His Mistress Going To Bed By Donne - 1272 Words

The Laws of Seduction On the surface, Donne’s â€Å"To His Mistress Going to Bed† seems like a simple request to admire and charm his mistress into sex. However, his impressive background of theology, cosmology and law is embedded in a subtle fashion which causes the poem to be much more elaborate than what first meets the eye. Donne suffered a few losses during his years including the loss of jobs, imprisonment, still born children, and the eventual death of his wife. If his poetry is any attempt to use wit and mastery to make up for his social shortcomings, this poem certainly aids in redirecting his readers. In â€Å"To His Mistress Going to Bed†, Donne incorporates diction, allusions, similes and metaphors surrounding sex, religion and law in†¦show more content†¦If his wit and intelligence is not enough to convince his companion, he also compares her girdle to the glistering of â€Å"heaven’s zone† (5). He then takes it a step further and declares that her girdle encompasses a far fairer world than heaven’s zone itself (6). The exaggeration of the comparison between the sparkle of jewels on her girdle and the radiance of heaven’s zodiac emphasizes the magnitude of captivation that the speaker claims in his continued efforts to sleep with her. Donne’s inclusion of religion and spirituality both reinforces his broad scope of knowledge and downplays the animalistic perception surrounding sex. â€Å"Bringest with thee a heaven like Mahomet’s paradise† alludes to Donne’s knowledge of the Quran belief system, while providing another smooth comparison of the speaker’s desires with his mistress (20-21). He also compares the white robe she wears in the poem to the robes â€Å"†¦heaven’s angels used to be/ Received by men†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in (19-20). His combination of erotic language and association with the alleged heaven-like, virgin angel’s in Mahomet’s paradise aids in softening his approach to woo the mistress (cite footnote 3 here). Metaphors that compare their â€Å"soft bed† to a â€Å"hallowed temple† compliment the religious associations while also adding a sacred tone to his speech (18). His comparison of her to angels, heaven and paradise also evo kes the supernatural type ofShow MoreRelatedComparing To his Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and To his Mistress Going to Bed by John Donne1511 Words   |  7 PagesComparing To his Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and To his Mistress Going to Bed by John Donne In recent times I have compared and contrasted two pieces of love poetry, both of which are exceptionally lyrical and full of intellectual language that bring the poems alive with elaborated metaphors that compare dissimilar things, as they Inare equally, yet somehow individually both metaphysical poems. The first of these poems that I comprehended was To his Coy Mistress; (writtenRead MoreA Comparison of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell and ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ by John Donne2064 Words   |  9 PagesA Comparison of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell and ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ by John Donne ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ are both poems about men seducing women. They centre around sex rather than love or romance. Sixteenth and seventeenth century attitudes to love and relationships were much stricter going as far as wealthy people asking their perspective lovers to court them via love poem or letter. Though this has changed fromRead MoreJohn Donne to his mistress going to bed comparative discussion with Courtly love or woman as thing and Unbearable Weight1724 Words   |  7 PagesDonne’s poem ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’1 appears on the surface to be a poem celebrating the beauty of the female body and the joys of sex. 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The family was Roman Catholic which was dangerous during this time when Catholicism was being abolished and protestant was taking over. Donne’s farther was an iron monger who died in 1576. At 11 Donne and his younger brother went to university and studied there for three years then he went to Cambridge for a further three years. He left without any degrees becauseRead MoreJohn Donne Love Poetry1442 Words   |  6 Pagesin his prose book â€Å"The Dyers Hand and Other Essays† suggests â€Å"What makes it difficult for a poet not to tell lies is that, in poetry, all facts and all beliefs cease to be true or false and become interesting possibilities†¦It may not, perhaps, be absolutely necessary that he believe it, but it is certainly necessary that his emotions be deeply involved, and this they can never be unless, as a man, he takes it more seriously than as a mere poetic convenience.† It is Donne’s sensibility and his personalRead More To His Mistress Going to Bed, Good Morrow, Corinnas Going A-Maying, and To His Coy Mistress2411 Words   |  10 Pages Seduction in To His Mistress Going to Bed, Good Morrow, Corinnas Going A- Maying, and To His Coy Mistress Throughout time, one of the greatest challenges mankind has faced is the sexual conquest of womankind. In many cultures today, this challenge has evolved into an intricate courting process that often involves buying the woman flowers, gifts, and meals to persuade her to have sex. Another device that a man might use to seduce a woman is poetryRead More To his Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and The Flea by John Donne1987 Words   |  8 PagesTo his Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and The Flea by John Donne 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 sonnetsRead MoreEssay on The Flea by John Donne2357 Words   |  10 PagesThe Flea by John Donne â€Å"The Flea†, a witty poem of seduction and conceit, taken from John Donne’s â€Å"Songs and Sonets† is the poem that I have chosen to compare to â€Å"Song†, another poem of John Donne’s where he is passionately pleading with his wife not to be disheartened about his departure abroad. Both poems which belong to â€Å" Songs and Sonets†, written around the time of the 16th century, show that their title suggests they are both short poems, following the traditional form of a sonnet