John Donne, (1572-1631) is considered the greatest of all metaphysical poets. Donne was educated at Oxford, Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn. His works of this period, included some of his songs, sonnets (written as late as 1617), problems and paradoxes, which consisted of cynical, realistic and often sexual lyrics, essays and verse satires. Donne’s court career was ruined by the discovery of his marriage in 1601 to Anne More and we also imprisoned for a short time; later in 1601, his poems became a lot more serious. After a long period of financial uncertainty and desperation, during which he was twice a member of Parliament, Donne yielded to the wishes of King James I and took orders in 1625. Two years later his wife died. He was made reader in divinity at Lincoln’s inn, a royal chaplain, and in 1621 Dean of St. Paul’, a position he held until his death.
Society in these time periods where very rigorous towards the issue of wedlock and divorce; the community would disapprove and condemn it very reprehensibly, and factors such as affairs were looked upon very inhospitably; in addition these subject matters meant more when it involved women. (If a man where to have an affair with another woman it wouldn’t be looked upon as harshly, as it would for a woman in exactly the same circumstances.) The position of woman was always classed lower than men during these ages, as men constantly had the upper hand, and it’s only recently that women have gained the right to vote and be treated as equals.
Civilisation in the 16th and 17th century was a complete era overflowing with passion and romance; nevertheless. even though men were the more dominant sex, they were what's more, the ones that had to declare their love through heart-filled poetry and love letters to allure the senses of the woman they aspirated for; however, this wasn’t always as easy as it sounded, as rejection could have been lingering round on the other side, this can be portrayed through a few sentences in ‘To his Coy Mistress,’ which are,
“And you should, if you please, refuse,
Till the conversation of the Jews,
My vegetable love should grow.”
This tells the reader that even if the mistress chooses to refuse, the male will keep undertaking the challenge to win her over as his love is forever growing, and like a vegetable, it won’t become extinct, because it’s natural.
Both Donne’s and Marvell’s style of poetry generate distinctive atmospheres to resemble the mood and the characteristics, that they are trying to symbolise to the reader. In ‘To his Coy Mistress,’ Marvell is always referring to the conciseness of time (“Had we but world enough, and time” and “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near”) as a result of this, the poem seems to be moderately rushed, and somewhat fast in it’s pace; then again, it is suited to this tempo, as it allows the poem to flow better and creates the precise tone to fit into what is being communicated from the positive towards the negative, where he seems to get agitated by the fact that the woman he has fallen for, isn’t willing to loose her virginity, and so he begins to insult her in a way.
‘My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity.’
He makes the poem sound a lot less realistic and quite witty, however on the other hand you could say he’s trying to personify his anger through subtle joke-like imagery, because he is personally uncomfortable, or maybe even in denial of the fact that he may get rejected yet again, as it seems he has tried to gain her attention more than once.
In ‘To his Mistress going to bed,’ the intonation is unquestionably a lot slower, for the first reason that it doesn’t refer to time as such, and it creates the mood through blissful
and serene imagery, an example of this is,
“A heaven like Mahomet Paradice and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easly know,” this line represents the Mahomet’s Paradice which is mythically said to be filled with carnel pleasures meaning happiness and ecstasy, he then goes onto talk about how he visualize this pleasure and defines as his physical desires. Donne uses mythical images to make the woman feel like she is in somewhat in a disillusionment mood, in other words he is basically romancing her until she goes into bed with him.
In distinction to poems written nowadays, the language in both, ‘To his coy Mistress’ and ‘To his Mistress going to bed,’ differentiate quite impeccably, considering the fact that both poems are only a hundred years apart. Donne’s poem can easily be recognised as a poem written quite a few centuries ago, due to the way the vocabulary is put together, and even the way some words are spelt.
“The hairy Diademe which on you doth grow:
Now of with shooes, and the softly tread;” the intricacy of the poem not only illustrates the composure of what’s being said, but gives the reader the chance to understand and appreciate what’s being alleged through a different technique, in this case it’s the language.
Although Marvell’s poem was written in the 17th century, when contrasted to John Donne’s, it would seem it was written during mid 18th century, maybe even early 19th century, as the expression of writing revolutionizes not fully but enough to be noticed.
To his mistress going to bed :- (16th century language)
‘That when a fools eye lighteth on a Jem,
His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.’ This line is quite extraordinary for the first reason that the language used, is very archaic and creates an atmosphere it carries more than one meaning out to the reader (example of this could be that he would cover her body with his love all over her, instead of jewellery), but though it may sound perplexing, it’s quite clear that Donne is looking for a long term relationship, and not just some vulgar fling.
In comparison to the quote from ‘to his mistress going to bed’ is ‘Should’st rubies find: I by the tide.’ While both poets use luxurious imagery (example of this how they talk about precious stones e.g. rubies) to depict the woman, in Marvell’s poem the tone is made to sound insignificant and witty, therefore, it could be said that, although he speaks about rubies, they don’t seem to hold as much value after use, and possibly that’s how he distinguishes woman. Both poems have a large variety of similes and metaphors, exaggerating luxurious images, sexual images as well as some pessimistic images.
The fundamental nature of Marvell and Donne lies in their style of writing and the way they elucidate the simplest things with such complexity to make them stand out. Seeing as both men are metaphysical authors, they both intensely believe in effects such as, time; immortality and even the soul; all these issues may sound quite bizarre and eccentric to a certain extent, nonetheless metaphysical poets believe in something known as ‘Carpe Diem’ in other words it means to ‘seize the day-’ Marvell does this throughout his poem as he always mentions time and how there’s a deficiency of it; this is shown right from the beginning of the poem, as the first line has a reference to the lack of it; ‘had we but word enough, and time.’
Marvell’s poetry works on a structure known as an octosyllabic couplet; this means that each and every line is made up of exactly eight syllables throughout, giving the poem it’s own identity and rhythm. In Donne’s poem he uses what’s called and iambic pentameter ;( ten syllables per line) although it allows the poem to have a beat of its own, I find that ‘To his coy mistress’ builds up a better flow, as it is more rhythmically flexible, even though both poems have rhyming couplets almost all the way through as Donne’s ‘To his mistress going to bed’ leaves the last two lines without any rhyming pattern. I suppose Donne does this to allow the reader to think beyond the ending of the poem; it’s not exactly a cliff-hanger but allows the reader to make up his or her own visual ending; it’s rather optimistic to say that the man in the poem did get the woman, because although he might of seemed not in control, he always was. ‘What needst thou more covering then man,’- Donne is practically using some form of reverse psychology, as he’s letting the women think she’s in power by his act of taking his clothes of first, but then he’s basically saying, because I’ve taken my clothes off, you should do the same; so it’s easy to say that really, he was always in charge of what was happening.
In conclusion I found both Donne’s and Marvell’s poetry quite amusing and in some ways comical, I say this for the reason that, you wouldn’t find many men writing love letters and poems to the girl they may adore or even love nowadays, because over time or even five centuries, people change, peoples’ habits change and so do the way of their love life. However, as a female, I still find a love letter or even a poem, is far more affectionate than a box of chocolates ever could be, and I also believe that behind every successful man is a woman, as Donne and Marvell have marked their places in history by writing about the mysterious mistress that they fell in love with, and we’re reading about in the 21st century.
