FREE Elegy 19: On His Mistress Going to Bed and Amores Essay (original) (raw)

In John Donne's "Elegy 19: On His Mistress Going to Bed", Donne reveals to the audience the experience of undressing his mistress before they unite in sexual ecstasy. However, as he is describing his experience, the audience is given no insight on the mistress' character or her life. Donne does, however, bluntly address her body as he takes the clothes off of her, but does so with a sense of command and entitlement in his diction. The audience never gets a sense if the mistress is enjoying the experience, and his use of metaphysical conceit reveals that women are no more than an object of a man's sexual desire to Donne. In Ovid's collection of poems Amores, he also writes of his erotic adventures with his mistress, among other women. Though like Donne, Ovid speaks of the projection of his fantasy's upon women, including physical aggression and sexual advances, he also reacts and elaborates the reaction that women have to his advancements. Ovid also uses metaphors in the Amores, but in contrast to Donne, does so to show admiration or to portray women as equal players in the battlefield of his love life. Though both authors write of their experience with women in their works, their uses of diction, imagery, and metaphors reveal Donne's experience with his mistress to be one that is singular and entitled in contrast to Ovid's, which portrays to the reader a greater sense of inclusiveness and emotion toward the women he writes of. .
In Donne's "Elegy 19: On His Mistress Going to Bed", Donne's persona commands the woman to undress; "Off with that girdle" (line 5), "Unlace yourself" (line 9), "Off with that happy busk" (line 11), "Off with that wiry coronet and show The hairy diadem which on you doth grow;" (lines 15-16, 1283), "Now off with those shoes" (line 17). In doing so, Donne recreates the woman to her face.

1. Critical Analysis comparing Donne

To His Mistress Going to Bed" with Herbert's "Prayer", in which you discuss the texts as artifacts of the Renaissance. ... Herbert gained most of his inspiration through "faith, in hunger and thirst after godliness and in his self-questioning and religious meditation"(T.S Elliot 1962, PG 19). ... The first three words of the poem display a forceful opening as is seen in Donne's poem "To His Mistress Going to Bed". ... The content of John Donne's poem "To his mistress going to bed", can be seen in contrast to that of George Herbert's "Prayer". ... Irony is another conce...

2. To His Mistress Going to Bed by John Donne

This essay will discuss the poem To His Mistress Going To Bed by John Donne. ... To His Mistress Going To Bed was written in the late-sixteenth century, but not published until after Donne's death in 1631, like most of his work. ... One could argue that he is making his own "flesh upright" while laying in bed waiting on his Mistress (24). ... Additionally, he writes that angels went to men, and for this reason, this woman should go to him (19). ... To His Mistress Going To Bed is one continuous verse without any separate stanzas. ...

3. Elegy vs epic

In "Beowulf" you can see epic in the amazing heroic stories, adventures, and battles between Beowulf and Grendel and his mother, but you also witness elegy because of the sorrow and sadness of the hero's death in the end of the story. ... In "The Seafarer" the character practically lives in the sea (not by choice) and tells what he has gone through, what he misses, his hopes, and desperations. ... Fain would he flee, his fastness seek, the den of devils: no doings now such as oft he had done in days of old! ... The princess is in trouble the knight goes to the rescue, saves the princes...

4. Contrast of Elegies

The three elegies discussed in class all share similar characteristics. ... In Annabel Lee, Poe expresses that his love will never die, and "demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee". ... The elegies covered in class respectfully pay homage to the deceased. ... Poe addresses his lost love as a "beautiful" being whose purpose in life was to love Poe as he loved her. ... Poe goes on to say heavenly bodies were so jealous of their beautiful love they killed Annabel to have her in heaven, and that he will always love Annabel and that their ...

5. Contrast of Elegies

The three elegies discussed in class all share similar characteristics. ... In Annabel Lee, Poe expresses that his love will never die, and "demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee". ... The elegies covered in class respectfully pay homage to the deceased. ... Poe addresses his lost love as a "beautiful" being whose purpose in life was to love Poe as he loved her. ... Poe goes on to say heavenly bodies were so jealous of their beautiful love they killed Annabel to have her in heaven, and that he will always love Annabel and that their ...

6. To His Coy Mistress

The speaker in Andrew Marvell's poem, To His Coy Mistress, is writing to a woman in hopes of getting her into bed with him. ... In To His Coy Mistress, the speaker of the poem dehumanizes the mistress through a manipulative love poem. At first glance, To His Coy Mistress appears to be a formal, lyric love letter. ... The flattery, scare tactics, insults and encouragement the speaker uses serve a way to separate the feelings of the mistress from her body; his ultimate goal. He utilizes different tones and methods of persuasion in hopes that one will succeed in getting her into bed. ...

7. Poetry Analysis -The Mistress and On His Blindness

"The Mistress" by Jane King and "On His Blindness" by John Milton both presents the lives of a woman and a man, respectively via first person narration. ... Firstly, the themes of both "The Mistress" and "On His Blindness" shall be revealed and discussed. ... The wife in "The Mistress" endures the sorrow because of her husband's infidelities of pursuing an affair with his mistress but still continues to fulfil a wife's duties without giving up. Instead, she maintains her pride and patience throughout such a heart-wrenching ordeal as ...

8. Priceless Time in To His Coy Mistress

The speaker goes on to try and convince his mistress that their time together isn't forever and to take advantage of their love now before it is too late. ... Marvell's speaker then goes on to explain what he would be up to if there were enough time to wait on his mistress's decision. ... The speaker also takes time in the poem to flatter his mistress. ... He finishes his adoration lines telling her " you deserve this state, / Nor would I love at a lower rate" (19, 20). ... To His Coy Mistress is very focused on time and taking advantage of it. ...

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question