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Compare the presentation of love in Love III and the Flea
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An essay comparing the theme of love across two metaphysical poems
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Compare the presentation of love in ‘The Flea’ and ‘Love III’ Cristelle SpauldingIn ‘Love III’ by George Herbert, love is personified throughout the poem, first in bodily form.
Herbert writes that “Love bade me welcome” showing how love is so powerful that it has
the ability to welcome. There is also a comparison between love and the New Testament
God with the welcoming tone portrayed by this action and through the loving qualities it
conveys such as “sweetly questioning”. The New Testament God directly contrasts the Old
Testament God as he is thought to be benevolent whereas the Old Testament God is
characterised by fear-inducing qualities. Through this personification of “Love”, it is also
elevated. We see this is the comparison between love and the narrator who’s “soul drew
back, guilty of dust and sin”. Herbert could be trying to insinuate the importance of the
relationship between God and man, especially in the time in which he was composing this
poetry. Similarly, in ‘The Flea’ by John Donne, love is also personified, in a way, through the
flea. The flea is a symbol of the couple’s “marriage bed” and the combining of their “two
bloods.” Unlike in Herbert’s poem, love here is reduced to a simple insect form, elevating
the narrator. This is a persuasive device used by Donne, as the playing down of love could
convince the woman that she should get rid of her inhibitions about love and specifically
sex. He complements this persuasive tone by setting love as a force that must be
regimented. He writes that “thou yield’st to me”, supporting Plato’s idea that love is a
dangerous force which needs controlling. In the 17 th century when this poem was published,
the woman would have been expected to give in to the man, after a period of coyness, due
to the overwhelmingly patriarchal society. In this way, Donne suggests that love is an
expectation of the woman and therefore, not special.
Love is also presented as closely linked with sexual relations in ‘The Flea’ by John Donne.
There is a repeated use of sexual innuendo throughout, with words such as “sucked”,
“sucks” and “swells.” In printing of the poem, the letter ‘s’ could often be mistaken as the
letter ‘f’, which Donne would have been aware of, and so this could be one of his hints at
the sexual nature of love. Such a crude argument personifies the questioning spirit of the
renaissance and metaphysical poetry as Donne pulls away from the typical, reserved,
poetry. It is unusual to see love compared to a flea and could hint at the idea that, because
love and sex are closely linked, sexual promiscuity was commonly seen as a disease in the
17th century. Donne could be mocking this ‘outdated’ idea since this is one of his early
poems, meaning at this time, he was in support of sexual freedom. ‘Love III’ by George
Herbert also presents love as somewhat sexual, if not intimate, however the intimacy is
between the narrator and God. Herbert uses sexual innuendo when he writes “glow slack
form my first entrance in”, which introduces the first sign of the intimate and unique
relationship between God and man.
The religious nature of love is presented in both ‘The Flea’ by John Donne and ‘Love III’ by
George Herbert. In ‘Love III’, Herbert uses religious language such as “guilty of dust and sin”
to show how love with religion is the highest form of love. The combination of long and
indented lines shows how, despite the narrator’s fluctuating devotion to God, the
relationship stays strong. This shows just how closely love is linked to religion. Herbert also
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