There I shall make thee a bed of roses'
To his coy mistress predicates the contrast of the preceding verse in the first phrases of every verse, here an indicator of the fact that it is a centralised argument. He goes about it with a certain alacrity. In the first verse he says ' If we had enough time I would love you so much and so well. In the penultimate verse he forges the next stage of his thesis by saying 'But at my back I alwaies hear Times winged Charriot hurrying near.' Finally, he goes in for the kill. Because of all this, he says, that she must sleep with him.
In the first verse, he begins by announcing his intentions. He talks about how they would spend long hours walking side by side. He would place her by Ganges, because she is so exotic, and himself by the Humber. Here he uses blatant flattery. He then talks about how how he would love her till the conversion of the Jews- basically for eternity, as the Jews are famed for their ability to survive persecution and exile.He talks about 'vegetable love.' He means here that his love will from slowly over time, maturing gently, slowly growing to a size so big big it is 'Vaster than Empires.' He says he will take ages to appreciate every part of her body, because,( flattery again,) he enthuses 'you deserve this state.'
In the penultimate verse he moves onto saying that he senses 'Times winged Charriot hurrying near.' He says that when she dies he can not embrace her, nor can she preserve her honour. Everything will wither and only worms can enjoy her. Here he resorts degradingly to some rather crude and defamatory tactics. He shocks us by saying
'then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity'
This comes after some wonderfully poetic descriptions of timeless and immortal love. This gives us the impression that he is some sort of nihilistic voluptuary, hell bent on a single seedy goal.
In the final verse, he opens by flattering her, comparing her skin to the morning dew. He wants them to 'sport' while they can, like passionate birds of prey. he wants them to roll all of their passions into one single ball. He goes on to say that although they can not hold back time, they can make fly by, by having such fun.
Although a very beautiful poem, it gives the implication of being ruggedly pastoral, rather than having the oozing charisma of the Marlowe effort. Such metaphors as the one previously mentioned and expressions such as 'vegetable love' and 'am'rous birds of prey' degrade it to inappropriate offence.
The flea describes a tiny blood withdrawing mite which happens to have sucked a droplet of their blood. Ironically he uses the ugliest, most reviled pest to associate with a pure, probably coy mistress in his attempt to consummate his courtship of her. Nevertheless, he manages well. His basic argument is such: our two bloods are united in a flea. You have just destroyed our 'marriage temple' with such disregard and callousness, then it should be no problem to sleep with me.
In verse one , the writer enthuses about the 'how little' the thing she is denying him is.He slowly begins to build up his argument by saying that being bitten is not a 'sinne, or shame or loss of maidenhead.' He talks about how the flea differs in its approach to her. The flea just jumps up and bites her, while he is painstakingly putting his every effort into wooing her like a gentleman. The poet almost feels deprived here.
In verse two he begs her not to kill the flea, as it is the symbol of their love,and the only place where they are married is in 'these living walls of Jet.' He says that although many things are against them, she must not kill it as that would be killing him and it would be 'sacrilege,' as it is their 'marriage temple'. If it dies all hope of them dies.
In verse three, she kills the flea, cruel and suddenly. He feels angry, annoyed and hurt at her brutal, pointless act. She justifies her action by saying that by killing the flea she does not harm any one. He immediately replies by acknowledging her argument. He then finishes by saying that the same degree of honour of will be lost when she sleeps with him.
The rhyme structure and rhythm gives the poem a robustly flowing, gentle parameters for Donne to work inside. It reminisces undertones of a sweet serenade between two lovers.
The passionate shepherd to his love approaches it in an entirely different way. It says ' If you come with me and live with me, we will have a great time in the country.' It uses descriptive, romantic language to entice her into an enjoyable situation. It is pure, and uses no such defamatory tactics to seduce her. It is a pure classical. romanticised affair which oozes voluptuary superficial charm and elegance.
In every verse he conjures up idyllic fantasies of exotic landscapes and story-book imagery. He flatters her directly by saying talking about how she deserves the best.
'A gown made of finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair lined slippers from the cold,
With buckles made of purest gold.'
He talks about how swans will dance for her, and melodious birds will sing for her.
In contrast to the other poems Marlowe uses no argument. He just associates himself with peripherary stimuli, rather than inducing cognitive responses as do they metaphysical poets. They use a central argument, to make their women think about favourable responses to themselves. If we associate the poets with advertisements, and the product being sexual relations, the metaphysical poets are computer salesmen and Marlowe is a soft-drink vendor. Marlowe merely flashes pictures on the T.V screen of beautiful people,good times and glamour. They think that when the buy the soft drink they will be beautiful and glamourous. They associate the product with fun and excitement. The metaphysical poets use reasoned cognitive theories and facts to help their aim. They write down the prices, so that the buyer will look at them, and uses reasoned judgment to make his choice, in the same way the women hopefully will do to the poets.
