In order to truly understand how John Donne (1572 - 1631) views and treats the concept of love in his poems, he We must be well aware of the fact that his love poems never refer to a single immutable vision of love. Instead, in Donne's love poems one finds not only a wide variety of emotions presented, but also his contrasting attitudes towards love. Among Donne's many different romantic experiences, however, "The Flea" and "To His Mistress Going To Bed" can be seen as Donne's attempts to glorify the physical nature of love, in the most innocent and lavish of ways. more brazenly, to reject and challenge the traditional Petrarchan idea. of courtly love, and to assimilate physical love to spiritual love by transforming its simple physicality into a celebration of the holy union between souls and God. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “The Flea” and “To His Mistress Who Goes to Bed” are both dedicated to Donne’s glorification of the physical nature of love. “The Flea” is about seduction and persuasion, and lovemaking is depicted as both natural, harmless and even heretical. In “The Flea,” the speaker of the poem strives to invalidate the young woman's moral concerns and convince her to give up her virginity to him by taking advantage of a flea. In the first stanza, the speaker explains to the young woman that after the flea sucked both of their blood, they are already one thanks to their blood mixing in the flea's body, therefore , if such a banal event "...cannot be said / A sin, nor a shame, nor a loss of virginity" (lines 5-6), then the sexual intercourse between them must also be considered harmless and shameless . Later, in the third stanza, after the young woman has killed the flea despite the speaker's objection, he describes her worry about losing chastity as "false fears" (line 25) since having intercourse Sex with him should be of no use. consequences more serious than an act as simple as killing the flea. Thus, under Donne's pen, even premarital sex is glorified as natural and harmless. In “To His Mistress Going To Bed,” not only is the physical nature of love without guilt or shame, but it is also glorified as a happy and exciting feeling. exploratory adventure. “To His Mistress Going To Bed” praises the sensual pleasure of a young woman's body. The poem takes place as the speaker of the poem waits and watches his mistress undress in front of him in stages. Such an experience is full of excitement and anticipation for the speaker, as he asserts that “…All joys are due to you, as must be bodiless souls, naked bodies, to taste whole joys. » (lines 32-35) and therefore “full nudity!” (line 32) is what brings him joy. The speaker also views the young woman's body as an unexplored land waiting for him to conquer it, as he describes her body as “O my America! my new land” (line 27) and that in the course of exploration he establishes “My kingdom, safest when ruled by one man” (line 28). “To His Mistress Going To Bed” is therefore a celebration of physical pleasure in love. Donne's glorification of the physical nature of love rejects and challenges the Petrarchan notion of love. In Petrarchan poetry, mistresses are generally chaste and distant while male lovers are said to be constantly devotional but ultimately suffer from love.