How do Shakespeare, Donne and Marvel treat the subject of love in their poetry?

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How do Shakespeare, Donne and Marvel treat the subject of love in their poetry?

The four poems I am going to be comparing are, “To His Coy Mistress,” “Shall I Compare Thee,” “Let Me Not,” and “The Flea.” All four of these poems are based on the subject matter of love. The four poems have a lot in common but each poem touches a different aspect of love. Two of the poems, “Shall I Compare Thee”, and “Let Me Not”, are sonnets and both were written by Shakespeare. “To His Coy Mistress” is written by Andrew Marvell and “The Flea” was written by John Donne. All four of the poems have three parts to them each posing a different argument. I will be analysing and comparing the four poems in the purpose of the poem, the nature of love, the effect of outside influences on their love, the form of the poem and the techniques the poets use convincingly.        

The main purpose of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is to persuade Marvell’s mistress to consummate their relationship together, this is also the same purpose of ‘The Flea’. The other purposes are to brag about how good he is at writing; this is shown in his arrogant style of writing. It is for seduction, a satire of legal persuasive speech and the final purpose is a reminder of mortality, and they should seize the day. It also says that the woman is very shy and that if they had all the world but enough time so being shy is not a crime, this is shown in the opening lines, “Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime.” Phrases such as, “amorous birds of prey,” and “tear our pleasures” show that they consummate their relationship. “Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near”, is a reminder that death will soon dawn upon then and so there is more reason for them to seize the day and sleep with each other. Flattery is shown in the poem when Marvell says, “Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast.”

The main purpose of ‘Shall I Compare Thee’ is to praise and flatter Shakespeare’s loved one.  Shakespeare is praising his mistress when he says she is ‘better than the best’ because summer is the best time of the year and Shakespeare is saying she is better than summer. “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” shows that he is saying she is perfect and constantly exquisite”. The word “darling” gives the poem an affectionate tone. Shakespeare is also writing to show off his writing skills, this is shown in the last line when he says, “So long lives this and this gives live to thee”, because he says his writing will live on forever. It is also written to give his loved one a reminder of mortality. “Nor shall death brag” is the reminder of death and it is personified because it implies death can’t take her.  

The purposes of  ‘Let Me Not’ were to flatter Shakespeare’s loved one, remind his beloved of mortality, define love and to show how love is threatened by other things. Romantic flattery is shown when Shakespeare says, “rosie lips and cheeks”, it is also describing his beloved. The reminder of death is shown when the poem says, “edge of doome”; this is even more effective than just death because it is describing love until the end of the world. The “edge of doome” also defines love and pontificates it to the end of time. ‘Let Me Not’ is an imperative because it is a strong statement so just in the title it shows the poem will have argumentative qualities.

The main purpose of  ‘The Flea’ is for John Donne to persuade his mistress to consummate their relationship. This aim is shown in the first stanza where the situation presented to us is a flea jumping from one body to the other, first it sucks the blood of the man, then it sucks the blood of the woman and the blood gets mixed. It is also written to ‘boast’ the poets’ writing skills.

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‘To His Coy Mistress’ describes the nature of love as being for praising but only for a limited time, this is shown in “But thirty thousand to the rest”. It also says that love makes life fun, passionate and fiery. Love being fiery and passionate is described by, “into ashes all my lust”. It also says that consummating their relationship is more fun than abstaining. “Amorous birds of prey” and “tear our pleasures” both show that Marvell and his lady should go straight into it and not waste any time as at that age they are most likely to ...

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