Themes in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

Separation

The obvious theme in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning is that of Separation. As with all valediction poetry, separation is naturally a cause for grief, and therefore either consolation or fortitude are needed. Donne comes to this theme from another one: The nature and completeness of the lover's world. For him, this completeness has a sacred, even mystical, force. Hence

where laity means those who are not part of the order of ‘priests', or those initiated into the religion of love. In the end, he has to admit that their love is so mysterious

Even so, Donne is human enough to know that beyond the metaphysics of such love, an actual attitude of courage, a stiff upper lip, is what is most helpful to him. It is ‘Thy firmnes' in the end that is likely to help him come home safe and sound, rather than her tears.