Love as Joyous
Both Plath and the Metaphysical Poets show love as joyous by suggesting a strong physical intimacy between themselves and their lovers. Donne, known for his hedonistic ways tried to seduce his lady in the poem ‘To his mistress going to bed” by relating her undressing to a holy analogy. “Hallowed temple... heaven... paradise... Angels” gives a sense of purity about the relationship and emphasises the innocence in that the love they are about to share is purely between them. Along with this, in order to fortify the intimacy felt during love making Donne uses polysemic terms such as “My mine of precious stones” which not only displays mine as a first person possessive pronoun- perhaps showing pride in the possession he has over his mistress- but also the mine that is her genitals- the new land he is yet to discover.
Similarly Plath uses polysemantic terms as a way of showing the exclusivity in her relationships in the poem ‘Ariel , specifically referring to the apparent lesbian affair she had soon after her and Ted Hughes split ’ – “ The child’s cry melts in the wall” not only suggests that when with her alleged lesbian partner she’s free for the burden of motherhood and can just focus on their passion but also that when being in a homosexual relationship the possibilities of conceiving a child are none an therefore there is no-one else to detract from the bond and overwhelming desire that the 2 have for each other. Plath also represents this intimacy by using metaphorical imagery such as “White Godiva” which indicates the female naked freedom while also subtly protesting against her husband by portraying this great female symbol. Plath also uses imagery to intensify the passion she feels in love making with another woman – “ The brown arc of the neck” and “ into the red eye” suggest the vagina and feminists would argue that Plath portrays the orgasm as “ Foam to the wheat glitter of seas” which exaggerates the intimacy experienced when the 2 are at their most vulnerable naked states.