Love in The Flea and To his Coy Mistress
Compare the ways John Donne in his poem The Flea and Andrew Marvell
in his poem To his Coy Mistress present the theme of love.
Donne and Marvell’s poems have both similarities and differences, as
they both present the theme of love in an unconventional way and dwell
on it superficially. This can be seen by the way in which both authors
show their views on love, though are clearly just using them as
attempts to seduce their mistresses, who are clearly reluctant. Taking
this into account, I feel that these “love poems” are more about lust
than love and are more focussed on the writer’s efforts of seduction.
Both poems are one sided dialogues between the poet and his mistress.
They do, however, differ in the ways in which they try to portray
their feelings on the topic, with Donne’s “The Flea”, depicting him as
comparing sexual intercourse with the way in which his blood is
mingled with that of his mistress in a flea, which has bitten both of
them. By doing this, he is incorporating 17th Century principles, such
as the belief that sexual intercourse involved the mingling of the two
bloods, and constantly refers to the flea, in an attempt to persuade
his mistress.
Marvell, however, introduces a hypothetical situation to argue his
case, with the central statement that he uses to bring his mistress
round to his line of thought being “Carpe Diem.” This derives from
Latin and translates “Seize the Day,” with Marvell using it to
emphasise that time is against them. The difference here, between the
two poems, is that Donne is saying that they’ve already had sex in the
flea, and therefore the whole affair is no longer a big deal, while
Marvell is suggesting a sense of...
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...erious note than Marvell, however, by using some strong biblical
imagery to show his mistress that, by killing the flea she has
committed a sin and, if she realises this, she has shown that she
feels intercourse is no big deal.
Overall, I feel that, rather than being “love” poems, these are both
superficial examples of love, which are actually implicated on lust
and seduction. A factor which supports this theory is that Donne
doesn’t even mention love throughout the entire course of his poem,
while Marvell uses love to show the extent of his feelings for his
mistress and, even then, admits that it is merely vegetable love,
which is a basic concept of love being no more than reproduction, and
therefore sex. I feel that Marvell’s poem can also, however, be
associated with making the most of life, as he clearly argues this
point in “To his Coy Mistress.”
In the story, “Loves Executioner”, Yalom treats and old woman named “Thelma” that is overly obsessed with a man named Matthew, her former therapist from ten years ago. Yalom feeling though that he is drawn to the facets of her dilemma decides to do everything he can to empower Thelma move past the obsessions that had been wrecking havoc on her mental health. Although Thelma’s love obsession with her therapist, and her subjective experiences on life of what is preventing her from living in the present, Yalom attempts to treat a 70-year-old woman only to learn that being love executioner more complicated as he had anticipated.
During the 17th century, certain poets wrote poems with the specific purpose of persuading a woman to have sexual intercourse with them. Three of these seduction poems utilize several strategies to do this: Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” and Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” and “The Flea.” Some of the reasoning used by both poets is similar to the reasoning used today by men to convince women to have sexual intercourse with them. These gimmicks vary from poem to poem but coincide with modern day rationalization. The tactics used in 17th century seduction poems are relevant and similar to the seduction tactics used in the 21st century.
On the surface, John Donne’s poem “The Flea” dramatizes the conflict between two people on the issue of premarital sex, however, under the surface, the poem uses religious imagery to seduce the woman into having sex. The speaker in this poem is a man, who is strategically trying to convince a woman to have premarital sex with him through the conceit based on a flea, however, the coy lady has thus far yielded to his lustful desires. The speaker’s argument has the form of logic, which contradicts to its outrageous content.
A very symbolic artist by the name of Beyonce once sang lyrics that said “you see her, she getting paid She ain't callin' him to greet her, don't need him, her bed's made.” What women most desire varies depending on the type of person and their personality. According to the Wife of Baths Tale, women most desire independence and power over their husbands.
John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his significant other. However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests seem insignificant. John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and rhyme scheme. In the beginning, Donne uses the flea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other. For instance, in the first stanza a flea bites the speaker and woman. He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this flea our bloods mingled be."
Lover A Ballad was written as a reply to the poem To His Coy Mistress.
In the days of Shakespeare, marriages were not commonly made for love, but rather for power, wealth or even just so that a parent could be assured care at an advanced age. Such marriages were made very young, and most times arranged between the parents of the two who were to be wed, or between the bridegroom and the parents of the bride. In looking at A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this notion is not exempt. In fact, it is almost emphasized throughout the play. Shakespeare’s comedy offers an exposition of a person’s wish for dominance over the emotional states of those that they love, represented by the tandem conflicts that bridge the mortal and supernatural worlds. The more the characters fight to control the affections of their counterparts, the more it becomes clear that they have virtually no control over where the objects of their affection’s own love lies, such as that of Hermia and her father’s wishes, Oberon and Titania, and a role reversal in the case of Helena and Demetrius. Although the play is meant to be as absurdly comedic as possible (and, indeed, even the great trickster Robin Goodfellow apologizes in the end for its ridiculousness), this central theme truly reflects the flavor of a changing era, where outside arrangements of love were beginning to be traded in western Europe for arrangements from the heart.
Romance. In the two poems “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the man wanted the women to move in with him and be his love. The man and the women have two different points of view. The guy’s point of view is he wants her to live with him. The girl’s point of view is she does not want to move in with the man.
The Flea and To His Coy Mistress are two poems written by poets living during the Renaissance Period. To His Coy Mistress was written by Andrew Marvell and The Flea was written by John Donne. Both of these poets were well-educated 'metaphysical poets', and these poems illustrate metaphysical concerns, highly abstract and theoretical ideas, that the poets would have been interested in. Both poems are based around the same idea of trying to reason with a 'mistress' as to why they should give up their virginity to the poet.
The narrator in The Flea is a youthful man trying to convince a young woman to give her virginity to him. He tries to do this by comparing their relationship to a flea that is in the room. The flea bites them both and Donne explains to her that this is symbolic of both of their worlds combining into one. He says that the flea is now the realm of love, lust, and marriage. At first this poem seems to be just about love, commitment from a male to a female, who says no his lustful desires. However, a deeper look than just the superficial reveals that the male in this poem is actually revealing a valid point to his lady: that the loss of innocence, such as her virginity, does not constitute a loss of her honor.
John Donne, an English poet and clergyman, was one of the greatest metaphysical poets. His poetry was marked by conceits and lush imagery. The Flea is an excellent example of how he was able to establish a parallel between two very different things. In this poem, the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing the consequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant fleabite. He uses the flea as an argument to illustrate that the physical relationship he desires is not in itself a significant event, because a similar union has already taken place within the flea. However, if we look beneath the surface level of the poem, Donne uses the presence of the flea as a comparison to the presence of a baby, thus making the sub textual plot about aborting the baby.
The two poems The Flea and The Sunne Rising capture John Donne’s primary motive to get in bed with women. Donne wrote these poems at an early age, and at that time he was seeking nothing more than a sexual relationship. His poetry depicted clearly how sexist he was at the time and how he used to perceive women as a medium of pleasure. The content of his early poems express an immature and desperate image of Donne, who is dominated by his fixation on the sensuality of women. In The Flea, Donne shows his desperation to have sex by addressing a flea that has sucked the blood of both him and the woman he is persuading. It is quite awkward how the poet uses this obscure image of the flea as a symbol of love and sex to convince the woman that...
In Redeeming Love Angel starts off refusing to have any hope, but after a few visits from Michael she feels herself starting to believe again and “[t]he hope she thought long-since dead was resurrected.” (199) After she and Michael are married she lives in his cabin with him and though she wants to be free from her past and pretend those horrible things hadn’t happened “[t]hey had, and they left deep, raw, gaping wounds. Even when the wounds healed, there were scars.” (254) These scars remind her of how awful her life was and make her hesitant to hope for something better. Michael can see her struggling to forgive herself and be hopeful, therefore, since they are married and he knows sex was the one thing that had always caused her pain and
Marvell uses many images that work as tools to express how he wishes to love his mistress in the first stanza of the poem. From line 1 to 20 Marvell tells his mistress how he wishes he had all the time in the world to love her. In the very first line Marvell brings up the focus of time, “Had we but world enough and time/This coyness, lady, were no crime”. The second line shows the conflict that the author is facing in the poem, her coyness. Marvell continues from these initial lines to tell his mistress what he would do if he had enough time. In lines, three and four Marvell talks of “sitting down” to “think” where they will walk on their “long love’s day”. All of these word...
In both ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘The Good Morrow’ Donne presents the experience of love, in a typical Metaphysical style, to engage his reader through sharing his own experiences. These poems show distinctive characteristics of Metaphysical poems which involve colloquial diction, drawing inventive imagery from unconventional sources, passionately analysing relationships and examining feelings. Donne presents the experience of love through conceits, Metaphysical wit, language techniques and imagery, in a confident tone using logical argument. The impact of Donne’s use of direct and idiomatic language shows the reader how he feels about a woman and ultimately love.