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This poem has an interesting point. The man who has lost his love forbids mourning over her, or at least in the traditional way. His point seems to puritan. He argues that crying and wailing over someone who has died is disrespecting them. This is because the physical mourning comes from physical loss. For instance a physical lover's absence is felt and missed in a physical way because that's all they were. The one who mourns misses this "eyes, lips, and hands" not their spirit. Therefore they express that loss through "tear floods". To John Donne it is better to "let us melt" as a more respectful way of mourning. The loves he speaks of is "so much refined". This kind of mourning comes from the heart, because the lost were with them in heart. Now that they are gone he imagines that their (singular) heart has grown because of the new distance, instead of a physical breach between two bodies.
I find this entirely impossible and impracticable. If you really loved the one that died you feel it in your heart. The pain of the heart causes the "tear-floods" and "sigh-tempests".
Donne uses a consistent AB AB rhyme scheme throughout. It is a very rhythmic poem. He employs imagery that enhances the theme of mourning and uses the extended metaphor of the compass. He also uses simile: "like gold to airy thinness beat", "as stiff twin compasses are two". Alliteration is also used in his poem: "lover's love", "men pass mildly", "melt and make".
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