sighing.

In the first quatrain, which has an intoductory function, John Donne uses a first simili to convince the lover who is going to be leaved, saying that they must act like the virtuous men, that die without noise and about some friends that hope they don't die. He underlines this concept: the two persons don't have to make noise because of their separation: it’s not the end and therire love is not dead. 

In the third quatrain the speaking voice refers to the Earth making a comparison. When the Earth moves you can see the effects. The word "trepidation" is very relevant because it is a feeling that you feel when you don’t know your future and you aren’t sure of what you will do, or will happen.

In the fourth quatrain the poet's thought comes to surface. He speaks about "Dull sublunary lovers' love" and he adds that "Whose soul is sense cannot admit of absence". John Donne wants to communicate that men's love depends especially of senses so it can’t accept a distance between the lovers: without senses this kind of love dies.

In the fifth quatrain the poet introduces his idea of love: "inter-assured of the mind, care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss". It means that there is another kind of love, the best form of love, which is immortal for John Donne. As a matter of fact he highlights that only the mind can give us the certainty that love will continue forever.

In the sixth quatrain the speaking voice repeats this important concept and adds that their minds don't suffering for the physical separation because there is an expansion.

In the seventh quatrain you find an other important comparison: the metaphor of the compass. John Donne compares the two lovers to the two feet of a compass. As a matter of fact they stay together but when one of them moves the other have to be stiff.

In the eigth quatrain the poet continues the description of the movement of the compass: "when the other far doth roam, it leans, and hearkens after it, and grows erect, as that comes home".

In the last quatrain John Donne concludes the song repeating again the comparison between the two lovers and the compass. This metaphor reassure them. He uses also the image of the "circle" to convey the perfection of this kind of love.