Adrienne Rich, a 20th century American feminist poet, wrote “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” in 1970. The poem is undoubtedly modeled after John Donne’s poem of the same name; however, Rich ironically parodies Donne’s original work. In both poems, the speakers deal with leaving their lovers and discuss the emotions they feel as they contemplate this separation.

Although both poems are about the experience of being apart from a lover, they take radically different stances on the subject. Donne’s love is so strong and refined that the physical distance will ultimately be meaningless. In contrast, Rich is dealing with a difficult relationship and an impending separation that will last forever.

In Donne’s poem, the speaker argues that being apart from one’s lover is not a reason to mourn, for the love he has for the woman he speaks of is so pure that he knows they will remain connected despite their physical distance from one another. Rich’s poem, in contrast, is far less classically romantic than Donne’s. Though it takes on a similar topic of being separated from a lover, Rich imagines a separation that will last “forever,” unlike Donne’s imagining of an everlasting love. Although in Donne’s poem, the two lovers will presumably reunite at some point, this is not the case in Rich’s poem. She tells the person that she is addressing that she wants them to “see this before she leaves,” and then says “when I talk of taking a trip I mean forever.” This is not a temporary separation, and therefore it doesn’t share the overly romantic tone of Donne’s poem.