Persuading their Mistresses in The Flea and To His Coy Mistress

Persuading their Mistresses in The Flea and To His Coy Mistress

Examine the ways in which the poets in The Flea and To His Coy

Mistress try to persuade their mistresses.

Both "The Flea" by John Donne and "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew

Marvell are seduction poems, written by the poets to seduce their

mistresses. Both have three stanzas and a basic couplet rhyming

structure. Donne and Marvell are metaphysical poets from the 17th

century. They have taken simple ideas and stretched them far - for

example, using a flea as a symbol of union. They have made

philosophical poems about simple facts of life - for example, the fear

of death seen in "To His Coy Mistress". The similarity seen between

these poems is quite surprising - the use of imagery, enjambement and

variation in rhythm and rhyme to relate their ideas, and the way they

put forward their arguments to seduce their mistresses.

In "The Flea", the flea is used as a symbol of their love, or his love

for her. The word 'flea' has many connotations and denotations, but

interestingly, when spoken sounds the same as the verb, to 'flee'. In

addition to perhaps suggesting the fleeting nature of love, the word

also connotes danger: "to run away as from danger; to take flight; to

try to escape", is the Oxford English Dictionaries definition. It can

also connote an abrupt ending "to run away from, hasten away from; to

quite abruptly, forsake (a person or a place, etc.)". This insight

would give an added dimension to Donne's use of a flea in his poem.

The OED also provides us with the definition "a small wingless insect

well known for its biting propensities and its agility leaping." The

finding that fleas do not have wings could be quite significant,

because ...

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...blood, and that sex with him will

take no more from than the flea did. Marvell's first persuasion tactic

is a romantic one - that he loves her so much she should have sex with

him, the second persuasive argument is that if she doesn't have sex

with him, time will pass and she will die a virgin. His last is again

one of time - that they should take hold of time how they can, and

make "him [Marvell personifies time in his poem] run". The imagery in

"To His Coy Mistress" is very effective, and the use of a flea as a

symbol in a love poem holds together quite well, even if it is a

rather surprising choice. The enjambment in both poems really gives

the poems meaning, creating a tone in each of them, and whether the

mistresses they were trying to persuade were every actually persuaded

or not, it is clear that the poets went to great lengths in their

attempts.