Point of View

Like most poems, “A Valediction: of Weeping” is written in the first person, present tense. That means it is written from the perspective of a speaker who is also the main character in the poem’s events, and as though it is taking place at the same time that the reader is hearing about those events. This point of view predominates in poetry because it allows for a high degree of relatability with the text. The reader is more directly absorbed in the poem’s events due to the personal nature of the narration.

In literary criticism, it is generally important to note that the speaker is not the same person as the author. Even though first-person poems use “I/me/myself” pronouns to refer to the speaker, that does not mean that the speaker is the same person as the author, and it is...