A VALEDICTION: FORBISSING MOURNING

Analysis of the first four stanzas

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls, to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, no:

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

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.

Dull sublunary lovers love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

"A Valediction: forbidding mourning" is a metaphysical poem written by John Donne.
It is about the separation of two lovers. One invites the other not to suffer for their distance because their love is not only carnal, but rather metaphysical.
Throughout the nine quatrains narrator's invitation (already clear from the title) not to cry is explained by using arguments, metaphors, similes and other rhetorical devices.
As a matter of fact right from the start the speaking voice makes a simile between virtuous men at the point of death and their separation: as virtuous men's death doesn't provoke pain to their friends, but only sadness (because they will reach God), so the narrator and his woman should not suffer and cry for their separation because their love is not only physical.
The meaning of it is emphasized in the first stanza by alliteration of "s" and "v" and "w" because the narrator wants to create a soft atmosphere.
Instead in the second stanza harsh sound "n" and "t" and repetition of negations such as "nor" and "no" underline his forbidding mourning. Besides woe is described by using words which remind the semantic field of water damages (floods and tempests) to highlight human emotions as well. What's more their love is described as something pure and metaphysical thanks to use of words like "profanation" and "laity" which remark religious code. It stresses the importance of a feeling that goes beyond passion.
Then the speaking voice carries on by making a metaphor in order to convince her not to feel pain: something which is earthly, and so mortal, causes fears and harms (such as moving of the earth), instead celestial things are innocent, even if they are moving.

By saying it the narrator wants to make a comparison in order to point out that their love is above a passionate feeling, it is eternal and celestial and distance cannot create troubles between them. Therefore difference between assets and pure love is made.
In addition in the fourth stanza the speaking voice adds that sensual love, that means that it appeals only to senses (underlined by the narrator when he says Dull sublunary lovers love(Whose soul is sense)-line 14) is generated by physical relationships, therefore absence of them is not admitted.