Comparing and Contrasting 17th Century Love Poems

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Comparing and Contrasting 17th Century Love Poems

Taken at face value these three poems appear to be similar, but a closer look at the tone, structure, themes and language shows that they are all, in fact, quite different. Having said this there are still a number of similarities that link all three pieces together. To begin with they are all roughly contemporaneous and this is reflected to some degree in the style of the poems. All three poems concern love or lust of some shape or form, whether it is utter devotion, as in To his Coy Mistress or an account of sexual passion, as in The Willing Mistress. One other similarity I have noticed is the way that all three pieces have a fairly rigid structure and use rhyming.

        Firstly I will discuss the descriptive methods which are used to create the atmosphere and feeling of the three poems. Two of these poems put metaphysical devices to good use, albeit in quite different ways , whereas the thire poem relies on more traditional descriptive powers.

The metaphor used in The Flea is a concentrates on a single conceit, whereas To His Coy Mistress has many different metaphors.  The Flea uses one of the strangest metaphors conceivable to portray sexual intercourse.

            “It sucks me first, and now sucks thee,

         And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;”

This bizarre conceit seems more logical considering the belief of the time that blood was exchanged in sexual intercourse.  Despite this I still feel that the metaphor is one that is too far fetched, and when pushed into romantic service it destroys the possibility for any loving emotion. Their love is described in these simple, stark terms:

        “This flea is you and I, and this

          Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;”

What The Flea lacks in emotion it makes up for in pure intellectual ingenuity.  The piece is designed to challenge and puzzle, and forces the reader to figure it out.  Several sections are quite difficult to grasp at first and in some lines Donne uses mathematical logic to further perplex the reader:

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        “Though use make you apt to kill me,

          Let not to that, self-murder added be,

          And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.”

If the poem is read through quickly it appears to be nonsense but once the meaning has been drawn out there is a real feeling of satisfaction and a heightened sense  of equality with the poet.  

        The poem uses very distinctive language which is strong, simple and colloquial, he is talking directly to the woman . The words are blunt and to the point:

        “Mark but this flea, and mark in this

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