The parting of two lovers in this poem is compared to three things, the first being a death. The comparison of the parting to death points out how the parting is temporary, while death is permanent. The parted lovers will soon be reunited, and this makes the problem of their parting seem less tragic. Although death is mentioned in the opening line, setting the tone of death and mourning, it is not a violent portrayal of death. Instead it describes the mild passing of a virtuous man. This portrayal of death introduces the quiet virtuous nature of the love in the poem.

The portrayal of this love as private and good is emphasized in the next stanza. The speaker tells his love not to overreact to his leaving. He tells her not to make "tear-floods, nor sigh tempests move"(L. 6) becau

The compass metaphor also explains the nature and status of the two lovers in comparison to one another. The lover to whom the poem is addressed is the "fixed foot, makes no show/ To move" (Ll. 27-28). This description can be used in two ways. Women did not travel much then, and the "fixed foot" describes a woman who must stay home while her lover travels. The "fixed foot" may also refer to the lover as a stabilizing force in the speaker’s life. The speaker may think upon other lovers or other ideas, but he is always brought back to the thought of this lover, much like a husband who may think upon other women or work, but always returns to his wife in the end.

In the first of these metaphors their love is compared to gold, bringing up an image of perfection, wealth and beauty. This metaphor refers to the souls of the two lovers as one inseparable object. This one soul is only made larger and more beautiful by their separation. This also stresses the idea that it is the souls of humans that matter, not the bodies. This relates to the expression of death in the first stanza as the departure of the soul, not the withering the body. Death occurs when men "whisper to their souls, to go" (L. 2), not when their bodies decay. In the same sense these intertwined souls do not part when the lovers’ bodies part, but remain attached but expanded.

Some topics in this essay:
Forbidding Mourning, lover remaining, remaining home, lover remaining home, poem written, fixed foot, compass metaphor, portrayal death, based sense, lovers’ love,