"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a metaphysical poem written by John Donne. According to Donne's biographer Izaak Walton, Donne composed it for his wife in 1611, when Donne was about to embark on a trip to France and Germany. It was first published in the 1633 collection Songs and Sonnets, two years after Donne's death.
The poem famously uses the conceit of a drafting compass to describe the strength of their spiritual love. Donne writes:
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Date of first publication:
- 1633
