If ever there was a poet that had sex on the mind, it had to be John Donne. Through poetry he brings religious belief and language to meld with human relationships and sexuality through metaphors-the metaphysical. "The Flea" for instance was one of Donne's more famously controversial poems during the 17th century as it depicts a wanting for sex by the speaker. When first reading the line "in this flea our two bloods mingled be", it seemed to me Donne was phrasing a desire to merge two souls together through the imagery of a flea; and continues its usage to justify the act of losing virginity with "This cannot be said a sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead" (Jokinen, 2007). Clearly he was describing a promiscuous act, but this also illustrates the metaphysical practice with religious language by associating the flea both with marriage and with holding the blood of two lovers. The association is very apparent in the lines "this flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed" and goes on to claim a religious stance by stating it to be "Sacrilege, three sins in killing three" (Jokinen, 2007). Another example of John Donne mixing metaphors with religious reference is also depicted in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" when he describes in the lines "As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go," a parting of souls from the human body (Jokinen, 2007).
Andrew Marvell is another interesting fellow as well as a metaphysical poet. However, Marvell's metaphors take on a more serious, logical tone in interpreting the human condition compared to John Donne. The religious aspect in his metaphors, though, seems to focus on separation from the physical. In the poem "The Definition of Love", Marvell first expresses the idea of "Hope" in the lines "Where feeble Hope could ne'er have flown/ But vainly flapped its tinsel wing" as beauty that is too delicate and weak to thrive on its own (Jokinen, 2006). This is much like real love, as it cannot exist on its own freedom without nurture and care. Separation can in fact cause love to die. The poem suggests the hope of love can be imprisoned by the cruel "iron wedges" of "Fate", personified as "jealous" and is clearly overpowering (Jokinen, 2006). It seemed to me that in this stanza Marvell may have been phrasing that love could last forever through separation. In the lines "But ours so truly parallel/ Though infinite, can never meet" Marvell puts forward the idea that love, which is imagined as human souls, can live eternally even if that love never touches another.
Jokinen, Anniina. "The Works of John Donne." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. 5 May 2007. Web. 4 May. 2012. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnebib.htm
Jokinen, Anniina. "The Works of Andrew Marvell." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. 10 September 2006. Web. 4 May. 2012. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/marvbib.htm
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