Love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. The bible defines love somewhat similarly. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres”. This kind of love is known in a marriage, however not all marriages are lucky enough to share this type of love. This love is also a spiritual love; not a physical attraction. In Donne’s Valediction, the author explains that true love is more than just physical and it continues even after death; while in Minty’s Conjoined, she shows how people in a marriage can have a dissatisfying connection. Both authors convey this by using figurative language such as similes and the use of diction, or assonance.
Many couples think death is the end to all relationships, but to Donne it is only another trial the couple faces together. In his poem, he writes using a simile that says: “As virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go, whilst some of their sad friends do say the breath goes now, and some say, no”. This simile in the opening stanza is about the men on their deathbeds who are leaving their loved ones. One may think this is the end, but Donne shows that they will be apart for a short while, but then they will eventually be reunited in a spiritual life. These lovers are connected more than just on a physical level; they have spiritual love that will keep on going even if death separates them from each other. This simile explains that death is not something that is going to split a couple’s relationship.
Similarly, Minty uses similes to explain the purpose of her poem. She declares that the couple is “like the two-headed calf rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats”. This image is not only odd, but distasteful in one’s mind. This is exactly how the man and woman view their marriage. Both of them believe their marriage to be strange, and not ordinary. These married people in the poem are pulling at each other to satisfy themselves, instead of trying to satisfy their partner. The man and woman are conjoined or “joined as one” and that means that they are supposed to work together through everything to make their marriage work successfully, but the couple feels as if they are trapped in their marriage. However, the two people are not happy with the connection they share with one another and so they are constantly fighting each other just “like the two-headed calf”.
The assonance in Valediction helps reveal the author’s attitude on love. For example, Donne says that “Dull sublunary lovers’ love (whose soul is sense) cannot admit absence, because it doth remove those things which elemented it”. The beginning of this line uses the letter “u” to show how boring it is to only have a physical love connection. The sublunary, or “earthy”, love can only be lived on earth. It stops after death, while true love is just beginning after death. This also explains the word absence in the poem because that type of a relationship is lacking in real love. Real love does more than depend on physical attraction; it strives even when the love is miles apart. A couple does not have to be together all day everyday to be satisfied because that man and woman know that what they share is worth everything. It is a spiritual love.
The diction in conjoined does a great deal to illustrate the struggle of marriage. Minty states that “ the onion in my cupboard, a monster actually… an accident, like the two-headed calf rooted in one body… or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest” is just like marriage. The author uses words like “monster”, “accident”, and “freaks” because these words provide a negative connotation about the life of a husband and a wife. The “monster” refers to the unhappiness of the couple. The when the marriage is compared to as an “accident”, this signifies how truly horrible the couple’s life is and thus, the author provides her audience with the image of the two-headed calf. The “freaks” or the twins give the audience an ultimate understanding of how this marriage is odd, wrong, and quite foolish. This marriage is a constant battle between the man and the woman who feel like they are conjoined, or stuck, with this person.
Marriage is an amazing joining of two people, only if they truly love each other. A marriage is nothing if it is based solely on physical appeal. Love is supposed to last forever. It should not stop after death; if it is a spiritual love, than the love will continue on eternally. In both poems, both authors use figurative language to convey their point. Minty demonstrates how marriage can be rough and not right for some people and Donne shows how spiritual love triumphs physical love.