Summary:
With the metaphysical poems The Flea, To His Coy Mistress, and The Apparition, all use techniques to shape this mutual love/lust theme.
The former two poems are wooing a lady into sexual relations, while the latter is a bitter complaint that his lady's chastity has killed him- which acknowledges the characteristics of Petrarchan poetry by supposing that the rejected lover will die of unrequited love.
How many of you have ever been in love? Lust? Then you will know what I am talking about when I lecture you on the metaphysical poems The Flea, To His Coy Mistress, and The Apparition, which all use techniques to shape this mutual love/lust theme.
The former two poems are wooing a lady into sexual relations, while the latter is a bitter complaint that his lady's chastity has killed him- which acknowledges the characteristics of Petrarchan poetry by supposing that the rejected lover will die of unrequited love.
Conceit is used by the first two personas in aims to win their entreat. I.e. 'The Flea' uses the insect as an argument that since their bloods are already 'mingled bee' in the animal, they may as well have sex since this would amount to the same thing. It follows the renaissance intellectual belief that sex was a mingling of bloods, and has the effect of belittling the lady and her values by showing how much importance He places on them. To His Coy Mistress likewise uses conceit in the first of it's 3 internal stanzas in 'vegetable love' which provides imagery of a growing emotion and has the effect of standing out as it is different from the other language used.
Now students, these poets were masters of the art of rhetoric. This can be seen firstly by the 'what I would do if only I had the time' message in To His Coy Mistress which is shown by the cumulating hyperboles of time gaps e.g. 'two hundred to adore each breast, but 30 thousand to the rest...'which has a 'carpe diem' impact in it's monument, and further has the effect of glorifying the lady and giving her adoration- in short flattering her in efforts to seduce her.
Secondly, in 'The Apparition' the persona- although he claims that his love 'is spent up' the whole basis of the poem is his continuing but hopeless love which gives an example of how deep, but also how dangerous love can be- as in the end, he wants to have the satisfaction of seeing her suffer from unfulfilled sexual desire. (I.e. I'had rather thou shoulds't painfully repent Than by my threatenings rest still innocent.') This changing of mood (from bitterness in the end to love/ lust e.g. 'solicitation from mee') can also be seen in the other poems which use tonal changes as a method of persuasal. E.g. in the shift in 'The Flea', after the 2nd stanza and where the lady has just killed the flea, rather than be put off by an end to his former argument the persona simply changes his mood to say that now she has killed the flea neither of them are weaker for it, and they can have sex now. ( i.e. ' nor mee the weaker now') The Flea also sees tonal changes like envy- as the persona is jealous of the fleas freedom on her body ( 'sucks thee'), and also bigotness when he says 'When thou yeildst to mee' . By saying this he puts himself in power and has the effect of seeming to modern responders very egocentric as he did not say 'If thou yeeld'st to me'.
To His Coy Mistress continues using techniques like tonal changes in efforts to persuade the lady. He firstly paints a Utopian picture of what could be if they did not have 'Times winged chariots drawing near' which flatters the lady and makes the man seem much more kind and nice with his supposed peaceful desires. This mood changes to bigotness in his assurance that she will sleep with him -e.g. 'Thy Willing soul...' to mocking -'then worms shall try that long preserved virginity' which gives a phallic and derogatory allusion in his attempt to manipulate the woman.
Not real nice hey? Well it seems that way to us nowadays, but back then it was a patriarchal society with much influence placed on the church. Although, all these poems move away from more traditional religious beliefs and values. In The Apparition the persona is convinced that if she will not bestow her favours on him, she'll just sleep with someone else- i.e. 'worse arms' and 'wake him, thinke Thou call'st for more...' This does not put any honour on a womans inner strength and makes her appear a rowdy whore- He depicts virtue in a derogatory light and portrays that the ladys lust must give him divine right to her body. The Flea mocks the lady's chastity by constantly alluding to the philosophical smallness of sex (i.e. 'Just so much honour...') and To His Coy Mistress argues just how small chastity is in 'quaint honour' which gives an effect of showing how much better they will be when societies constraints are removed (e.g. Had we ...')
Well students, although these personas may not have been successful in their persuasal or complaints, they are so in giving brilliant, clever poems through their content, and techniques which show themes of love/ lust. These include ones such as association in fire= hell, metaphor O'murdress, Aspen, symbolism -Jet. They are great to read today, and were great to read back then, especially 'THe Flea' which a renaissance audience would have an interest in reading (due to the 'dark side' of the flea/ the baseness) since a poem on the insect by the Roman Ovid.
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