Poetry of John Donne and Essay

This is seen the verse "Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead" (Donne). Unfortunately for the seducer, the flea has succeded where he failed. The social conventions of marriage and consumation are symbolized by it in the verse where Donne speaks of marriage bed and marriage temple." The killing of the flea would be like killing his lover and symbolizes the shortness of life and the immediacy and importance of finding love above all else (ibid.).

On the surface of it all, the Marvell poem appears to expound the concept of seizing the moment, however in that the works are different in that Donne is using an animal metaphor while Marvell is using that of a coy mistress instead (Donne and Marvell). Also, the Marvell work is a warning to the lady against the inflated flattery men use to seduce and bed women. While on the surface it seems similar, this is a very different purpose. The male makes fun of the female coyness and shyness noting that it is a pretense and that men can play this game as well (Marvell). To recap, the author has explained the similarities and differences between the poetry of John Donne and that of Andrew Marvell. By analyzing Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and John Donne's "The Flea "While, the best examples of the representative poetry were considered. On the surface the poets seem to share many similarities, a deeper analysis revealed important differences as the Donne work was encouraging the woman to give into the seduction while the Marvell poem was lampooning and therefore downplaying it. References Donne, John. "The Flea." Luminarium.org. Luminarium, 03 Sept 2003. Web. 20 Jun 2011. . "John Donne's "The Flea" and Andrew Marvell's "to His Coy Mistress": Seduction Poetry at Its Finest ." VCCS Litonline . VCCS, 2011. Web. 20 Jun 2011. . Marvell, Andrew. "To his Coy Mistress." Luminarium.org. Luminarium. 20 Oct. 1999. Web. 20 Jun 2011. ......