A Valediction

Donne's speaker begins with the very weird metaphor of an old man dying.
Romantic, right? He says that the parting between him and his wife should be
like the gentle death of an old man—you can't even tell when he's stopped
breathing. You had us at 'dead guy,' John.

Then he shifts gears and compares shallow love to earthquakes that make a big
scene and cause a big fuss, but don't have tremendous lasting effects. On the
contrary, his love is like the unnoticed, subtle movements of the stars and
planets that control the fates of every person (well, according to popular
belief). That super-handsy couple can't stand to be apart because their
love is based solely on physical contact, but the love he has can stretch any
distance because the pair share one soul. Now he's turning on that old Donne
charm.

To further prove the greatness of their love, he gives his last metaphor: a
mathematical compass—because nothing says sex appeal like mathematical
apparatus. But he says that he and his wife are like a compass when drawing a
circle. One foot of the compass (Donne) goes way out and travels around, while
the other (his wife) stays planted at home and leans after it. But those two
compass feet are part of one unit and will always end up back together. And we
give props to anyone that can drop the microphone with that as a closing image.

……….
The poem begins with the image of virtuous men mildly accepting
death. The separation of body and soul is so gentle that those friends
surrounding the dying cannot tell whether the men are alive or not. So,
Donne says, should he and his beloved part, because they do not want
to reveal the quality of their love to the uninitiated. Here, then, is the
first reason to forbid mourning.

Through a series of elaborate metaphors, Donne offers a second

reason. When an earthquake occurs, causing only small cracks in the
ground, everyone is disturbed and regards the event as threatening,
but when planets move apart, though the distances are great, no harm
results. Earthly lovers, Donne continues, cannot accept separation; they
fear it as people do earthquakes, because sensory and sensual stimuli
make up the entirety of their affection. Donne and his beloved,
however, who love spiritually as well as physically, are less troubled by
being apart. Their two souls, being one, remain united even when their
bodies are apart, just as gold stretches thinly without breaking.

Even if the lovers retain their individual souls, they are divided only like
the two parts of a compass used to describe a circle, linked at the top
and working in unison. When the compass draws a circle, one point
remains stationary in the center but leans toward the other, and by
remaining firmly in one place, the fixed point guarantees that its partner
will complete its circuit. So the beloved will, by remaining at home,
ensure Donne’s return; since he will certainly come back, mourning is
inappropriate.

……….
Lines 1-2
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,

 Bummer. Folks are dying. In this case, the speaker is talking about the
death of "virtuous" men, who "pass mildly away" because they have
no regrets or shame. Death, for these men, is peaceful. So, maybe it's
not such a bummer.
 More than that, they are in control. They can simply "whisper" their souls
away off to heaven. A little morbid, sure, but it's kind of nice.

Lines 3-4
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, No:

 Lines 3-4 tell us that, when these virtuous men die peacefully, all their
friends gather around the deathbed.—one of them looks at the man in
the bed and says, "He stopped breathing!" But then everyone else leans
in and shake their heads, "No."
  Whether or not this is the sort of thing that actually happened around a
deathbed, Donne's really just emphasizing the point he already made. It's
like a joke:
 "Virtuous men die really peacefully."
 "How peacefully do they die?"
 "They die so peacefully that even their friends can't tell when they've
checked out!"

Lines 5-6
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;

 So, we had a nice little picture of a dying man, but Donne still hasn't told
us what this has to do with anything. That's a typical Donne move.
Metaphysical conceits (these types of metaphors) often carry along for a
while, getting more outlandish as they go. Like a good metaphysical
poet, Donne sets up the metaphor in stanza one, then brings it home
starting here. Poets like Donne were getting bored with the old lines:
"Baby, our love is like a rose." They wanted something new, something
that would get their ladies' attention. So Donne apparently decided to go
with: "Baby, our love is like a dying old man." I bet that got her attention.

 It's not just any dying old man, though. You've got to look closely at
Donne's metaphors—they make sense, but only if you follow their weird
logic.
 … reasoning ability—the ability to see connections between words and
ideas. The "so" in line five, then, is the turn in the analogy. The first four
lines gave us the first half: "virtuous men are to peaceful death." Now
line five gives us the rest: "as our love is to peaceful parting." Just as
even their friends can't tell when the old men die, so unnoticeable should
be the parting between these lovers.
 But even while Donne is resolving one metaphor, he is already busy
setting up his next one. He begins with a nature metaphor: "let us melt."
We picture winter snows or icicles on a rooftop—a slow natural process.
The metaphors in line 6, though, keep us in nature, but move us to
natural disasters: "tear-floods" and "sigh-tempests." These
are hyperboles, or exaggerations, like "cry me a river." This hyphenated
 description is also commonly referred to as an epithet or a kenning. In
the space of two lines, we've travelled from an old man's deathbed to the
middle of a great storm.

Lines 7-8
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

 Donne was a lawyer, so he is always on the lookout for a counter-

argument. I mean, what if his wife had said: "Ummm, yeah, it's just that I
don't want our love to be like a dead guy." So he cuts her off with a
brilliant argument: "Here's why we don't cry or throw a fit when we part: it
would be a 'profanation of our joys.'" In other words, it would make their
love low and vulgar, undignified.
 The "laity" simply means lay people, commoners. It's kind of a backward
argument. Aren't you supposed to publicly declare your love? Aren't you
supposed to hire a sky-writer to ask a girl to prom? No, Donne says. If
we publicize the pain we feel at parting, it cheapens it.

Lines 9-10
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;

 "Moving of th' earth" is a funny way of saying "earthquakes."

Earthquakes were (and still are, really) pretty unexplained phenomena.
Donne refers to them, though, to emphasize their violence—earthquakes
bring "harms and fears." They shake everyone up and make them
wonder "What the heck just happened?"
 Line nine begins with a reversed iambic foot, called a trochee. Instead of
the expected iambic rhythm (da-DUM), we get "Moving." This is pretty
common, especially at the beginning of a line, but the fact that this is
the first reversed beginning might be Donne's way of putting extra
emphasis on the violence of the earthquake. By opening the line with a
stressed syllable, it packs a little more energy.
 Notice that line 10 moves us from the earthquake to peoples' reactions.
Donne reminds us that all this talk about natural disasters is just a long-
winded explanation of why it would be wrong to make a big show over
his departure. Here, he is saying that earthquakes cause mass confusion
and panic.
Lines 11-12
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

 You can't go too far in a seventeenth-century poem without some

reference to the cosmos. So fine, let's get a quick primer on all these
celestial references. Everything above the earth moved in spheres: the
moon, planets, the stars and sun. The spheres were concentric—picture
those Russian nesting dolls. Those spheres moved in their own patterns,
but different motions, vibrations, and alignments created what they
referred to as "celestial music" and that divine symphony controlled
everything in the universe—from the creation of planets and stars to what
you are going to eat for breakfast.
 Now "trepidation" usually means to be afraid or anxious, but this older
meaning actually means to make a literal trembling motion. So Donne is
referring to the trembling motions and vibrations of the heavenly bodies.
 Hmm. Looks like we may be off again on another metaphor. This one
may take a while to unpack—stick with us.
 The two important points of the metaphor are in line 12. First, the motion
of the spheres is "greater far." Yeah, sure, earthquakes make a big
scene down here on our little rock, but we are talking about the freaking
universe here, folks. An earthquake might shake stuff up for a little while,
but the motions of the spheres controls all eternity—much bigger deal.
 The second point in line 12 is that these motions (unlike the earthquake)
are "innocent." Not innocent like guilty/innocent, but innocent as in
unseen or unnoticed. We are innocent of these all-powerful forces.
Earthquakes are all show, but the motions of the stars are subtle, quiet.
Earthquakes, in other words, are shallow.

Lines 13-14
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

 Alright, alright, just in case you haven't put two and two together, let's get
this metaphor wrapped up and for all. Stanza 4 moves us away from the
natural disasters and is going to connect it back with his argument.
 Line 13 is a mini tongue-twister, with lots of playful L sounds twisting
through it. The playfulness of his argument is also emphasized by the
repetitive phrase, "lovers' love."
  We also skip right into this line by losing the first syllable. We ought to
start with an unstressed syllable here, but we hop right in with the
thudding sound of "Dull." After that, things go right back to
theiambic pattern we expect to see.
 "Sublunary" is a fancy, Latinate way of saying "beneath the moon." More
specifically, he is connecting shallow lovers' love to earthbound
earthquakes, as opposed to the motions of heavenly bodies.
 The parenthetical note really spells out what makes this type of love so
wrong. With the alliteration of "Whose soul is sense," Donne explains
that earthly lovers are only connected by earthly things, namely the five
senses.
 Line 14 ends with a cliffhanger. This is the first real enjambment of the
poem, meaning a line break that also breaks up a continuing thought.
Tune into the next line to find out what these lovers can't admit!
 The enjambment also allows for the more common definition of "admit":
confess, to assert itself.

Lines 15-16
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

 The first word of line 15 is like a punchline. First, we were waiting for the
resolution to the previous line. What can't they admit? Just tell us,
already! Second, "absence" is another trochee, meaning a reversed
iambic foot that puts the stressed syllable before the unstressed one.
This adds to the emphasis that we naturally feel.
 The rest of these two lines are unpacking the crafty logic of Donne: The
reason that these shallow lovers can't stand to be apart from one another
is that their entire relationship is based on their physical presence. They
can't unglue themselves from one another for two seconds. Because
their physical desires started ("elemented") their love, absence
extinguishes it. In your face, shallow lovers.

Lines 17-18
But we, by a love so much refined
That ourselves know not what it is,

 Here's the flip side to those shallow lovers. Donne returns (finally!) to
himself and his wife, the actual subjects of the poem. He reintroduces
them ("we"), but then immediately skips off again. It's another two lines
 for we get a verb for "we." These extra phrases act almost like royal
titles, elevating him and his beloved above the commoners.
 Donne is sneaky again in line 17. In line 16, he used the word
"elemented" to mean "began." Of course it also reminds us of the
physical elements. With the word "refined" here, he very subtly prepares
his audience for his next metaphor. But we're not there yet…
 At first glance, it's tough to see a real purpose to the easy-to-understand
line 18. Everything in the poem seems to have tricky double-meanings,
but this one seems like good old embellishment and that's it. May we
submit a possibility? The line actually parallels the original metaphor—
the earthquake and the motions of the spheres. The motions of the
planets and stars, remember, was "innocent," undetected and unknown
by anyone. Well, so is their love. It is so refined, so far above this world,
that not even the poet himself knows what it is. Line 18 refers all the way
back to line twelve to help the whole extended metaphor hold together.
That kind of staying power is a sure sign of a conceit.

Lines 19-20
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less eyes, lips and hands to miss.

 A couple of the central contrasts of the poem come into play in line 19.
First, you've got the contrast between lovers who are only connected by
their physical bodies and those who share a spiritual bond. Donne
emphasizes that he and his beloved are connected by their minds.
 The other central contrast that is introduced here is hidden in that not-so-
poetic phrase "inter-assured." Donne claims that he and his wife share
their mind and spirit with one another.
 It's easy to say that Donne looks down on physical attraction, but that's
not quite fair. He is merely stating that, when that physical attraction in
the only thing a relationship is based on, it's never enough. He loves his
wife, and he will miss her dearly. They just "care less" about missing
each other physically than their spiritual connection.
 Notice in line 20 that Donne divides up the person into parts ("eyes, lips
and hands"). This synecdoche (representing a whole with just a part),
reminds us that when our 'love' is only physical, it cheapens the other
person and turns them into a commodity.

Lines 21-22
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet

 Now we are hot and heavy with Donne's theology. He is practically

quoting the Old Testament book of Genesis here, which establishes
marriage as making two individuals into one unit.
 Like any good metaphysical poet, Donne doesn't shy away from
aparadox. He deliberately uses the words two and one in the same line
to emphasize the confusing, mysterious force of wedded love.
 Line 22 gives us our second big enjambment, or harsh line break. We get
the verb, telling us that the two souls will endure something, but we don't
know what yet.

Lines 23-24
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.

 Now we figure out what we aren't enduring: "a breach." "Breach" is a

harsh word, with its B that explodes out of our mouth and its screeching
long E sound. It fits perfectly. More than that, theenjambment itself made
us feel a break in the grammar, which mirrors the meaning as well.
 Hmm. How can a breach also be an expansion? This is yet
anotherparadox that will have to be explained: they won't break—they
will expand… somehow.
 The alliteration with rapid B sounds at the beginning of the line also
contrasts with the long sound of the word "expansion."
 Line 24 is one of Donne's easier analogies, both in form and content. It's
a simple simile and only takes one line to spit out, so that's nice. But if
you are at all familiar with metal-working (and who isn't, really?), it's also
a clear and straightforward image. Gold is a soft metal, easy to hammer
and work with. It can be hammered ("beat") into super-fine gold foil, and
a little bit can go a long way. Where other metals or materials would
break when you stretched or beat them, gold retains its "one-ness," even
across a great distance.
 The vowels in line 24 are mostly high and melodic, indicating the airy
lightness Donne is talking about. (Check out "Sound Check" for more
stuff on the sound of this poem.)

Lines 25-26
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;

 Once again, Donne attempts to cut off any and all counter-arguments,
just in case some jerk wants to bring up the fact that, as nice as it is to
talk about being "one" and everything, they still are literally two people
who are going to be separated by hundreds of miles. So the beginning of
this line concedes a little bit: "Fine. We're two. But if we are two…"
 He immediately whips up a new metaphor, one as weird as any we've
seen yet. Nothing says romance like mathematical equipment, right? In
this case, Donne begins to draw comparisons between he and his wife
and the two legs of a compass.
 The metaphor works with Donne's theology well enough. Even though
the legs of the compass are separate parts, they have been joined
together permanently and are useless apart from their partner.
 The repetition of the word two in these two lines is to slowly begin to
redefine the term. You've heard politicians subtly shift the meanings of
words to suit their argument. Same thing's happening here. He admits
that he and his wife are two, but then redefines two to mean what he
wants.

Lines 27-28
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

 We are reminded here that this is a poem written from Donne to his wife.
It's easy to forget because the argument becomes so convoluted, but the
"thy" brings us back to his audience.
 Donne's wife is "the fix'd foot" of the compass, meaning the one that
stays planted in the center of the circle.
 Donne begins to establish the quality he finds so vital in his wife—her
constancy. She is not only the fixed foot, but she "makes no show to
move" until he (the other foot) does. She is completely faithful to him and
supports him in whatever he does.
 It's easy to read this in the 21st century and say that this is Donne
emphasizing his wife's need to stay at home and depend on him for
everything, and we guess that's true enough. But try to remember that,
given their age and culture, this is still an impassioned praise of a
woman's love.
Lines 29-32
And though it in the center sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

 These lines go some way toward making us feel better that Donne is
more than a chauvinist. The whole stanza is dedicated to the "fix'd foot,"
to her. He doesn't blab on about all the great things he's going to do
while he's away. He focuses on the importance of that fixed foot.
 The first two lines here keep us turning and turning with more
contrasting, paradoxical language: "though" and "yet." When we boil it
down, though, it's not too bad. Even though the fixed foot is stuck there
in the center, it follows after the roaming foot by leaning.
 The leaning is personified with the word "hearkens." This calls to mind
the title of the poem, which forbids mourning at his departure. We
imagine Donne's wife (or her heart) longing outward toward her husband
across the channel. That personification is mirrored in line thirty-two—the
other foot, like Donne, will come "home" again.
 The word "erect" will inevitably always elicit a snicker when the poem
gets read out loud in class. (And honestly, most of the time, Donne's
wordplay is hinting in that direction. He's got some really naughty poems
out there.) In this case, though, considering we are talking about his wife,
it's probably a safe bet that we are just talking about how she will (like the
compass foot) stand tall and firm again when her husband is on his way
safely home.

Lines 33-36
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.

 The end of the poem spells out the metaphor and winds down the poem
with more praise for his wife. Line thirty-three connects the fixed foot
firmly with his wife.
 This stanza is similar to what is called the 'turn' in a sonnet (Donne wrote
lots and lots of those). Everything before the turn is metaphorical and
convoluted, but now at the end he makes everything plain.
  Once again in line 35 Donne praises his wife for her faithfulness, for
sticking with him even as he runs all over the place. We can connect the
word "firmness" with "fix'd."
 Of course Donne means that the center foot makes a circle accurate and
perfectly round, but "just" also carries with it a legal or even moral
connotation. It's possible that Donne is saying that the faithfulness of his
wife will keep him from straying while he is away. (Let's hope that she
didn't need that kind of reassurance.)
 The last line has a nice ring of finality to it. We've really come full circle
(see what we did there?). Seriously though, this line is Donne's final
promise, his final reason why they shouldn't mourn at his parting: if they
are both firm and strong, he will be back soon enough—right where he
belongs.

Lines 1-4
 The speaker is talking about the death of "virtuous" men, who "pass
mildly away" because they have no regrets or shame. Death, for these
men, is peaceful. More than that, they are in control. They can simply
"whisper" their souls away off to heaven.

 When these virtuous men die peacefully, all their friends gather around
the deathbed. They spend their time debating—one of them looks at the
man in the bed and says, "He stopped breathing!" But then everyone
else leans in and shake their heads, "No." That means: "Virtous men die
so peacefully that even their friends can't tell when they've passed away"
Lines 5-8
"In the same way our love is to peaceful parting."
Just as even their friends can't tell when the old men die,
so unnoticeable should be the parting between these lovers.
"Tear-floods" and "sigh-tempests." are hyperboles, or exaggerations.
“We don't cry when we part: it would be a 'profanation of our joys,
it would make their love low and vulgar, undignified.

Lines 9-12
Earthquakes bring "harms and fears."
They shake everyone and cause mass confusion and panic.
But the “trepidation; trembling motion”
of the planets are "innocent.": unseen or unnoticed.

Lines 13-16
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

 Alright, alright, just in case you haven't put two and two together, let's get
this metaphor wrapped up and for all. Stanza 4 moves us away from the
natural disasters and is going to connect it back with his argument.
 Line 13 is a mini tongue-twister, with lots of playful L sounds twisting
through it. The playfulness of his argument is also emphasized by the
repetitive phrase, "lovers' love."
 We also skip right into this line by losing the first syllable. We ought to
start with an unstressed syllable here, but we hop right in with the
thudding sound of "Dull." After that, things go right back to
theiambic pattern we expect to see.
 "Sublunary" is a fancy, Latinate way of saying "beneath the moon." More
specifically, he is connecting shallow lovers' love to earthbound
earthquakes, as opposed to the motions of heavenly bodies.
 The parenthetical note really spells out what makes this type of love so
wrong. With the alliteration of "Whose soul is sense," Donne explains
that earthly lovers are only connected by earthly things, namely the five
senses.
  Line 14 ends with a cliffhanger. This is the first real enjambment of the
poem, meaning a line break that also breaks up a continuing thought.
Tune into the next line to find out what these lovers can't admit!
 The enjambment also allows for the more common definition of "admit":
confess, to assert itself.

Lines 15-16
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

 The first word of line 15 is like a punchline. First, we were waiting for the
resolution to the previous line. What can't they admit? Just tell us,
already! Second, "absence" is another trochee, meaning a reversed
iambic foot that puts the stressed syllable before the unstressed one.
This adds to the emphasis that we naturally feel.
 The rest of these two lines are unpacking the crafty logic of Donne: The
reason that these shallow lovers can't stand to be apart from one another
is that their entire relationship is based on their physical presence. They
can't unglue themselves from one another for two seconds. Because
their physical desires started ("elemented") their love, absence
extinguishes it. In your face, shallow lovers.

Lines 17-18
But we, by a love so much refined
That ourselves know not what it is,

 Here's the flip side to those shallow lovers. Donne returns (finally!) to
himself and his wife, the actual subjects of the poem. He reintroduces
them ("we"), but then immediately skips off again. It's another two lines
for we get a verb for "we." These extra phrases act almost like royal
titles, elevating him and his beloved above the commoners.
 Donne is sneaky again in line 17. In line 16, he used the word
"elemented" to mean "began." Of course it also reminds us of the
physical elements. With the word "refined" here, he very subtly prepares
his audience for his next metaphor. But we're not there yet…
 At first glance, it's tough to see a real purpose to the easy-to-understand
line 18. Everything in the poem seems to have tricky double-meanings,
but this one seems like good old embellishment and that's it. May we
submit a possibility? The line actually parallels the original metaphor—
the earthquake and the motions of the spheres. The motions of the
 planets and stars, remember, was "innocent," undetected and unknown
by anyone. Well, so is their love. It is so refined, so far above this world,
that not even the poet himself knows what it is. Line 18 refers all the way
back to line twelve to help the whole extended metaphor hold together.
That kind of staying power is a sure sign of a conceit.

Lines 19-20
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less eyes, lips and hands to miss.

 A couple of the central contrasts of the poem come into play in line 19.
First, you've got the contrast between lovers who are only connected by
their physical bodies and those who share a spiritual bond. Donne
emphasizes that he and his beloved are connected by their minds.
 The other central contrast that is introduced here is hidden in that not-so-
poetic phrase "inter-assured." Donne claims that he and his wife share
their mind and spirit with one another.
 It's easy to say that Donne looks down on physical attraction, but that's
not quite fair. He is merely stating that, when that physical attraction in
the only thing a relationship is based on, it's never enough. He loves his
wife, and he will miss her dearly. They just "care less" about missing
each other physically than their spiritual connection.
 Notice in line 20 that Donne divides up the person into parts ("eyes, lips
and hands"). This synecdoche (representing a whole with just a part),
reminds us that when our 'love' is only physical, it cheapens the other
person and turns them into a commodity.

Lines 21-22
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet

 Now we are hot and heavy with Donne's theology. He is practically

quoting the Old Testament book of Genesis here, which establishes
marriage as making two individuals into one unit.
 Like any good metaphysical poet, Donne doesn't shy away from
aparadox. He deliberately uses the words two and one in the same line
to emphasize the confusing, mysterious force of wedded love.
 Line 22 gives us our second big enjambment, or harsh line break. We get
the verb, telling us that the two souls will endure something, but we don't
know what yet.
Lines 23-24
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.

 Now we figure out what we aren't enduring: "a breach." "Breach" is a

harsh word, with its B that explodes out of our mouth and its screeching
long E sound. It fits perfectly. More than that, theenjambment itself made
us feel a break in the grammar, which mirrors the meaning as well.
 Hmm. How can a breach also be an expansion? This is yet
anotherparadox that will have to be explained: they won't break—they
will expand… somehow.
 The alliteration with rapid B sounds at the beginning of the line also
contrasts with the long sound of the word "expansion."
 Line 24 is one of Donne's easier analogies, both in form and content. It's
a simple simile and only takes one line to spit out, so that's nice. But if
you are at all familiar with metal-working (and who isn't, really?), it's also
a clear and straightforward image. Gold is a soft metal, easy to hammer
and work with. It can be hammered ("beat") into super-fine gold foil, and
a little bit can go a long way. Where other metals or materials would
break when you stretched or beat them, gold retains its "one-ness," even
across a great distance.
 The vowels in line 24 are mostly high and melodic, indicating the airy
lightness Donne is talking about. (Check out "Sound Check" for more
stuff on the sound of this poem.)

Lines 25-26
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;

 Once again, Donne attempts to cut off any and all counter-arguments,
just in case some jerk wants to bring up the fact that, as nice as it is to
talk about being "one" and everything, they still are literally two people
who are going to be separated by hundreds of miles. So the beginning of
this line concedes a little bit: "Fine. We're two. But if we are two…"
 He immediately whips up a new metaphor, one as weird as any we've
seen yet. Nothing says romance like mathematical equipment, right? In
this case, Donne begins to draw comparisons between he and his wife
and the two legs of a compass.
  The metaphor works with Donne's theology well enough. Even though
the legs of the compass are separate parts, they have been joined
together permanently and are useless apart from their partner.
 The repetition of the word two in these two lines is to slowly begin to
redefine the term. You've heard politicians subtly shift the meanings of
words to suit their argument. Same thing's happening here. He admits
that he and his wife are two, but then redefines two to mean what he
wants.

Lines 27-28
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

 We are reminded here that this is a poem written from Donne to his wife.
It's easy to forget because the argument becomes so convoluted, but the
"thy" brings us back to his audience.
 Donne's wife is "the fix'd foot" of the compass, meaning the one that
stays planted in the center of the circle.
 Donne begins to establish the quality he finds so vital in his wife—her
constancy. She is not only the fixed foot, but she "makes no show to
move" until he (the other foot) does. She is completely faithful to him and
supports him in whatever he does.
 It's easy to read this in the 21st century and say that this is Donne
emphasizing his wife's need to stay at home and depend on him for
everything, and we guess that's true enough. But try to remember that,
given their age and culture, this is still an impassioned praise of a
woman's love.

Lines 29-32
And though it in the center sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

 These lines go some way toward making us feel better that Donne is
more than a chauvinist. The whole stanza is dedicated to the "fix'd foot,"
to her. He doesn't blab on about all the great things he's going to do
while he's away. He focuses on the importance of that fixed foot.
 The first two lines here keep us turning and turning with more
contrasting, paradoxical language: "though" and "yet." When we boil it
 down, though, it's not too bad. Even though the fixed foot is stuck there
in the center, it follows after the roaming foot by leaning.
 The leaning is personified with the word "hearkens." This calls to mind
the title of the poem, which forbids mourning at his departure. We
imagine Donne's wife (or her heart) longing outward toward her husband
across the channel. That personification is mirrored in line thirty-two—the
other foot, like Donne, will come "home" again.
 The word "erect" will inevitably always elicit a snicker when the poem
gets read out loud in class. (And honestly, most of the time, Donne's
wordplay is hinting in that direction. He's got some really naughty poems
out there.) In this case, though, considering we are talking about his wife,
it's probably a safe bet that we are just talking about how she will (like the
compass foot) stand tall and firm again when her husband is on his way
safely home.

Lines 33-36
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.

 The end of the poem spells out the metaphor and winds down the poem
with more praise for his wife. Line thirty-three connects the fixed foot
firmly with his wife.
 This stanza is similar to what is called the 'turn' in a sonnet (Donne wrote
lots and lots of those). Everything before the turn is metaphorical and
convoluted, but now at the end he makes everything plain.
 Once again in line 35 Donne praises his wife for her faithfulness, for
sticking with him even as he runs all over the place. We can connect the
word "firmness" with "fix'd."
 Of course Donne means that the center foot makes a circle accurate and
perfectly round, but "just" also carries with it a legal or even moral
connotation. It's possible that Donne is saying that the faithfulness of his
wife will keep him from straying while he is away. (Let's hope that she
didn't need that kind of reassurance.)
 The last line has a nice ring of finality to it. We've really come full circle
(see what we did there?). Seriously though, this line is Donne's final
promise, his final reason why they shouldn't mourn at his parting: if they
are both firm and strong, he will be back soon enough—right where he
belongs.