Two of the poems in 'Best Words' are 'seduction poems', rather than love poems. These are 'To his coy mistress' by Andrew Marvell and 'The Flea' by John Donne. Compare these two poems.
Two of the poems in 'Best Words' are 'seduction poems', rather than love poems. These are 'To his coy mistress' by Andrew Marvell and 'The Flea' by John Donne. Compare these two poems by analysing: -
* Each poets intention
* Form of the poem
* Language used in the poem
* Your reaction to the unromantic poems.
'Let me not to the marriage of true minders/Admit impediments, love is not love', is one of many famous love sonnets written by William Shakespeare. He had examined different parts of love and descried to explain them in a sonnet; where as other poets have written poems with different forms and structure on their points of views about relationships and seduction. In my essay I intend to compare the similarities and differences in two different poems. They are, 'To his coy mistress' by Andrew Marvell which is about time and 'The Flea' by John Donne, to answer, 'Are these poems really dominant with seduction?'
Firstly one similarity between Marvell's 'To his coy mistress' and Donne's 'The Flea' is how they both have the same intention of seducing their mistress. This is shown by 'oh stay, thee lives in one flea spare' and 'and now, like amorous birds of prey. It is evident that love is not a key feature of the poet's relationship. It's more like a balancing act of power between them. However their mistress refuses to succumb to their master's advantages, which lets the women be in control.
This is seen by how in the 17th century, men had the say for everything that happened, so the two versifier try to seduce their mistress. It is evident that the two authors go about it in different ways. In 'To his coy mistress' by Marvell he doesn't try to seduce his mistress, but tries to show is love for her. I know this because the word that makes me see his mistress shy is the word 'coy'. This simply means that his mistress doesn't like to get into nothing with her master. Where as in 'The flea', Donne only has one goal, which in this case is sex. He uses the flea because the flea has made them 'almost married' because of the exchange of blood. This is shown by 'the flea sucked me and sucked you - blood mingled.' It is evident that by using the flea and saying how the flea has married them, now gives Donne the power to follow out his intention, and become in control again of his mistress. Although in the poem's their mistress soon relents, making the poet's argument successful.
This balancing act of power has then been further complicated in Donne's 'The flea' where it is not simply a care of bedding his lady. Donne is more apprehensive about his intellectual powers, when he says, 'Cruel and sudden, hast thou since'. This quotation has revealed that Donne sees that his act of seduction being prefaced by a battle of wits. But his mistress reveals to him with her skills. As she argues back, 'Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now'. Despite this rally Donne tries to win the argument by saying, 'Just so much honour, when ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
This balancing act of power has then been further complicated in Donne's 'The flea' where it is not simply a care of bedding his lady. Donne is more apprehensive about his intellectual powers, when he says, 'Cruel and sudden, hast thou since'. This quotation has revealed that Donne sees that his act of seduction being prefaced by a battle of wits. But his mistress reveals to him with her skills. As she argues back, 'Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now'. Despite this rally Donne tries to win the argument by saying, 'Just so much honour, when thou yield's to/ will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.'
Although both poets' intention is the same to seduce their mistress, there is a subtle difference between the two poems. We know this because he says in, 'To his coy mistress', Marvell states, 'Had we but would enough, and time.' (Line 1) This is showing me that the poet is trying to say to his mistress that they have a life together and time is what they have. But the poet knows they haven't got time on their side. So time isn't everything that they have together.
Secondly the similarities between Marvell's 'To his coy mistress' and Donne's 'The flea' are they both have the same form. This is shown by both poems are written with three stanzas which is common for an argument poem that these two poems are. It is evident that not all poems are written in the same way. For example Robert Browning 'Porphyria's Lover' is written in one stanza and is a narratue poem. William Shakespeare wrote a 14-line sonnet love poem. So it shows that there are different kinds of love poems.
These similar poems 'To his coy mistress' and 'The flea' have the same form but have different meanings in all kinds of ways. In Marvell's 'To his coy mistress' is all about the poet trying to seduce his mistress otherwise she'll die a virgin. In Donne's 'The flea' the poet is telling you how he wants to bed his mistress, because of the help of the flea. Nevertheless his mistress in the last stanza is fighting back by killing the flea. I know she fights back by, 'Find'st not thyself, nor me the weaker now'. It is evident that the poets lover is trying to say how, her master will not seduce her, as he just wants sex. I think this is because she believes that as the flea has bitten them, it hasn't actually done anything to bring them together, let a lone married them. This is because for a flea to stay alive it needs blood, and it's just coincidence that it's bitten them instead of anybody as.
A further similarity between the two seduction poems is the use of the poet's language. Both poems use frequent use of imagery particularly with Metaphors. In 'The flea' by Donne, the poem itself has a metaphor and that is the flea. As for Marvell's verse he saw 'yonder all before us lie/ Desert of vast eternity.' There the author is describing that there is a desert. This means that the poem is about time and the life they have together. It's like one of those hourglasses with falling sand and time in one. Both poets therefore use imargey to bring their points forward in the poems.
A difference in the language used is the Biblical references that Marvell uses in 'To his coy mistress'. With the use of the biblical references it has brought a meaning to the verse. This is shown by, 'Love you ten years before the flood.' This is showing that Marvell might be religious and has referred to Noah's Ark because he tries to tell his mistress that he is intelligence and he is worldliness so he can win her over. But in Donne's 'The flea' he uses religious words to describe his love. An example for this the use words like, 'married' and 'Temple'. The reason for this is because as the flea has bitten both people, the poet is saying that they are closer together and are married because of that flea. So the use of the religious words is to say that the flea has married Donne and his lover by the exchange of blood.
Another difference in the two poems is in Marvell's verse is at the end. He has used rhyming couplets with a meaning. This is shown as, 'Thus, through we cannot make our sun/stand still, yet we will make him run.' This quotation shows that he is saying that they can run into the sun and enjoy themselves for the short time that they have together before they die. In Donne's verse he uses rhyming couplets to put across his argument.
Instead Donne just puts a straightforward rhyming couplet which is shown as, 'Just so honour, when thou yield'st to me/ Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.' These just shows that now the lover has killed the flea and has just meant that the time they could have had as a 'married couple' has been destroyed, forever. The poet now is lost for words as his lover has taken control of the argument. This shows that the lover will not stand for Donne's witty way of trying to win her over and to sleep with her.
The final similarities between Marvell and Donne's poems are in my reaction. The first similarity in my reaction is they both want the same thing. Now that same thing is sex. Back in the 17th century men were then in control of things. This is called patriarchal society, this means in control of women. Also women back in that time were not respected for who they were. As Marvell and Donne had patriarchal society over women, they just did not respect them. Marvell and Donne just used their mistress for sex. An example of this is, 'my echoing song; them worms shall try/ that long preserved virginity' from 'To his coy mistress'. This shows that the lover should have sex with the poet as she is going to die a virgin. In Donne's 'The Flea' an example of patriarchal society is, 'It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee/ and in this flea, our two bloods mingled be.' This shows that the patriarchal society those men would have and now the exchange of blood has married them together forever.
The differences within these poems have a miscellaneous view on my reactions towards the poems. They are that in Marvell's, 'To his coy mistress' I think that the poet has a sick and revolting mind by trying to seduce his mistress. I say this because he just doesn't want her to die a virgin and to let the worms to have her instead, which in fact is disgusting. But in Donne's 'The flea' the poet doesn't understand what his lover wants, although he knows want he wants. That one thing is sex. Donne had used a flea, which has bitten both of them and has exchanged their blood, because Donne wants to symbols love and marriage. As the flea has now exchanged Donne and his mistress blood, he now believes their married; so it's ok to have sex together now they are Mr and Mrs. Except his lover argues back saying that they are not married and how the flea has bitten the nearest two people, which was them, and has not brought them together at all.
So in both verses the poets had the same intention but different uses of language and structure, which makes both of these poems an argument, not like 'Porphyiar's Lover' by Browning and Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18', which are two different examples of the poets views on relationships. But my reaction too both are different in the two poems.
As you can see, the poets both have the same intentions, but use there own ways to seduce their mistress back in patriarchal society. Now a day's relationships are a two way thing. This means the two people can make up their own minds, not just the men. So in all it's equally balanced in a relationship.
To conclude, I believe that Marvell and Donne had generally similar ideas, on how to bed their mistress. This is shown by sharing the same, aim of the poem, through their very own mistress. The similarities can be seen by the structure and language that are also. However if that was me in that position, I would tried to out wit Donne, by showing how his intellectual powers, wouldn't out mind me; because I would try and impersonate what the poet was trying to do, so that the poet's intentions wouldn't of happened, as I would make sure I was in control of the relationship. Now I will let you think of something and that is...What would you have done back in the 17th century? And what do you think of the poet's back then now in the 21st century? I'll leave that to you to think about that and how women were treated for the use of sex and not treated for their personality within that time period.
Nicola Bryant 11K
