“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Introduction

• Read the full text of “To His Mistress Going to Bed”

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Summary

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Themes

• 

  Love and Sex

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.
• 

  Nakedness and Truth

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.
• 

  Sex and Possession

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To His Mistress Going to Bed”

• Lines 1-4

  Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
  Until I labour, I in labour lie.
  The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
  Is tir’d with standing though he never fight.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-10

  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.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 11-16

  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 shew
  The hairy Diadem which on you doth grow:

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 17-21

  Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
  In this love’s hallow’d temple, this soft bed.
  In such white robes, heaven’s Angels used to be
  Received by men; Thou Angel bringst with thee
  A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise;

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 21-24

  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.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 25-26

  Licence my roving hands, and let them go,
  Before, behind, between, above, below.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 27-30

  O my America! my new-found-land,
  My kingdom, safeliest when with one man mann’d,
  My Mine of precious stones, My Empirie,
  How blest am I in this discovering thee!

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 31-32

  To enter in these bonds, is to be free;
  Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 33-35

  Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
  As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must be,
  To taste whole joys.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 35-38

  Gems which you women use
  Are like Atlanta’s balls, cast in men’s views,
  That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a Gem,
  His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 39-43

  Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings made
  For lay-men, are all women thus array’d;
  Themselves are mystic books, which only we
  (Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
  Must see reveal’d.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 43-48

  Then since that I may know,
  As liberally, as to a Midwife, shew
  Thy self: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,
  There is no penance due to innocence.
      To teach thee, I am naked first; why then
  What needst thou have more covering than a man.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Symbols

• 

  Heaven's Zone

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.
• 

  Harmonious Chime

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.
• 

  Shadow

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.
• 

  White Robes

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.
• 

  Gems

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Rest
• Defy
• Labour
• Oft-times
• Tir'd
• Standing
• Girdle
• Heaven's Zone
• Glistering
• Unpin
• Spangled Breastplate
• Th'eyes
• Harmonious Chime
• Busk
• Nigh
• Beauteous
• State
• Meads
• Th’Hill’s Shadow
• Steals
• Wiry Coronet
• Shew
• Hairy Diadem
• Doth
• Tread
• Love’s Hallow’d Temple
• Received
• Thou
• Bringst
• Thee
• Mahomet's Paradise
• Ill spirits
• Evil Sprite
• Upright
• Licence
• Roving
• America
• Safeliest
• Mann'd
• Empirie
• Blest
• Bonds
• Seal
• Unbodied
• Taste
• Atlanta's Balls
• Lighteth
• Gay Coverings
• Array'd
• Mystic Books
• Imputed Grace
• Reveal'd
• Liberally
• Midwife
• Thy
• Yea
• White Linen
• Penance
• Needst
• Covering

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To His Mistress Going to Bed”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Speaker

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “To His Mistress Going to Bed”

More “To His Mistress Going to Bed” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Biography of John Donne — A detailed biography of John Donne from the Poetry Foundation.

  • John Donne's Erotica — An article on John Donne's erotic poetry by Carolyn Kormann.

  • A Brief Guide to the Metaphysical Poets — An introduction to the movement of Renaissance poets called "the metaphysicals," from the Academy of American Poets.

  • 1633 Edition of Donne's Songs and Sonnets — Images of the first published edition of John Donne's poems—with some background about why "To His Mistress Going to Bed" wasn't included in the original edition.

  • "To His Mistress Going to Bed" Read Aloud — Tom O'Bedlam recites a portion of "To His Mistress Going to Bed."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

  • A Hymn to God the Father

  • Air and Angels

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • A Valediction: Of Weeping

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Apparition

  • The Canonization

  • The Dream

  • The Ecstasy

  • The Flea

  • The Good-Morrow

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool