This poem suggests to me that maybe he is desperate so he uses the persuasion accordingly.
This poem compares well to “Of Beauty” by Richard Fanshawe because both of the poems are in an ordering mood and have a positive and negative part of the stanza’s.
It also compares well to” To his coy mistress” by Andrew Marvell. Both of the poems are arguing that time is running out so let me love you now while we have the time. They both use a lot of time statements such as ‘long loves day’, nearer he’s to setting’ and ‘ten years before’.
The second poem, “Of Beauty” by Richard Fanshawe, is a short, one stanza poem. It uses personification during the middle of the stanza.
“Earth her winter coat may cast, and renew her beauty past”.
These uses of personification are to state that winter is a person and her beauty runs out so and so will yours.
"Earth her winter coat may cast”.
The imagery that is used in Of Beauty is natural imagery.
The first four lines of the stanza are in a positive mood but the second half turns to a negative mood. This is used to persuade.
The pace of the poem is slow and the lines are in rhyming couplets.
“To his coy mistress” by Andrew Marvell. This poem is set out as three stanzas that add to the effect of a three-stage argument.
In the first stanza, there are a lot of time phrases being used.
“Long loves day”,
“Till the conversion of the Jews” and
“But thirty thousand”.
These are all some of the many phrases which are used to stress time. This first stanza is the first stage of the argument. Overall it is telling us that if we had lots of time, I’d spend ages loving you.
The rhythm of the first stanza is very strong as it uses Iambic foot.
This is when each line contains eight syllables and every other one is a strong and stressed beat. E.g.
“For lady you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.”.
This pattern is also followed throughout the other two stanzas to keep a strong rhythm.
It contains a lot of imagery especially in the second stanza.
“Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;”
The imagery in the second stanza is mainly to do with death and life decaying.
“The graves a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
By using imagery like this, Marvell is trying to tell us that we will soon die. This is to add to the second stage of the argument.
In the third and final stanza, Marvell uses words that associate with speed such as ‘now’ and ‘instant.’ These add to the effect of the final stage of the argument that is arguing that we should use the time now while we have it as if he is giving a solution to the problem. The third stanza also contains a lot of violence related phrases.
“like am’rous birds of prey”
And “tear our pleasure with rough strife”.
These add to the effect of deaths fast approach.
This poem is written in rhyming couplets, which also is like the poem as it is also talking about two people.
The order and structure of the poem makes it sound convincing and persuasive but it is also quite threatening. From the language in this poem, Marvell sounds like he is confident and is very manipulative and threatening and also very desperate.
This poem compares well to Herrick’s “To Virgins” because they both a very threatening and commanding making the writers sound very desperate. They also both express time a lot as this adds to the effect of desperation.
The fourth poem, “Loves Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley is another threatening and persuading love poem.
The poem begins with
“The fountains mingle with the river”
This is personification that is used a lot throughout the poems two stanzas.
“The winds of heaven mix for ever
with a sweet emotion;”
Throughout the poem Shelley uses personification to imply that everything in the world has a partner and that nothing is single.
He claims that he feels very lonely because he is the only thing in the world without any love.
The second stanza also contains a lot of personification. Its opening phrase is “see the mountains kiss high heaven and the waves clasp one another;”
Shelley uses personification to explain that even nature has partners. The imagery used is also natural images that correspond with the personification.
“”And the sunlight kiss the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea:”
The poem ends on a strong phrase which helps to persuade the subject to return his love because he has unrequited love:
“What are all these kissing’s worth,
if thou not kiss me?”
This is quite a threatening ending which changes the mood of the poem. The ending suggests that he has been waiting for a long time for his love to be returned.
The pace of the poem is quite fast which adds to the effect of it being threatening and demanding making him sound desperate. Throughout the two stanzas the rhyming stays in an alternate rhyming pattern and the poem also contains enjambment, where two lines that separate stanza’s carry on from one another.
This poem can compare well to “To virgins” as it is another threatening and desperate poem.
“The passionate Shepherd to his love” by Christopher Marlowe is the fourth poem. It is a poem about nature. It has a strong structure and is in quatrains made up of rhyming couplets.
It contains a lot of natural imagery.
“By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.”
Marlowe is using peaceful and pleasurable nature that is gentle and not threatening.
“And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,”
Marlowe is trying to persuade his love by using imagery of natural life throughout the whole poem.
The first poem by John Donne “To his mistress going to bed”
is a poem about revelation. It seems to be a very passionate poem. It is made up of one long stanza set up of rhyming couplets.
It contains a lot of religious imagery. Donne is trying to explain that sex is not sinful and that it is a religious experience and it is meant to happen.
He compares himself to a conqueror or as if he has made a new discovery or journey and that he has possession:
“O my America! My new-foundland,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned,”
He also compares an angel to the woman and throughout the poem he is comparing nakedness with clothing.
This poem contains a lot of urgency and a bit of persuasion is also involved.
It can compare well to the poem “The Flea” which was also written by John Donne and was about sex and desperation. It also contains religious phrases. It is arguing why they can’t have sex, which is similar to what he is arguing in “to his mistress going to bed”.
“The flea” is another of the poems that have been written by John Donne. It is another poem about loneliness.
“Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
how little that which thou deny,st me is;”
In this stanza, Donne is trying to persuade his love to have sex with him and is telling her that it is not a big deal. He implies that they are apart and the only thing that has joined them at all is the flea.
It contains a lot of sexual and love imagery and phrases.
“It suck’d me first and now sucks thee,
and in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;”
The rhyming that Donne has used throughout the poem is made up of rhyming couplets except the last three lines of each stanza all rhyme.
The syllables alternate from eight to ten in every line expect the last two both have ten. This pattern occurs in each stanza. In the first stanza, Donne talks about things such as virginity and seduction as part of the plan to persuade his love. He also implies that it will cause no pain for their blood to mingle so there is nothing to be afraid of.
He ends the first stanza on
“And this, alas, is more than we would do.”
From this we can se that he also feels very lonely in the situation that he is in.
The second stanza contains a lot of religious phrases such as cloistered, marriage temple and sacrilege. He includes many reasons not to kill the flea and also reasons to kill the flea as part of his persuasion techniques. As part of his reason not to kill the flea he includes phrases such as
“This flea is you and I,”
“You apt to kill me,”
“And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.”
The last phrase he uses is the last line of the stanza. It also adds in to part of the religious phrases and could also be meant as killing the father son and the Holy Spirit as the three that have been killed.
Throughout the first two stanzas, the poet is trying to stress that the flea has done it so why can’t they!
The third stanza changes the mood of the poem. From the first two lines you can see that she has killed the flea. He uses this to set her up as part of a guilt trip. The third stanza argues that the flea is dead but she has not changed in any way at all even after a murder. From this he is trying to state that being with him wont change anything either.
This poem can compare well to “To his coy mistress” by Andrew Marvell. These poems share similarities in the way that they both have three sections split up into stanzas. The first, which argues the subject. The second, which stresses consequences and a third stanza that explains a persuading alternative.
In my opinion, the most effective poem is “The Flea”. This is because I think the way that Donne has set up his subject is more persuading than the others and also makes it a more interesting poem.
I feel that “To his mistress going to bed” by John Donne was the least successful because it is not very persuading because of the urgency in the mood of the poem. It contains no love phrases and is a poem about lust and revelation that contributes to it being very threatening.
