Levchuck, a writer and editor, has published articles on literature along with nonfiction essays and children's books. In this essay, she focuses on Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" as the portrait of the mature spiritual connection Donne shared with his wife, Ann More.

John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," a poem written upon the occasion of Donne parting from his wife for an extended period, is a shining example of the mature, spiritual relationship that Donne had with his wife. Certainly, sexual love was often a theme in Donne's poetry and Donne had had a reputation as being something of a rake before falling in love with his wife, Ann More. In reading this selection it seems that it was because of his love relationship with Ann, that Donne experienced a love that knew no bounds; physical separation could not quell it. While certain scholars believe that...