John Donne: Poem analysis » A Valediction: of Weeping » Themes in Valediction: of Weeping

Separation

The main theme is that of separation. There are two facets of this:

• Is the worth of the lovers' unity shattered by separation so that they are worthless, false on their own? Is this what absence does – devalues us?
• Is the metaphysics of leave-taking, whilst natural, also unnatural since it could hasten the death, or non-entity, of the other? He argues this much more fully in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.

Unity

Implicit in the theme of separation is that of the nature and completeness of the lovers' world. Even in their weeping, their tears mingle and form a unity – but it is a destructive unity. Her grief deluges and drowns him. Donne has no answer for this in the poem.