Analysis of Elegy XX: To His Mistress Going to Bed
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labor, I in labor lie.
The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
Is tired with standing though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glistering,
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear,
That th' eyes of busy fools may be stopped there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that now it is bed time.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown, going off, such beauteous state reveals,
As when from flowery meads th' hill's shadow steals.
Off with that wiry coronet and show
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
In this love's hallowed temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes, heaven's angels used to be
Received by men; thou, Angel, bring'st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet's Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know
By this these angels from an evil sprite:
Those set our hairs, but these our flesh upright.
License my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom, safest when with one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How blest am I in this discovering of thee!
To enter in these bonds is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.
Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be
To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use
Are like Atlanta's balls, cast in men's views,
That when a fools' eye lighteth on a gem,
His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.
Like pictures, or like books' gay coverings made
For lay-men, are all women thus arrayed;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
Must see revealed. Then, since that I may know,
As liberally as to a midwife, show
Thyself: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,
There is no penance due to innocence.
To teach thee, I am naked first; why than,
What needst thou have more covering than a man?
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFAGGHHIIFFHHBB CHJJDFFF FFXXKKLLFAHHXXMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111001 0111010101 0111100101 11011011101 1111011011 1011010100 11101111 111111011111 1011101001 1111111111 1111011110 1111011111 1110111101 111100111111 1111010101 0101011111 1111101101 0111010111 01111010111 01111101111 010111001 11010111001 1111011101 111011110101 1011010111 0101010101 1101001111 1101011111 11110111 111101010011 1100111111 1111111111 11111111 11110111 1111111101 1101011011 110111101 1101110111 11011111001 1111110101 0111011101 110101110 1101111111 1100011011 111111101 1111011100 1111110111 11111100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,068 |
Words | 383 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 8, 16 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 542 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 127 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 1:57 min read
- 139 Views
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"Elegy XX: To His Mistress Going to Bed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22494/elegy-xx%3A-to-his-mistress-going-to-bed>.
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