John Donne: Poem analysis » A Valediction: of Weeping » Language and tone in Valediction: of Weeping

Ambiguities

Typically, Donne begins dramatically: ‘Let me powre forth’, and he does!

• We may wonder whether ‘powre’ means ‘power’ or ‘pour’ in modern spelling. Modern editions may regularise the spelling, in which casethe ambiguity is lost.
• The same might be said for the play on ‘falls ... falst’ (l.8). In the talk of minting money, ‘false’ currency sounds a lot like ‘falst’, (‘makes false’ as well as ‘falls’).

Microcosms

The real force of language is derived from the microcosmic imagery: the little worlds of the lovers and their tears. So there are dramatic phrases such as ‘overflow this world’, ‘draw not up seas’, ‘weepe me not dead’, ‘hasts the others death’. After the emotionally quieter middle section, the language piles up into the ‘Weepe me not dead’, before subsiding a little to the end.