Introduction
John Donne’s To His Mistress Going to Bed is a well-known poem that celebrates love and the act of lovemaking. The poem presents a man waiting for his beloved to come to bed with him. The entire conversation is from the man’s side, while the beloved does not speak. He calls upon her to come to him and gradually asks her to remove the clothes and ornaments that cover her body.
The poem is connected with Donne’s characteristic metaphysical style. It presents love through surprising comparisons, elaborate conceits, wordplay and intellectual images. Two of the most important conceits in the poem are the comparison of the beloved’s girdle with Orion’s belt and the comparison of the beloved with America, a newly discovered land.
The Setting of the Poem
The context of the poem is very simple. The speaker is in a bedroom, waiting for his beloved. He wants her to come to bed with him and share the experience of love.
The speaker is excited about being with his beloved, but he is also frustrated by the waiting. This idea of waiting becomes important in the opening part of the poem. He suggests that waiting for the beloved is almost more difficult than the act itself.
The word “labour” is especially significant. It can refer to the difficult task of lovemaking, but it also suggests the pain experienced by a woman during childbirth. In this way, the word carries more than one meaning.
The speaker also compares his waiting to an enemy waiting before a battle begins. When two enemies are facing each other but the actual fight has not yet started, the waiting can become more difficult than the fight itself. In the same way, the speaker asks his beloved not to make him wait any longer and to come to him.
The Girdle and Orion’s Belt
The speaker then begins asking his beloved to remove her clothes and ornaments.
He first asks her to remove her girdle, the belt worn around the waist. Here Donne introduces one of the major metaphysical conceits of the poem. He compares the beloved’s girdle with Orion’s Belt, the three stars arranged at the centre of the constellation Orion.
This is an example of the kind of extreme metaphor associated with metaphysical poetry. The speaker takes something familiar from astronomy and connects it with the beloved’s body.
The comparison also reflects the growing scientific knowledge and discoveries of the period. Astronomy and other forms of knowledge were expanding human thought and imagination, and such developments could enter poetry through metaphors and conceits.
However, the speaker says that although the girdle can be compared with Orion’s Belt, the beauty hidden beneath it is far greater. The constellation may be beautiful, but what lies beneath the beloved’s girdle is presented as even more beautiful. Thus, the comparison becomes a form of praise for the beloved.
Removing the Clothes and Revealing Beauty
The speaker continues asking his beloved to remove the different garments covering her body.
He describes one of her garments as something that attracts attention. He says that when it is removed, the eyes of people who are foolishly attracted to women would be unable to look away. The sound of the beloved’s movements and ornaments is also compared with harmonious bells, suggesting that even her movement increases his desire for her.
He then asks her to remove another garment. The removal of this garment is compared to the disappearance of a cloud from above a flower-filled hill.
The image is simple but striking. A hill covered with flowers may be hidden when a cloud creates a shadow over it. Once the cloud moves away, the sunlight returns and the colours and beauty of the flowers become visible again. In the same way, when the garment moves away from the beloved’s body, her beauty becomes visible to the speaker.
The Bed as a Temple of Love
The speaker next asks his beloved to remove her shoes and enter the bed. He describes the bed as a “hallowed temple” of love.
He also uses religious and heavenly images to describe the beloved. She is presented almost like an angel who has come from heaven and brought the promise of paradise. Her presence gives the speaker an experience that he describes through the language of heaven and extraordinary pleasure.
The poem then distinguishes between an angel and an evil spirit. Both may appear in white robes, but their effect is different. An evil spirit creates fear, while the beloved, compared with an angel, awakens the speaker’s body to pleasure. The contrast between fear and physical desire is used to explain the effect of the beloved upon him.
The Beloved as America and a Newfound Land
One of the most famous conceits in the poem comes when the speaker describes the beloved as “my America, my newfound land.”
He gives the image of a traveller discovering a new and unknown land. The speaker compares his desire to explore his beloved with the excitement of discovering a place that has never been known before.
This conceit is connected in the transcript with the maritime activity and geographical discoveries of the period. Voyages of exploration had recently brought new lands into European knowledge. Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the Americas and other voyages of exploration had made the discovery of new lands an important part of contemporary thought.
The beloved is therefore imagined as a new land waiting to be explored. The speaker calls her his kingdom, his America, his mine of precious stones, and his empire. These images develop the idea of discovery, possession and exploration.
The language also reflects the period’s interest in discovering new lands, new forms of business and the possibility of controlling other territories. Donne transforms these ideas into a metaphor for the speaker’s relationship with his beloved.
Love, Freedom and the Union of Body and Soul
The speaker then says that entering into a relationship with the beloved and making love to her is a form of freedom. Being in the embrace of the beloved gives him the greatest pleasure and freedom that he can experience.
He also asks that his hands be given permission to move freely over her body. The language of “license,” “seal,” and possession continues the earlier imagery of kingdoms and empires. Wherever his hand touches, it leaves its mark like a seal.
The speaker connects physical nakedness with the meeting of souls. He suggests that if two souls are to meet, their bodies must first meet. According to the poem’s argument, complete physical openness is necessary to experience complete joy.
Jewels and the Woman as a Mysterious Book
The poem also discusses the jewellery worn by women. The speaker says that women use precious stones and ornaments to attract the eyes of men.
However, the man is ultimately attracted not to the jewels themselves but to the woman wearing them. The jewels attract the eye, but the person who possesses the jewels becomes the true object of desire. This creates another instance of Donne’s wordplay.
The speaker then compares women’s clothing to the coverings of pictures and books. Women are described as “mystic books” that must be uncovered and explored. The image presents the woman as something full of mystery, which the man gradually discovers.
The speaker also says that a man needs the woman’s acceptance. She must give her permission before the man can explore her. Thus, the woman’s grace and consent become important to the speaker’s desire.
The Image of the Midwife and Innocence
Near the end, the speaker asks his beloved to reveal herself completely. He uses the image of a midwife, a woman who helps in childbirth.
The speaker asks the beloved to be open and free with him and to remove her remaining clothes. The image of innocence is also introduced. He says that when someone is innocent and has not yet been introduced to the ways of the world, there is no need for penance or strict discipline.
The speaker finally says that he has removed his own clothes and asks why she should have more covering than he does. This can suggest that if he is naked before her, she should also be naked before him. It can also suggest that he himself will become her covering.
The Two Major Metaphysical Conceits
Two major conceits dominate the poem:
1. The Girdle as Orion’s Belt
The beloved’s girdle is compared with the three stars forming Orion’s Belt. The comparison brings astronomy into the description of the beloved and shows how Donne transforms contemporary scientific knowledge into poetic imagery.
2. The Beloved as America
The beloved is described as “my America, my newfound land.” The speaker compares discovering and exploring the beloved with the discovery of new lands during the period of European maritime exploration. This conceit develops through images of a new land, kingdom, mine of precious stones and empire.
These two conceits are particularly important because both emerge from the scientific and geographical knowledge associated with Donne’s time.
Conclusion
To His Mistress Going to Bed presents love through an unusual combination of physical desire, intellectual imagery and metaphysical conceits. The speaker waits for his beloved, asks her to remove her clothes and gradually transforms the experience of love into a series of imaginative comparisons.
The poem moves through images drawn from astronomy, exploration, kingdoms, precious stones, religion, books and nature. Among these, the comparison of the girdle with Orion’s Belt and the beloved with America as a newfound land are the most prominent conceits.
The poem therefore demonstrates the distinctive method of metaphysical poetry: an ordinary experience is expressed through surprising comparisons and ideas drawn from different areas of knowledge. Donne turns the intimate experience of love into an elaborate intellectual and imaginative exploration of the beloved.
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