Hypothetical Response to Question 2.

a
John Donne's 'To His Mistress Going to Bed' is a poetic monologue that is centred on the male persona’s
attempt to seduce a female lover. In the poem Donne’s persona endeavours to convince the woman to go
to bed with him using by using a complex argument that joins together ideas about the human spirit and
the physical body. The poem’s persona argues that the corporeal aspects of his romantic association with
his lover has
Throughout the poem the persona refers to his own physical being and how he responds to his mistress.
This may be seen when Donne constructs images, metaphors and similes that reflect the physical
attributes of the mistress. This includes references to her clothing and to her body. As the poem progresses
the persona’s seduction changes, moving from purely physical references to include religious and spiritual
metaphors and allusions. The persona combines references to spiritual concepts such as the soul,
associated with observations of the corporeal to suggest that the target of his seduction will be engaging in
romantic liaison that is far more significant in terms of their shared human experiences than ‘matters of
the flesh’. The persona and his mistress will become joined in body and in spirit.
The poem demonstrates the influences of the life and experiences of John Donne on his poetry, in that it
was probably written during the period prior to his marriage to Anne More. ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’
emphasizes the corporeal concerns of the poem’s persona and the respondent woman, which is like other
early poems in Donne’s body of work. The spiritual metaphors and imagery all combine to add gravity to
the importance of the physical needs and wants discussed in the poem. They do not reflect Donne’s later
use of spiritual concepts and ideas which reflect his more mature concern for how his physical death will
change his spiritual existence.

 Copy two sentences in the above response that describes what ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ is
about.
 Find a specific reference from the poem for each one of the sentences that support the statement.
 List them below
Sentence One:
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Supporting Reference:
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Sentence Two:
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Supporting Reference Two:

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