Commentary on Donne's Valediction : Forbidding Morning.

Now the major conceit is explained in the last three stanzas, comparing the couple in question to a compass.  

The first aspect to notice is that the speaker compares the woman with the fixed foot of the compass, and himself as the pencil holding part: “Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show To move but doth if the other do”. This part of the compass is the strong, immobile, and stable part that supports its partner (the pencil holding part).  This conceit is pretty straight forward. He explains that as a compass, when the pencil holding part is far from the center, the pin holding part bends in such a way so as to support it as much as it can, in order to be able to make a perfect circle: “Like th’ other foot, obliquely run ;

Thy firmness makes my circle just And makes me end, where I begun.” This translates in to: “no matter how far I am from you, if you support me, I will be able to surely come back.” Throughout the poem conceit has been used to ease the departure of the speaker, the further one goes in to his speech the more he/she is convinced that it would be good for him to leave. This shows that conceit plays a major part in the argument that the speaker presents as well.         

The argument that done came up with is simply genius. The argument is present throughout the whole poem. Everything that is said serves in helping the speaker get out of the awkward situation of saddening a woman. In the second stanza he tells her that it would be swearing/cursing their love to complain to the secular people. “Twere profanation of our joys to tell the laity our love.” The fact that it would be profanity to do so makes their love seem more religious, therefore more respectable.  The third stanza has a metaphor that was explained.

In this stanza he places their love to the place of the spheres, thus close to god (as they are very high up). “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”.  As they are so high up they are superior to other people. He also compares their separation to a trepidation of the spheres, (which has a great effect but hurts no one) thus charming the lady even more in to his argument, seeing it is sensitive and beautiful at the same time. He then goes to say that their love is much too powerful and meaningful for distance to hurt: “Dull sublunary lovers’ love, (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove Those things which elemented it”. Distance hurts those whom love the physical sexual aspect of their relationship, for in distance the physical aspect of love is missing, but the spiritual one is not. But we by a love so much refin’d  That ourselves know not what it is,” Their love is deeper and not only sexual, thus distance cannot hurt the relationship. This also works the same way as the first example, as it is sweet, charming and convincing in an argument as well. He also describes lovers that rely on the physical aspect of love as “sublunary” (meaning under the moon), signifying these lovers are under the speaker and his lover in terms of love level. Donne then uses the amazing conceit of the compass as a mean of argument. he manages to get the speaker to switch the situation, making the woman feel guilty and not the man. This even comes to be relatively ironic. The future of the relationship now relies on the shoulders of the woman, as she is the strong base. If she fails to support him he will not be able to come back from where he left.

The conceit and the argument work together to strengthen each other. As given with last example of how the compass conceit was used to convince the woman it was ok to separate. They do so by fitting together logically, which is another attribute to metaphysical poems. The effect of these techniques on the reader is that the reader is put in the shoes of the person the speaker is talking to. Thus one can feel like he/she is exactly inside the poem, and feels the emotion in a stronger way. By being put in the listener’s shoes one is duped in to believing what the speaker is trying to convey. The message feels like an excuse to leave; yet because one is charmed by what he/she hears one cannot help but let it go.  Such a discourse makes a speaker seem witty and good at debates at the same time. The speaker comes off as very intelligent and manipulative. This is so because he can support his excuse for leaving thus making his lover believe him. With such skill at arguments one could easily become the best salesman available.