John Donne and Andrew Marvell

In the two metaphysical poems, John Donne's "The Sun Rising" and Andrew Marvell's "To My Coy Mistress" there are many notable similarities that involve the typical characteristics associated with this specific style of poetry. As is usual in metaphysical poetry, the poems compare romantic ideas, such as love and dreams, with unworldly entities such as the Sun or space. The differences however, arises when one looks more closely at the happenings in the poems. In "To my Coy Mistress" the speaker is not close to the woman that the poem is addressed to, however in "The Sun Rising" the speaker is in a relationship with the woman already. Therefore in Donne's work, the speaker not only directs his romantic verses at his lover, but also at the Sun, once again demonstrating typical metaphysical form. In a parallel sense, Marvell also mentions the Sun in his poem, although it is not addressed directly.