1. Stanford 1
Emerald D. Stanford
Dr. Rufleth
English 439-001
13 May 2016
Lovers Elysium
The act of sex is often described as an animalistic nature of man in which two people
become in tune not only with their bodies, but also in a spiritual entwinement of souls.
Metaphysical poetry often takes an object or theme and explores the subject to a personal depth
of an individual. Breaking down themes such as sexual gratification into a spiritual
understanding elevates the sensuality of acts such as wooing and love making. In Thomas
Carew’s poem A Rapture, readers know that he is painting a vivid picture of the actions he will
enact upon his lover. With careful use of imagery and other select metaphors, Carew displays the
passion of the sexual pleasures. In other classical writings, sex during the seventieth century, was
not a widely discussed topic. In reality, sex is a beastly action of man; it is not a physically
beautiful act. Carew follows into the metaphysical traditions of sex because he took the least
appealing and made it beautiful. Carew compares his sexual positions to the beauty of nature’s
glory. The use of nature’s objects being compared to Carew’s lover covers the poem in rose
colored lenses. Carew enlaces his idea of sex with the comparison of the bonding one goes
through when being married. He uses this idea to say that people are united through more than
Christian martial law, but can be bounded closer through a sexual spirit. Metaphysical poetry is
the truth to the objects, desires and pleasure of man. Carew speaks of his truth in the poem A
Rapture by being honest with his sexual intentions of his lover, while yet beautifying the act of

2. Stanford 2
sex with nature’s enhancing features, and showing the united bond the two lovers have from their
sexual Elysium.
It was not common for writers and poets to structure a piece of poetry on the sole basis of
sexual eroticism. Writers within the seventieth century used conventional fantasy as an excuse
for expressing such vivid sexualized ideas. Paula Johnson studied and wrote on the traditional
concepts of metaphysical fantasy within Carew’s A Rapture. In the journal “Carew’s “A
Rapture”: The Dynamics of Fantasy”, Johnson said that one of the accepted ways for a poet to
describe the yielding of his mistress is to say that “it was only a dream,” thus dissimilating her
and excuse himself, while saying nevertheless what he most desires to say (148-9). Thomas
Carew was a man who believed in the inner struggle of Christianity and the erotic. Carew
believed it was man’s inner desire to be sexual in nature, going in direct opposition to Christian
morals. Johnson describes the first line of Carew’s poetry as a tie between the eternal conflicts of
sexual gratification and man’s nature. In the first two lines Carew writes, “I will enjoy thee now,
my Celia, come/ and fly with me to love’s Elysium” (91). The first words “I will enjoy thee
now” if read from the Christian perspective can be seen as the permission after marriage to
perform the sexual marriage ritual, but in line nineteen and twenty it rebukes Christianity prose
when saying, “By greedy men that seek enclose the common, / And within private arms emplace
free women (91). Carew writes this to express how chaste he believes man to be, to withhold
their maidens until marriage when sex is the soul desire of every man. Even though Carew is
fantasying about himself being with his lover, he also makes a point to persuade the reader to his
same position upon the matter. Metaphysical poetry will often take a point of interest and make it
a public matter as well as a personal one for the writer. Carew wants his readers to understand
the flesh’s need for the erotic. In most seventieth century poetry where the woman’s name is not

3. Stanford 3
mentioned nor her agreement to sexual action is not consented, Carew changes that and involves
the two patrons within A Rapture.
When a writer composes a piece of literature about love or passion they give the lovers
names to form an identity and an expression of voice. This concept was very rare in
metaphysical poetry due to love in the seventieth century not being about love as much as about
being an object. The objection back then was a physical attraction to the lover and not a spiritual
connection. Thomas Carew changes the process of poetry by including the “we” to show consent
from both lover and him when writing, “We’ll cut the flirting air, and soar above” (91). They
both have agreed to take this erotic love. He gives the lover a name of Celia, metaphorically
speaking that this woman is not just a body, but a person of voice and feeling. Johnson believes
that Carew detailed the “we” and “our” to emphasize that man and woman are the same in sexual
needs. He varies terms of unification to describe the bonding between man and woman when
writing, “Renew our hearts…From our close ivy twines…and we shall enter” (91). Carew is
concerned with his pleasure as well as the pleasure of his lover.
The John Donne; poem, The Flea exemplifies the unification of the male and female
being together in similar contrast to Thomas Carew A Rapture. In the poem the male and female
are unified by being bitten by a flea: “me it sucked first, and now sucks thee, / and in this flea,
our two bloods mingled be (Docherty 7). In the article, “Donne’s The Flea,” Thomas Docherty
writes about the sexual unification of male and female within the flea. In the poem, the male
takes on the female emotional aspects when the writer said, “sucked first” which is usually the
role of man during sex. This concept also follows into A Rapture because the male and female
are both entwined in sexual eroticism of the moment. The speaker paints a very feminine scene
of where the two lovers will spend their moments in ecstasy. Carew writes, “There, a bed/ of

4. Stanford 4
roses and fresh myrtles shall be spread/ under the cooler shade of cypress groves” (92). In most
Romantic poetry the man describes the scene to the lover to woo their interest, but the lover is
already consented to the sexual eroticism of the lover. So the romantic action is more for the
speaker instead of the lover. The role reversal being played in both poems is a positive setting,
due to it showing a dueling side of the erotic passion. Both lovers in the poem are equally
important to the speaker as is the passion they receive from sex. In the sexual climaxes of
Carew’s poetry the metaphors of nature describe the intensified action of both lovers as they
climax into ecstasy.
Carew’s lovers’ exhibits climax as a burning sensation of one’s absolute euphoria, each
person has passionate release bringing them into their paradise. In the third stanza he writes,
“Sent/ From soul entranced in am’rous languishment/ Rose us, and shoot into our veins fresh
fire, / Till we, in their sweet ecstasy, expire” (92). The word “rose” can be seen as nature’s most
beautiful flower. Roses are sexually expressed as a blooming of sexual climaxes that the two
lovers are experiencing. The line “rose us” is signifying the unification of the two lovers and the
climax both lovers have reached at the same time. Carew describes the buildup of the sexual
climax as a burning fire. He also describes it as “vines fresh fire,” which readers can interpet two
ways. One way being the physical heat the two lovers are making with the friction of their
bodies. The second is “fire” being read as a buildup to the climax of ecstasy. In most cases fires
start off small such as the beginning motions of sex. The lovers begin to kiss and touch, igniting
the passion between them. Fire becomes a blaze when the lovers are reaching the point of
absolute ecstasy. Carew compares nature to the lover’s chemistry because he wants to express
the natural nature of intercourses upon his readers. It makes the thoughts of climax and ecstasy a

5. Stanford 5
more delicate idea than the physical nature it takes to conceive it. Sex and nature are still tied
together as Carew writes about the enjoyment of coming and going again until his heart’s desire.
In the poem A Rapture it is not just composed of one sexual moment, but many, as the
lovers take their time visiting Elysium heavenly circles. Warren Coleman wrote “Love, Desire
and Infatuation: Encountering the erotic spirit” which describes the various depths of erotic
performs on love in the seventieth century. In metaphysical poetry it is common for the lovers to
create a world amongst themselves, as Carew has done in A Rapture. Coleman writes, “Amongst
love’s many paradoxes is the one that makes all lovers feel and act the same, yet makes each pair
feel themselves uniquely special” (506). Even though Carew ties the two lovers together in their
ecstasy, they do become separate after each illustrious climax. After the two lovers have ceased
intercourse, the poem says, “Then, as the empty bee, that lately bare/ into the common treasures
all her store/… so will I rifle all the sweets that dwell/ in my delicious paradise” (92). The lover
has ceased all actions upon his love. He pines over the moments of ecstasy and pleasure. He
takes joy in the sex he just had and is pleased with his lover as well. The lover is no longer
unified with the other lover, but is now personified as an object in nature. Carew writes the
mistress in as “his paradise,” she is no longer a person, but now serves a need to the lover. As
Carew mutes the actions of the lover, he dives deeper into the metaphorical phrases of sexual
innuendos of the sexual actions.
Poetically sexual actions have been compared to flowers and colors to give the readers
vague descriptions of the literary concept. Carew uses a ship to symbolize the two lover’s beauty
in the following prose:
Ride safe at anchor and unlade her freight
My rudder, with thy bold hand, like a tried

6. Stanford 6
And skillful pilot, thou shalt steer and guide
My bark into love’s channel, where it shall
Dance, as the bounding waves do rise or fall:
Then shall thy circling arms embrace and clip
My willing body, and thy balmy lip
Bathe me in juice of kisses, whose perfume (93)
So here Carew has the two lovers embraced. He examines their actions as a ship on water. The
two are not separated in this illustration, but are molded together to make a complete entity. The
beginning line “Ride safe at anchor,” describes the man’s instructions to his lover as they embark
upon another ring of heavens glory. He describes the lover as the “anchor” because an anchor on
a ship doesn’t move, but holds steady through the flowing tide. Carew entails the man’s duties,
by giving him the duty of piloting the boat. The boat is a simile to the male lover body because
he is the director of their pleasure. He controls the position of his lover, the duration of their
moments in Elysium and the route they will take to reach their pleasure. When the words “loves
channel” appears, the two lover’s concept of being molded together as a boat now separates. The
lover is the stream, while the man is the boat flowing through the stream. Carew does this to give
visual representation of the female anatomy, while still keeping with the theme of nature. The
cresting of waves is an description of organismic build up the lovers are experiencing. When the
waves have finally crested the lover is held into a deep embrace similar to the way a wave
overlaps a ship. You cannot separate a boat from the water. The boat rests on top of the water,
the same way the lovers cannot be separated from their held embrace. Carew loves the moments
that the two lovers share in their blissful happiness, but at the same time he wants for readers to

7. Stanford 7
understand that the happiness these two people share should not be shunned by marriage rights
or Christian law, but should be praised for their pursuit of nature’s essence.
Carew incorporates both lovers in this Elysium of sexual heaven within the poem. Each
lover feels bliss and are equally adequate towards the other. In the seventh century, views of sex
were one sided. The world understood mans need for sexual desire, but was cross towards
women engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage. Carew believed in premarital sex, he
writes “Suck our discourse in, no observing spies/ this blush, that glance traduce; no envious
eyes” (93). Carew writes this more for the female’s perspective, because they were the main
targets of slanderous gossip about sexual behaviors, but he tells his lover nobody will know of
the behavior they have enacted. There will be no gossip or evil glares crossed at them because as
Coleman said in her journal, “early love gives couples their own little room sealed from the
world around them” (506). Carew takes it one step further when writing, “No wedlock bonds
enwreathe our twisted loves;/ To hide our kisses; there the hated name/ Of husband, wife, lust,
modest, chaste, or shame” (93). The two lovers are safe from the laws of marriage as well. They
have broken no bond to any other lovers as they experienced their sexual erotic heavens. Both
lovers have embraced Carew stance against sex being just for marriage by rebuking the various
spousal names. The spousal words hold no meaning to the two lovers, because their bond cannot
be described by words. The speaker within the poem says “We only sin when love’s rites are not
done,” this becomes a testament to the moments the two lovers have shared. They should feel no
shame for their behaviors, because their rites where done with the bonding of hearts as well as
souls. Upon Carew closing the line of prose he makes the lovers realize what they have done is
not in chastisement, but in sexual exploration the two lovers are now bonded by their experience.

8. Stanford 8
Sex in the seventieth century was a religious rite that only man and woman could do after
being bonded through God, but Carew says that is untrue; intercourse is the unity between man
and woman. He writes, “With necks unyoked,” speaking to the married people are no more
united that these two lovers. Johnson explains that abstinence does not exist in nature, the world
does not tell animals to cease reproduction, but animals are bonded through something spiritual
(147). Carew uses metaphysical objects such as the flowers being so knotted that they create a
maze because their bodies at the time were bonded in such a fashion, but their souls were also
entwined as well. Each lover existed to be a “me” and became a “we” within their passion.
Carew writes, “From the mixed mass, one sovereign balm derive,” even though the sexual
innuendo is being made. He also makes a point of the bond they have become; the man and
woman become mixed together creating one product in the end.
Animals in nature is how humans should be in life, Thomas Carew believed that sexual
intercourse was not just for the man’s desire, but was human natures natural desire. It was not
common for writers to just base a piece of literature on the sole purpose of sex. Carew does mean
to base his poetry off of sexual pleasure, but he wants to give an example to man and woman as
one without it just being from the man’s perspective. In essence the poem rebukes religious
marriage as the sole bonding factor; Carew opens reader’s minds to the description of the two
lover’s sexual bonding. The lovers are bonded through word form at first because they started
off as separate entities. As soon as they begin to journey through heaven climaxes they become
“we” and “our,” the two are a unit that cannot be broken. John Donne and Carew use the same
metaphysical tradition when composing their poetry. Donne uses the flea as the unifying factor
of his two lovers, while Carew uses multiple objects to symbolize the bodies and spiritual
connection the lovers have. Sex is not the most beatifying object, but when Carew compares the

9. Stanford 9
two lovers to a ship and ocean it makes the act more gracious. The sexual representation of
climaxes is even set as a cresting of waves over powering the ship as it navigates on its journey.
After the rise and fall of the two lovers is over, the male lover protects the bond that they have
created. Carew acknowledges that human beings equate sex with the law of Christ, be he argues
that the bond the two lovers have created is stronger than what Christ has made. Sex is the divine
nature of man, it’s animalistic in action, but brings man and women together in a connection of
souls that is more bonded than a husband and wife are at the altar. So be as the two lovers are in
the poem, traveling to loves Elysium where the envious eyes or spies cannot even invade for the
bond they created can never be unbroken.

10. Stanford 10
Works Cited
Carew, Thomas. “A Rapture.” Ed. Colin Burrow. Metaphysical Poetry. London: Penguin
Group, 2006. 91-95. Print.
Colman, Warren. “Love, Desire and Infatuation:.” J Analytical Psychol Journal of
Analytical Psychology 39.4 (1994): 497-514. Web.
Docherty, Thomas. John Donne, Undone. London: Methuen, (1986): 7-9. Web.
Johnson, Paula. “Carew’s “A Rapture”: The Dynamics of Fantasy.” Studies in English
Literature, 1500-1900 16.1 (1976): 145-155. Web.