4 Nov 2010 ... mistress are blunt and forward, leaving her no other options but to do as she ...
leads the reader to think she is spurring on the sexuality herself.
Megan Tribley Lit. Analysis Eng 341 11/4/10 John Donne: Women’s Rights Take a Backseat in Elegy 19. In the late 1500’s, early 1600’s, John Donne was a prominent figure in both the clergy and society. Donne is most well known for his sermons, which most dealt with his obsession of death and the body. This obsession with death and the human body stems from the death of his wife Ann who died from complications during childbirth of their twelfth child. His poetry contained the same theme of “the body” throughout most of his poems. One poem in particular not only bluntly addresses the anatomy of the female body, but also brings to the surface questions of the treatment of women during this time period. In John Donne’s “Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed”, Donne writes of his mistress as less than equal to man through the tactics of wit, metaphysical conceit, and allusions to land or places. The mistress addressed in this poem seems to have little to no control over her fate. In the beginning of the poem, Donne addresses his mistress in ways of commands. “Off with that girdle” (line 5, 1283), “Unlace yourself” (line 9, 1283), “Off with that happy busk” (line 11,1283), “Off with that wiry coronet and show / The hairy diadem which on you doth grow;” (lines 15-16, 1283), “Now off with those shoes” (line 17, 1283). These statements to the mistress are blunt and forward, leaving her no other options but to do as she is told. Another example of Donne putting down his mistress, is when he explains that women invite the male attention to their body; in a way saying that women invite male attention for wicked reasons. “Gems which you women use Are like Atalanta’s balls, cast in men’s views, That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a gem,
His earthly soul may cover theirs, not them” (lines 35-38, 1284). The allusion to Atalanta suggests that women plot to distract men from life through their display of their bodies or material clothing. This theme of women as less than men is very prevalent in the poem, and is something worth bringing up. Donne is well known for his use of wit in his poetry. In “Elegy 19”, wit it used throughout the poem. “Come, Madame, come, all rest my powers defy, / Until I labor, I in labor lie” (lines 1-2, 1283). In this example, the word “labor” is not only thought of as “distress” but also as a sexual meaning of “get to work”. In telling his mistress to undress in a very masculine way, he adds word play at the end. “Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime / Tells me from you that now it is bed-time” (lines 9-10, 1283). Not only in this example does Donne tell and maybe even force his mistress to undress herself, following the command with a statement that leads the reader to think she is spurring on the sexuality herself. The “harmonious chime tells me from you” plays at knowledge of both a clock striking at the hour, and that she has given him some type of “go ahead” on the sexual act. Towards the end of the poem, Donne describes himself as a “midwife”, pleading for her to “reveal” herself as freely as she would to a midwife. “…Then since that I may know, / As liberally as to a midwife show / Thyself: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,” (lines 43-45, 1284). Another example of wit is in Donne’s comparison of women to books. “Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings, made For laymen, are all women thus arrayed; Themselves are mystic books, which only we (Whom their imputed grace will dignify) Must see revealed” (lines 39-43, 1284).
This selection talks of how women are like books, where their covers are elaborate and intriguing, yet not just any man is able to read these books, only the elite, who have the ability to read are able to. This play on of words alludes to the statement Donne is making that only the elitist of men are able to see these women naked. Along with the use of wit with wordplay, Donne also utilizes the use of metaphysical conceits. Metaphysical conceits are extended metaphors of seemingly opposite things or ideologies. The title of the poem “Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed”, is an example of this type of metaphor. An elegy is the speech one hears at a funeral, yet here it is coupled with “Mistress Going to Bed”, implying sex. Death is the end product of the termination of life, and sex is usually thought of as reproduction, or the creation of new life. These opposites set up the tone of darkness alongside pleasure. In the line, “In this love’s hallowed temple,” (line 18, 1283), the idea of love (or sex) is being brought to a religious gathering place (temple). In the time period, many people thought sex to be a holy act, yet this statement from Donne suggests he and his mistress get sexual in the temple; again showing the two opposites of the temple as a place to pray, or a place to play. Donne states at the height of the sexual experience, “To enter in these bonds is to be free;” (line 31, 1283), presenting the thought of being freed (sexually) while “entering” into a bond of their bodies. Another technique Donne uses is the comparisons he makes with women to land. This poem contains many references to land or physical places. “Your gown going off, such beauteous state reveals / As when from flowery meads th’ hill’s shadow steals”(lines 13-14, 1283). At the climax of the poem, and sexual energy, Donne refers to his mistress in extended metaphor as his kingdom: “O my America! My new-found-land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned, My mine of precious stones, my empery, How blest am I in this discovering thee!” (lines 27-30, 1283). Donne describes her as “America”, “new-found-land”, “kingdom”, “mine”, and “empery”, all being physical land in which he has rights over. The fact that he used the word “My” to begin all but two sentences in this selection shows that he thinks he owns his mistress like a farmer owns his land. He gives himself credit for the “discovery” of her, to justify his ownership of his mistress. When Donne speaks of his mistress this way, it goes from romantic, to possessive, and reveals his true feelings towards her. He really does not see her as much more than a physical possession. John Donne speaks down towards the rights of women in his poem, “Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed” through the literary techniques of wit, metaphysical conceit, and allusions to physical property. The outcome of this description leaves the idea of women not being in control of their lives. After the reading of this poem, one is left with a better understanding and perspective on gender inequality at the time, making the present equality that much sweeter.
