John Donne is certainly one of the poets who would never go by the conventional norms. His poems attempt to define love in its true and most beautiful form. Some call it anti-courtly but Donne artistically shows the interdependence of body and spirit in his poems. For him love is not merely spiritual but it also includes physical passion. This notion of love was new to the conventional ideas of that period. In the poem 'To His Mistress Going to Bed', Donne's wish is to undress his lover, something a courtly poet would never risk doing. The poet is excited as well as in pain, the pain of waiting.
The poet pleads the lover to remove the girdle and "unpin that spangled breast-plate" for he believes that the clothes are just external embellishment and the real beauty is the body of his beloved itself. Donne does not hesitate in comparing his bed with a temple. It is important to note that he chooses to define religion in his own way just like the way he defines love. The beloved is no less than an angel bringing along "Mahomet's paradise" for the poet. Again the poet is differentiating the beloved from all the evil spirits who can fool human beings being dressed in white. Love is never different from religion for Donne and the kind of love he admires can never fit with religion if the reader tries to place his poems in the historical context so definitely Donne was a revolutionary poet.
Now that the beloved is without any clothes, the poet wants to touch her everywhere. He wants to explore her body just like one explores a "new-found-land". The beloved is like a virgin land that can be claimed by the poet. Feminist critics will definitely criticize Donne here as a woman is never a property to own or disown according to others' convenience. Being compared to America, the beloved is reduced to a mere silent object the poet can claim.
The joys that the poet is experiencing is because of "full nakedness" of the beloved. It might sound a little salacious, but the way Donne expresses his emotions truly turns the whole experience into something truly edifying. For him, "souls unbodied" and "bodies unclothed" is the true essence of being and epitome of beauty as well. Donne then moves on to other lovers of the beloved who get attracted to the gems that women wear. These gems are like those golden apples that deflected Atlanta while she was racing against Hippomenes. The allusion is to Atlanta-Hippomenes myth from Greek mythology. The poet believes that these embellishments do not adorn a woman, rather woman is herself epitome of beauty. Women are like mystic books and the lovers should attempt to see what lies beneath and not judge her merely by the cover.
Having argued well on the ideas of 'beauty' and 'love', the poet implores his beloved to show herself to him freely and without any hesitation. Biblical ideas of innocence is not what the poet is concerned about because he asserts that even after removing her clothes, his beloved will still remain innocent. To help her, the poet offers to take off his clothes first.
