There is little argument as to what Donne is feeling at surface level: he is sorrowful and grieving because he must be apart from his loved one, who has become his world (a metaphor which is carried out in the second stanza). Empson is indeed correct when he says that the poem is not unambiguous. There is a large range of interpretations that can be made based upon the language in the poem, and these are focused around the source of Donne's grief.

It is easy for one to picture a grieving sailor leaving his lover, but what makes this man grieve? It is the innate love between two people who are intensely focused upon each other which must be put on hold? Is it some additive emotion that consists of two people who are about to suffer separation and l

The very last two lines of the poem are somewhat ambiguous in their meaning. Empson's interpretation goes as follows: "'our sympathy is so perfect that any expression of sorrow will give more pain to the other party than relief to its owner, so we ought to be trying to cheer each other up.'" These lines seem once again to validate the continuing relationship between Donne and his lover. While they are apart, they are still one in grieving, so if one gives way to sorrow and extends beyond the normal process of human grieving, then they are cruel for inducing the kind of self-pity and emotional strain which might end the world which has been created. Their relationship relies on the stability of the two while they are apart, and if there should be an imbalance, it would "[haste] the other's death."

To begin the third stanza, Donne compares his lover to a celestial body, and calls her "more than moon." While it is true that the moon can be seen as cold and distant, this metaphor is apt because he has seen a globe created about him, and she exceeds the paired celestial body of the Earth - the Moon. The Moon can be seen as a figure of constancy that is with us in our darkest hours, both literally and figuratively. In extending the moon metaphor, Donne begs her not to use her power to make him drown in tides (that is, she should not see him as dead and lost, and thus drowned by tears in their world). Donne also fears the misfortune that might come in the auguring of a death at sea, which is what her tears mean to him. He seems to be proposing that they should not fear more than what is coming, because the sea may take his life, as might the wind, but she should not fear him lost while he is still with her. This seems to be insinuating that the only way she may lose him is death, and that she should not weep for that just yet. In a way, he is reaffirming that this "Valediction" is not a farewell to a relationship forever, but a parting of the physical proximity that has existed for so long.

Obviously, a poem such as "A Valediction: of Weeping" has a great deal of interpretive meanings, and to say one is the definitive truth would be farcical. However, it does not appear that Donne wrote this poem for the reasons that Empson describes. Donne appears to be making an effort to place both man and woman on some sort of equal plane, which is a rarity in his poems. Each is involved in the poem actively, and throug

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1650
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)