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Difficulty: Very hardExtended Metaphors and Conceits

Read the following excerpt from John Donne's seventeenth-century poem "A Valediction: Of Weeping" carefully:

Let me pour forth
My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,
And by this mintage they are something worth,
For thus they be
Pregnant of thee;
Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more,
When a tear falls, that thou fall'st which it bore,
So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse shore.

In the first stanza, how does the extended metaphor of mintage function to develop the speaker's attitude toward separation?

  1. It establishes the beloved as the source of the speaker's value and identity, suggesting that their impending physical separation will dissolve the stamp that gives them meaning, leaving them as nothing.Answer
  2. B
    It interprets the physical setting of a mint or treasury to emphasize the literal material wealth that the speaker hopes to acquire during their separation.
  3. C
    It employs unrelated and fragmented metaphors of coins and stamping to demonstrate the poet's skill in ornamenting the verse, rather than building a cohesive argument about the couple's bond.
  4. D
    It maintains a celebratory and optimistic tone throughout the stanza, ignoring how the falling of the tear marks a transition to grief and dissolution.
  5. E
    It expresses the author's autobiographical anxiety concerning the financial insecurity of writing poetry in seventeenth-century England.

Answer

The extended metaphor of mintage establishes the beloved as the source of the speaker's value and identity, suggesting that their impending physical separation will dissolve the stamp that gives them meaning, leaving them as nothing.
The correct option correctly identifies the conceit's thematic argument: the speaker's tears are given value by reflecting the beloved's face. Consequently, when the tears fall and they are separated on different shores, that image is lost, rendering them nothing. This shows how the conceit establishes the beloved as the source of the speaker's identity and value, and separation as existential dissolution.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the vehicle and tenor of the conceit in the opening lines.
The speaker compares tears (the tenor) to coins (the vehicle) that are minted and stamped with the image of the beloved's face.
Understanding the mechanics of the metaphor is necessary to determine how it assigns value.
2
Identify the shift or progression in the metaphor at the end of the stanza.
The fall of a tear represents the departure of the beloved's image contained within it, leading to the conclusion that separation on different shores makes them nothing.
This shows how the conceit develops from establishing value to illustrating the devastating impact of separation.
3
Synthesize the function of the conceit with the speaker's attitude.
The speaker views separation not just as physical distance, but as a complete loss of identity and existential value, since the stamp of the beloved is what gives them form and worth.
This matches the correct interpretation of the extended metaphor's thematic function.

Key Concept

Analyzing the thematic function and development of an extended metaphor or conceit within a lyric poem.
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Topics

Extended Metaphors and Conceits

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