The sonnet I am going to analyse is “a valediction forbidding mourning” written by John Donne, one of the most significant metaphysical poet. This text is composed by nine stanzas and each of them have four verses.

I am going to study the first four stanzas.

First of all the poet decided to use rhyming couplet in all the text in order to highlight the meaning of every concept.

In the first stanza the poet wants to focus on the concept of the distance between two people. In particular, he makes reference to the departure of a person and the reaction of the dearest friends. He uses the sound device of a similarity in order to clarify the concept of the distance between two lovers. In my opinion the poet wants to make the reader understand that a man/woman should leave without any expression of pain or sadness by the closest friends. Furthermore he desires to highlight that when two lovers are distant one another, they should not cry or move “ sigh-tempests” since the would make a profanation of their love.

In the second stanza the poet wants to explain the concept said before. In particular his desire is to highlight that love should go beyond the senses. As a matter of fact it should be in the mind of the two lovers. As a result even if they will be far apart, their love will not fade.

In the third stanza the poet makes a comparison between an earthquake and the physical love. In his opinion e relationship built just on senses can be compared to an earthquake. As a matter of fact the natural incident provokes pain among people as physical love which makes people suffer when separated.

On the other hand a well-balanced relationship causes trepidation which is the movement of the sky. This doesn’t cause any fear since it is a nobler phenomenon than the earthen-one.

In the fourth quatrain the poets displays the concept that “sublunary lovers” cannot survive from the distance since their love is only linked to senses, it is physical. They are called “sublunary” because at that time the Moon marked the border between the corruptible Earth (in which they belong) and the perfect unchangeable world of the higher spaces and spheres.