In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," to what does the speaker compare him and his lover when they must be apart?

A

to two shoes on a dancer

B

to two birds that mate for life

C

to the two legs of a compass

D

to wheels on a cart

Question

English

Oscar Montgomery

22 March, 17:19

In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," to what does the speaker compare him and his lover when they must be apart?

A

to two shoes on a dancer

B

to two birds that mate for life

C

to the two legs of a compass

D

to wheels on a cart

+2

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Marcelo Blevins · Answer 1

C. To the two legs of a compass.

Explanation:

John Donne's poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a metaphysical poem about the parting of two lovers. This farewell speech of the poet and his wife is a form of forbidding a person to be sad at the parting.

Lines 25 to 28 goes as follows-

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if the other do.

It is here that the speaker makes a comparison between him and his lover and the two feet / legs of a compass. Thus, the correct answer is option C.

In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," to what does the speaker compare him and his lover when they must be apart?Ato two shoes on a dancerBto two birds that mate for lifeCto the two legs of a compassDto wheels on a cart

In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," to what does the speaker compare him and his lover when they must be apart?

A

to two shoes on a dancer

B

to two birds that mate for life

C

to the two legs of a compass

D

to wheels on a cart