How Have Some of the Poets You Have Studied Presented Love in Their Poems?

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Poets over the centuries have shown different idea of love. For example ‘The Flea’ by John Donne and ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell both discuss the theme of love, but in a metaphysical way. ‘The Flea’ presents through the use of metaphysical (outrageous and clever) imagery and compares love and intercourse to a flea sucking blood from the two characters in the poem (the speaker and his lover). In Donne’s time, when a man and woman had intercourse, the blood was thought to be mixed. The speaker is trying to persuade his lover to have actual intercourse with his him, but as she refuses, he says that they had already performed intercourse- in the flea. In ‘To His Coy Mistress’ metaphysical imagery is also used, but in a different way: the speaker is attempting to woo his love by explaining how, if they had more time, they could do everything she wants to do, and the speaker could love his lover forever. This idea of love, however, is not presented in ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’, ‘A Woman to her Lover’ and ‘First Love’, as they present love to be less intercourse-based, and more on marriage and care. ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’ is portraying a message to young women in general, telling them that they should get married quickly, as time will pass quickly, and by the time they would get old, it would be too late. ‘A Woman to her Lover’ is portraying that women should be treated as equals to men, and loved in an equal fashion. ‘First Love’ is describing love at first sight. A darker and more sinister presentation of love is portrayed in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, as a recluse is in the dark, attempting to heat himself up. Porphyria smoothly enters, bringing warmth to the recluse, only for the recluse to kill Porphyria. John Donne, a seventeenth century metaphysical poet, presents a scenario in ‘The Flea’ where the speaker is trying to get his
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