To truly understand how John Donne (1572 - 1631) considers and treats the concept of love in his poems, one 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, not only can one find a wide variety of emotions presented, but there are also his contrasting attitudes towards love. Among Donne's many different love experiences, however, both "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 shameless way, to reject and challenge the traditional Petrarchan idea. of courtly love, and to equate physical love with spiritual love by transforming its mere 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Both "The Flea" and "To His Mistress Going To Bed" are dedicated to Donne's glorification of the physical nature of love. “The Flea” is all about seduction and persuasion, and lovemaking is portrayed as natural, harmless and even heretical. In “The Flea,” the poem's author attempts to invalidate the young woman's moral concerns and convince her to surrender 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 sucks their blood, they both already become one through their blood mixed in the flea's body, consequently if such a common occurrence “...cannot say / A sin, nor shame, nor loss of virginity” (lines 5-6), then even sexual relations between them should be considered harmless and shameless. Later in stanza three, after the young woman kills the flea over the speaker's objection, he describes her concern about losing her chastity as “false fears” (line 25) since having sexual intercourse with him would not it should be of no importance. greater consequences than a simple act like killing the flea. Under Donne's pen, therefore, 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 experience. exploratory adventure. “To His Mistress Going To Bed” is all about praising the sensual pleasure of a young woman's body. The poem unfolds as the speaker of the poem waits and sees his lover undress before him in stages. Such an experience is full of excitement and anticipation for the speaker, as he states that "...All joys are due to you, as disembodied souls and unclothed bodies must be, to savor whole joys." (lines 32-35) and then “complete nakedness!” (line 32) is what brings him joy. The speaker also views the young woman's body as an unexplored land waiting to be conquered, as he describes her body as “O my America! my rediscovered land” (line 27) and who during the exploration founds “My kingdom, safer when inhabited by a single man” (line 28). 'To His Mistress Going To Bed' is therefore a celebration piece of physical pleasure in love. Donne's glorification of the physical nature of love consequently rejects and challenges the Petrarchan notion of love. In Petrarchan poetry, lovers are usually chaste and remote while male lovers would be consistently devoted but ultimately suffer from unrequited love. In "The Pulce" and "To His Mistress Goes to Bed", however, unlike his works prevalent in Petrarchan poetry, Donne creates a scene.