At the beginning of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, the poet, John Donne, engages in a moralistic lesson to show the parallel between a positive way to meet death and a positive way to separate from a lover. When a virtuous man dies, he whispers for his soul to go while others await his departure. Such a man sets an example for lovers. The separation of the soul from the body, and the separation of lovers …showed first 75 words of 802 total…

…showed last 75 words of 802 total…unable to complete the journey and make the circle precise. In John Donne's "Valediction," the human souls are described in the context of a joint soul that is stretched by the separation, or two souls joined within a circle of spiritual strength. The circle in the "Valediction" represents the journey during which two lovers endure the trial of separation, as they support each other spiritually, and eventually unite in a physically and spiritually perfect union.