On His Mistress (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Donne
- First Published: 1635
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Traveling or travelers, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Europe or Europeans, Prejudices or antipathies, Nightmares, Seventeenth century, Nationalism, Separation, Meditation, Thought or thinking
The Poem
“On His Mistress” (sometimes called simply Elegy 18) is an elegy of fifty-six lines in twenty-eight rhyming couplets. The poem’s title discloses its contemplative nature, a characteristic mandated by the elegiac form. The poem is written in the first person; this highlights the personal nature of the poem, conceived by a man before he departs on a long journey to the European continent. He seems to lament leaving his love behind as he meditates on their relationship, yet the poem’s intent is ultimately ambiguous.
“On His Mistress” takes as its point...
[The entire page is 1596 words long]
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