In ‘Elegy: to his mistress going to bed', Donne explores sexual love. His use of continuous verse, without separate stanzas, and heroic rhyming couplets, creates a sense of continuity, a driving rhythm moving the poem towards its climax. This is enhanced by the vivid picture Donne creates as his mistress achieves “Full nakedness”, removing her clothing piecemeal at Donne’s request. We see her “unpin that spangled breastplate”, as Donne commands, “Unlace yourself”, “off with that girdle”, and “off with those shoes”. The repetition of “off with” maintains the sense of vigour and emphasises Donne’s sovereignty over the woman. This egotism has been evident from the start (Donne commands her to “Come Madam” in a typically dramatic opening), but is especially evident in one erotic metaphor: he calls his mistress “My America”, a new continent to be explored “Behind, before, above, between, below”. As well as referring to the contemporary theme of adventure and discovery, this alliteration heightens his celebration of earthly pleasures, conveyed by the pun that he is “tired with standing”. 

 

This reminds us of the orthographic pun in ‘The Flea’, which “Me it sucked first and now sucks thee”, a poem that explores the same subject but is different because of its even stanzas and syllogistic structure. (Readers are reminded that contemporary printers represented the letter S with a letter F). Unlike ‘The Flea’, ‘Elegy: to his mistress going to bed’ attempts to create a sense of respectability using similes such as “that girdle, like heaven’s zone glistening”, and the metaphor of the woman as an “angel” who “bring’st with thee/A heaven like Mohamet’s paradise”. Donne’s paradise, of course, is physical not spiritual, and the mistress is anything but angelic, but the paradox that “To enter in these bonds is to be free”, though talking of his mistress’s embrace, reminds us of the central paradox of his religious poetry: service of God brings freedom from sin, perhaps something Donne needed after such an erotic outburst.

 

Donne’s poem ‘Song (go and catch a falling star)’ also concerns love of women, and it does display similarities with ‘Elegy: to his mistress going to bed’. It opens dramatically with a command (this time to the reader, to “Go”), it includes the sexual pun of the “mandrake root”, and it suggests Donne’s sexist nature with his contempt for female fidelity: “Nowhere”, he says, “lies a woman true, and fair”. However, the use of diction such as “falling star” (a bad omen), “Devil’s foot”, “envy’s stinging”, “nowhere”, and “false” all help to create a cynical tone which contrasts with the enjoyment conveyed in ‘Elegy’. Another difference is the ironic tone in the line “such a pilgrimage were sweet”, suggesting that Donne does not take his subject seriously in ‘Song’. This is reinforced by the mythical nature of the lines “Ride ten thousand days and nights/till age snow white hairs on thee”. Yet another difference is the evenness of the form - three stanzas with ABABCCDDD rhyme - the chorus-like rhyming triplets at the end of each stanza being particularly appropriate to the title.

 

Donne’s work ‘A valediction: forbidding Mourning’ is different again. It concerns the love of women, but this time displays a real sincerity of feeling towards his wife; it is neither sexual nor cynical. This is shown by his use of regular form and ABAB rhyme scheme, which is more reflective than ‘Elegy’. Though he includes the pun that “It leans . . . And grows”, his purpose is not to woo but to reassure his wife that she can “admit absence”. He comments on the strength of their relationship: unlike “Dull sublunary lovers” they are “so much refined” that they “Care less eyes, lips and hands to miss”. This sibilance creates a soft tone to reinforce Donne’s assertion that “Our two souls, therefore which are one” can endure “a breach”. Rejecting the sibilant courtly tradition of “tear-floods” and “sigh tempests”, Donne creates a highly effective conceit to comfort his wife. This challenges the reader to imagine the couple as “stiff twin compasses”: his wife will “in the centre sit” while “the other far doth roam”. Avoiding the sexist tone of the other two poems, Donne explains that “thy firmness makes my circle just”: he suggests that just as the outer foot of the compass relies on its fixed foot for stability, so Donne is strengthened by the love and constancy of his wife. These, therefore, are examples of three different treatments of the subject of love for women.

 

Donne also explores his love for God, where he employs the sonnet form to good effect. In ‘Death be not proud’ he uses the octet to muse on the anticipation of death, personified as “mighty and dreadful”, but resolves the poem with the sestet where he explains that righteousness will ensure “death shall be no more”. His tone matches the subject matter throughout: in the octet he is pessimistic, saying that “soonest our best men to go”, but in the sestet he is triumphant, calling death a “slave” and saying “Death thou shalt die”. This paradox emphasises Donne’s strong faith in God and his knowledge that he will “wake eternally”, an affirmation echoed in the other Holy Sonnets.

 

 

GRAHAM, V. (Ed.) (1996) A Selection of Metaphysical Poets. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.