In all of the poems love is a theme. Sex in the Elizabethan times was taboo. The church forbade premarital relations of any sort. These poems illustrate this. “The Flea” is about a man who is trying to persuade a woman to have sex with him. He uses a flea and “the mingling of blood” to represent sex.
“And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be”
Donne uses this to try and persuade the woman that they have already had sex as the flea has both of their bloods inside it. It was an Elizabethan saying about sex which shows his obvious intentions of trying to get her to sleep with him. He is saying as they have already has sex with the flea they might as well do it now. Throughout “The Flea” the man uses allsorts of persuasions like saying her virginity means nothing or that she would not lose anything if she did sleep with him. He lies to her throughout saying their relationship is past marriage. He clearly shows no love for the women. It is written as a light hearted argument. It shows no love just a mans lust towards a woman.
In “Upon Julia’s Clothes” the man who is in it talks about how beautiful Julia is. He talks about her as if he possess’ her and he talks about how much he likes her body:
“That liquefaction of her clothes!”
He is saying that he can see her body through her clothes which shows that he is obsessed with her body and that she dominates his thoughts. He doesn’t mention any other of her qualities just her sex appeal in this poem which shows he sees her as sex. This poem shows the lust of a man towards a woman.
In “The Sick Rose” there are warnings about the consequences of lust. This poem is the opposite of the flea where the man is telling the woman that to lose her virginity is good. Here Blake warns us that it isn’t a good thing:
“In the howling storm,”
This quote warns that intercourse may be rough and terrible just to put off women from it. The rest of the poem warns us that if you do do it then you could contract V.D a sexually transmitted disease that then could kill fast. It also warns people that your life could also be ruined socially due to the church’s beliefs at the time of sex before marriage being bad. So it warns women that to have sex with someone who isn’t your husband is not a good idea for you and that being ruined is a bad thing unlike the ruined maid in which it tells us that in fact it is good. This poem shows the problems with sex before marriage.
In “To his coy mistress” Marvell shows us a man who is trying to rush a woman he is courting into having sex with him. The man is annoyed with her hesitancy:
“This coyness, lady were no crime”
This shows the man feels that the woman’s coyness is annoying and that if she did have sex with him that it would be no crime, when in actual fact it would be a crime for her in a way as she would have been ostracised. Saying it wasn’t a crime shows that he is trying to persuade her to sleep with him. The man clearly lies to her throughout the poem:
“Love you ten years before the flood”
He is saying his love for her will last forever even though he is clearly trying to sleep with her. Which he uses to try and convince her:
“And now, like amorous birds of prey”
This shows his intent for them to have sex. He constantly hurries her and tries to coerce her into having sex with him. He does this throughout the poem:
“Times winged chariot hurrying near”
He is saying that their time is running out and so he tries to persuade that they should do it sooner rather than later. The man clearly shows no real love for the woman and so this poem shows a mans lust for a woman and the lengths he would go to, to get sex.
In “The Flea” we find another man who is trying to persuade the woman he is courting. “The Flea” is written as a syllogistic argument. It is light hearted
987 Words. He he its so small
He is saying that their time is running out and so he tries to persuade her that they should do it sooner rather than later. The man clearly shows no real love for the woman and so this poem shows a man’s lust for a woman and the lengths he would go to, to get sex.
In “The Flea” we find another man who is trying to persuade the woman he is courting. “The Flea” is written as a syllogistic argument. It is light hearted and actually doesn’t work as the woman ends up killing the flea which symbolizes sex in this poem. The syllogistic argument is a more convincing form of persuasion. The man does not obviously love her as he lies to her a lot:
“A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead”
He is saying to her that by sleeping with him it isn’t a sin nor is it shameful. He goes against the church by saying this. She shuts him down by killing the flea, which is very significant. The flea is an extended metaphor for sex. So she, by doing this is telling him no. She obviously doesn’t fall for his lies. He then tries to exploit her guilt of killing the flea as he sees it as the only way for sex. He turns his argument about the flea around. At first he describes the flea as the lowest of the low, then he tries to make her feel guilty by saying it was a poor helpless creature:
“Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?”
This shows he is trying to make her feel guilty by saying the flea was innocent. It is also ironic with the “blood of innocence” which I would have thought in this poem would have been the opposite as blood from sex which it refers to is far from innocent.
In “The Ruined Maid” we find a poem which is yet again about sex before marriage. It suggests that having sex before marriage could be very beneficial to a woman.
