Gender, Voice and Power in Metaphysical Poetry

main poems talked about

• The Flea

• To His Coy Mistress

power and metaphysical poetry

• the one who speaks the most holds the most power

• several metaphysical poets use the technique of dialogue

  • the conversation is between a man and a woman but the woman is silent

• The Flea

• Elegy: to his mistress going to bed

• To his coy mistress

the poems

• imperatives establish tone from the start

• three part argument system

  • Thesis

  • Antithesis

  • synthesis

• In all the metaphysical poems, the synthesis is that the woman should sleep with him

the female

• the reader is left wondering in ‘To his coy mistress’ whether or not it is sex that the male desires or the defeat of time using the woman’s help

• in ‘ The Flea’, her reaction is far more obvious

  • Humour and irony

  • similarly to the image of the poet grumbling by the Humber river

  • happy to ignore the persona entirely

• Humour casts doubt on the original readings of the gender roles