the bait

In the poem “To His Coy Mistress” the man uses the idea that one day he and his lover will grow old and no longer be beautiful, and that they must take advantage of the opportunity to have sex while they are still full of youth and energy. In the poem Marvell writes: “Thy beauty shall no more be found, nor in thy marble vault, shall sound my echoing song; then worms shall try that long preserved virginity.” (Ln 25-28). This is relevant because it makes clear that there is no telling how life will turn out and while she is trying to maintain honor what good will it be if she dies of old age and worms take her purity. In the poem “The Flea” Donne takes a different route of attack by trying to convince the woman that just because she gives up her virginity does not make her any less of a woman nor does it give her a legitimate reason to kill herself. In the poem Donne writes: “Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou find’st not thy self nor me the weaker now.” (ln 23-24). This is relevant because it insinuates that they are human, and just because others say they are less than that because of sex before marriage does not make it true nor should they feel like it

John Donne’s poems are similar in their content. They usually point out at same topics like love, lust, sex and religion; only they are dissimilar in the feelings they express. These subjects reflect the different stages of his life: the lust of his youth, the love of his married middle age, and the piety of the latter part of his life. His poem,’ The Flea’ represents the restless feeling of lust during his youthful days but it comes together with a true respect for women through the metaphysical conceit of the flea as a church in the rhythm of the sexual act.

He uses the flea as an excuse for marriage and that they are now permitted to have sex. Out of desperation Donne shifts to a more religiously point of view by saying, “And sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three.” (Line 18) This means that if the woman kills the flea, she is killing the flea, him, herself, and God. However, the women squashes the flea along with his argument and Donne is left with one final go at convincing the woman. The final stanza of the poem expresses his sheer desperation to have sex with the woman as he deviates to using a lenient approach. He blames her not for killing the flea, but says that her act did not damage her honour in any way, and that she should still “yeeld’st to mee” (Line 26), or should still sleep with him. The content of The Flea demonstrates the exact sexist attitude that John Donne possessed when he wrote his early love poems. Likewise, the same desire for physical pleasure can be seen in the poem The Sunne Rising. This poem encompasses Donne’s ignorance of his surroundings and his obsession for sexual pleasure. Throughout the poem he attacks and challenges the sun with contempt, and does so by personifying it. He is obviously disturbed and troubled by the “unruly Sunne” (Line 1) and tells

Written during the 17th century, John Donne utilizes an unconventional genre in his poem, demeaning and objectifying the female sex. A common motif in poems of the Renaissance, Donne uses a flea as a metaphorical comparison to sexual intercourse and the eternal bind between man and woman. Illustrated throughout the poem, Donne

Lastly, he compares his heart to a piece of glass (mirror) by saying “those pieces still, through they be not unite; and now as broken glasses show a hundred lesser faces, so my rags of heart can like, wish, and adore, but after one such love, can love no more.'; In this quote Donne show us that his heart has been shattered into a thousand pieces and that they are still in the place where his heart should be. Donne can never repair his broken heart; therefore, he will live in pain until he dies. In the last line of this quote, Donne says that once you have loved someone that deeply you can never feel love like that again.

The theme of this poem was easily determined after reading through the poem. The poet has a certain desire of the woman he’s trying to get into his bed, making sex seem like no big deal, “How little that which thou deniest me is” (Donne); sex wasn’t taken lightly in the 17th century for unmarried woman and he attempts to make it seem as small as a flea. He is straightforward with his offer; rather than attempting to arouse the woman, he attempted to appeal to her sense of reason. Donne is in belief that she was tempted, so he attempts to coerce her into the deed. Marriage is a reoccurring theme and use of persuasion go get the woman to have sex with him, “O stay, three lives in one flea spare. Where we almost, yeah more than married are” (Donne). He uses the second stanza to focus on marriage.

In your answer you should consider the ways in which Donne and Jennings use form, structure and language to present their thoughts and ideas. You should make relevant references to your wider reading in the poetry of love (40 marks).

Through the use of diction, poets Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, and John Donne characterize the speaker and, in one case, the person to whom the speaker addresses. In “My Last Duchess” and “Dover Beach,” Browning and Arnold depict the nature of their speakers. While Browning exposes the Duke as pompous and controlling, Arnold portrays his speaker as pessimistic. Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” also characterizes the speaker and his wife as having an emotional love. These characterizations help the poets to create a story involving multiple characters, although only one character speaks.

The implications of the first few lines of the poem emit the notion that the poems text and word choice show the dilemma Donne felt on Good Friday,1613. He is stuck traveling, when in fact he should be praying and honoring the death and sacrifice of Christ. By implementing that feeling into the subject of the poem, Donne is able to exaggerate the struggle the subject is having about his deviation from God, which cripples him. Furthermore, at the time Donne wrote this poem, it is clear he was engulfed in the thought of his own sin and struggled to face God. Therefore, the subject in the poem acts as a martyr for which Donne can confess and repent by submerging the subject in a state of sin.

All love is fair if you trust the Love God with your all. Throughout this poetic piece, John Donne is speaking from the heart. The language presented is a sensation whom is loving, caring, adoring, and faithful. A past lover may have done him wrong and seems to ne reflected upon it. He speaks from the deepest of his soul, from a love so powerful that couldn't be. “Donne’s love poetry was written nearly four hundred years ago; yet one reason for its appeal is that it speaks to us as directly and urgently as if we overhear a present confidence.” (Poetry Foundation) The author mentions he has deep affections for a woman that does not reciprocate the same feelings. John Donne can not seem to conclude why the woman does not feel the same way about him if the woman has experienced love before. As hes speaking on his personal experiences it even gives off a sense of empathy towards the end of the

Donne transformed the love poetry he wrote in his early days, beginning in 1617 with the death of his wife Anne More, to religious poetry with a strong sense of awareness of death and its import. This poetic development from classical poetry to more personal poetry reflects the events that marked his own life, and can be traced throughout his poetry. This kind of personal and thereby

There are several poems written about love, romance, and lust during the sixteen and seventeenth century. All of these poems have a different style to them, but most share one theme; the goal to seduce their love. John Donne was no except to this common theme. Although Donne was raised in a devout Catholic household, his poetry would say he tried to commit a few sins in his lifetime, and even tried to have others to commit them with him. Some of his poems depict the chase of girl only to receive opposite feelings from her. An example of this is his poem, “The Flea.” Donne faces rejection when he is in the pursuit for his love, but Donne doesn’t accept it passively and aggressively continues his quest for her.

On the surface, Donne’s “To His Mistress Going to Bed” seems like a simple request to admire and charm his mistress into sex. However, his impressive background of theology, cosmology and law is embedded in a subtle fashion which causes the poem to be much more elaborate than what first meets the eye. Donne suffered a few losses during his years including the loss of jobs, imprisonment, still born children, and the eventual death of his wife. If his poetry is any attempt to use wit and mastery to make up for his social shortcomings, this poem certainly aids in redirecting his readers. In “To His Mistress Going to Bed”, Donne incorporates diction, allusions, similes and metaphors surrounding sex, religion and law in

Near the end of the poem, Donne makes an unlikely comparison between the couple and a draftsman's compass. This is one of his most famous metaphysical conceits because the two elements which are being compared appear completely different, and yet, amazingly, Donne is able to connect them. He explains that his wife is his "fixed foot" that leans towards him as he roams and straightens again as he returns, but remains his center. Her firmness is what makes his circle complete, "[a]nd makes [him] end where [he] begun"(line 36). The imagery of the circle and the spheres in this poem solidify the eternity of their love and the knowledge that the speaker will always return to the place where he began. Donne's comparisons create an image of celebration rather than mourning.

The central theme, introduced quite early within the poem, is the helplessness of death. Throughout the poem the speaker belittles death and approaches it with such bravery and poise. Donne confronts death by saying it is not in any regard “mighty and dreadful” (2), but rather brings “much pleasure” (7). Death is personified in the poem, and in this regard, possess no greater power over man. The speaker of the poem is Donne himself. He uses his literary tools of rhetoric and poetic devices to belittle death. Throughout the poem, the speaker comes across as being slightly arrogant, but he refuses to show weakness. His arrogance shows that he is not afraid of death as he demands death not to be proud. Donne takes the association of death and sleep, and reinvents this comparison to a greater effect. He describes sleep as being “pictures” (5) of death and death is no more different or more frightening. He extends this metaphor throughout the poem. In the second last line of the poem he