Group+Passage

=**A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING.**=

by John Donne
AS virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, "Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ; 'Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love.

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.

Dull sublunary lovers' love —Whose soul is sense—cannot admit Of absence, 'cause it doth remove The thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined, That ourselves know not what it is, Inter-assurèd of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two ; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run ; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.

__**Purpose and the affect of Conceit:**__
The speaker of the passage is talking about the separation that is about to occur between him and his beloved. Through this passage the speaker intents to tell his love that although they are about to split their love is inseparable. By the speaker's use of conceit his purpose of their refined love is emphasized to a great extent. For example the speaker states that when they separate they wont lose their love but it will expand,"Like gold to aery thinness beat." This comparison between two dissimilar subjects adds to the affect of how united their love is. The speaker's purpose is furthered when he relates a compass to their undividable love." And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home." Similar to the legs of the compass the lovers split but as they do, they are still connected and the distance between them will always be the same. One can say that by utilizing the literary technique of conceit the autrhor's purpose is elaborated and is successful.