John Donne is considered to be the father of metaphysical poetry. He uses many different poetic techniques and his work contains graphic writings about sex and violence, using science to describe the act of love. ‘The Flea’ uses a metaphorical conceit; he applies a single flea as a metaphor throughout the poem and tries to use the flea to get his lover to have sex with him, however she refuses his advances as she is attached to her virginity. Although it is not as phallic as other poems he wrote such as ‘To His Mistress Going To Bed’ it is in many ways more effective in achieving its aim by depending on the essential conceit of the flea. The speaker tells her that they have both been bitten by a single flea and as the flea crawls over their bodies, it bites drawing blood from both. Since they’ve already exchanged it no longer would be a sin if she submits to him: ‘Though know'st that this cannot be said/ A sin nor shame nor loss of maidenhead:’ but when she refuses to and threatens to squash the flea he stops her to spare the three lives: ‘three sins in killing three.’ Not only the flea’s life but his and her life will be hurt. He argues that the flea’s stomach is “our marriage bed and marriage temple,” and the mingling of their blood is the marriage. It does not matter that their parents are against their romance and that she will not have sex with him because within the flea they are united. She ignores him and kills the flea inciting the speaker to call the act ‘Cruel and sudden,’ especially for spilling the ‘blood of innocence’ He then cleverly changes tactic pointing out to her that the death of the flea is not the death of them and she is unnecessarily denying herself ‘yield to me’. When she refuses he comes back with another counter arguments making her refusal seem wasteful and frivolous. ‘Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee’, Undoubtedly it’s a bizarre way to win over a woman and if one used that line today to woo any girl one would most certainly get a barrage of insults and a hard slap across the face. But hats off to Donne for he puts up a very good argument as the entire poem has a definite, if rather ridiculous logic to it.
Likewise, Andrew Marvell's ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is clever and encapsulates metaphysical elements and elaborate ‘conceits’ however, it differs in the ploy used by the speaker (lover) to persuade the woman into relenting to him. Where Donne’s speaker used cunning methods to have his way with his woman, Marvell tries to logically convince his virgin mistress to allow him to take her virginity by a conventional 'carpe diem' (seize the day.) theme, ‘Let’s forget about tomorrow and live for today’ Marvell cleverly condenses the poem to a simple logical argument by applying the following format: If, Then, But and Therefore.
Also it’s full of exaggerated use of religious, metaphysical and microcosmic imagery of time and space and aptly begins with ‘Had we but World enough and Time'. He then eloquently argues that they should put all thoughts of everything aside before time absorbs them (let’s do it before we grow too old). ‘But at my back I always hear/ Times winged Chariot hurrying near’, (time is speeding by). When this argument fails to convince her, he turns to scare tactics, saying that worms will be the only ones enjoying her precious virginity. In other words she will die a virgin if she continues to waste time. ‘Then Worms shall try/that long preserv'd Virginity’. This was a clever tactic as life expectancy in the 17th Century was low and therefore both women and men tended to age and die early.
Shakespeare’s sonnet is unlike the other two poems, while Donne and Marvell poems focus on seduction and sexual love, Shakespeare’s sonnet is more about the realistic love for a real woman and not some idolised fake nonexistent version. Also ‘Sonnet 130’ is a contrast to his usual works which are typical flowery Petrarchan conceits that were fashionable in the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18,’ is a typical example of a poem that put its subject on a pedestal, it begins, ‘Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day’. The lover here is described in hyperboles making the women sound like some sort of divine angel-like creature. A contrast to ‘Sonnet 130,’ as the mistress is far from a classic beauty ‘My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun/ Coral is far more red than her lips/ If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.’ She is an incredibly plain and ordinary her eyes don’t glisten, her breasts are dull and her lips are not at all seductive. Further on in the sonnet he is objectionable about other things other than just her physical appearance and goes on to say, “In some perfumes is there more delight/ Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks/ I love to hear her speak, yet well I know/ That music hath a far more pleasing sound." The poor woman not only lacks in the looks department but is also afflicted with bad breath and an awful voice. But Shakespeare ends the sonnet on a positive note by proclaiming his undying love for his mistress despite her lack of beauty, and finally embracing the fundamental theme that runs through all traditional Petrarch sonnets. He confesses his unconditional love and devotion for his mistress despite all her flaws and imperfections. It’s her rarity is what makes him love her ‘And yet by heaven, I think my love is rare’. She is a real woman, not an idealized being of unearthly beauty and she does not need to be ‘belied with false compare’
It’s interesting to note that ‘The Flea’ though different from Shakespeare’s poem, also does not resort to putting the woman on a pedestal in order to gain her favours. Instead Donne’s persona prefers to put up a clever argument, to corner his lover into saying ‘Yes’ to him. But this is not the case in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ as the speaker exemplifies just how crafty and cunning men can be when sex is on their mind. Here the speaker is willing to use any ploy to get his woman to have sex with her (This is probably due to the fact that love is far from his mind). He begins with a mixture of extravagant flattery by associating her with the exotic and the precious, the Ganges and rubies. He employs some intense imageries and similes. In line two he compares her youthful looks to that of morning dew, suggesting that she is fresh and newly formed like the morning dew drops. But when she shows that she is immune to his flattery he quickly turns her beauty against her and uses it as a tool to scare her into bedding him. He goes on to tell her that the only reason he or anyone would want her is because of her youthful looks and that she should hurry up and have sexual intercourse with him for her much coveted beauty will not last long.
‘Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,’ (lines 33-37)
The structure of each of the poems all differ, Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 130’ like almost all of his other sonnets has fourteen lines; it consists of three quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme and has a volta at the rhyming couplet to finish. Shakespeare has used an iambic pentameter in ‘Sonnet 130’.
Donne and Marvell have both used similar rhyme schemes in their poems, while they both start off with AABBCC couplet pattern Donne then goes on to a rhyming triplet at the end of the stanza whereas Marvell. The rest is mostly rhyming couplets giving the poem a much more uniform rhyming scheme throughout. This also allows him to gradually build up to his Volta giving an unexpected ending and greater impact to the reader. Whilst Donne’s utilises a variety of techniques split into three stanzas to bring validity to a ridiculous argument. However both ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and the ‘The Flea’ make use of the iambic tetrameter, splitting each line into four stressed and four unstressed beats. This is constant throughout both of the poems.
All three poems are split into three stanzas, by doing this their poems can have a beginning, problem and resolution. All three poets also write their poems in the first person, resulting in the poems having a greater impact for the reader/audience. Each poet achieves this by using ‘I’ and ‘we’ resulting in the reader/audience becoming embroiled in the plot.
In conclusion all three poets give a different representation of love showing the reader that love is a complex, powerful, and sometimes an all consuming and passionate emotion that a person can experience. They highlight in their individual ways through clever use of language the lengths a person goes to in the name of love.
Shakespeare ‘Sonnet130’ though unconventional is false love versus true love, and is in my view the poem that truly represents love that is unconditional between two people who love each other regardless of status, wealth or beauty. Whereas Donne’s, although brilliant, is more about lust and sexual desire as it is quite obvious to the reader that the speaker is only trying to satisfy his own sexual needs by using a cunning conceit (a flea) to entrap the woman into fulfilling his needs. This is not love in my view but plain and simply a horny guy trying to scratch an itch without any commitment. Similarly, in Marvell’s poem the tactic although different, has the same aim, to get his mistress to have sex with him by whatever ways or means. He is a player and a gigolo and is out to seduce his mistress. Sex is all he is offering her and it seems she is smart enough to see that because she refuses his advances every step of the way.
