Comparing Wyatt's Long Love Doth Harbor and Donne's The Flea Each century has its own poetry; poetry has its own personality and aspects, especially love poems. In the 16th century, poems about love were more about the court than the lover. In the following century (17th century), love poems were more about courting the lover. A 16th century author, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, is well known for his words about love. A 17th century author is John Donne, who is most famous for his love poetry. When comparing these two authors, the theme of love is apparently very different. The love poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, such as “The Long Love That in My Thought Doth Harbor,” “bear the stamp of a strongly individual personality. But the personality is very different from that of John Donne. »1 One of John Donne's lyrics, "TheFlea", is an example of 17th-century love poems with a lover-centered theme. In the 16th century, poems were obviously not written for the lover, but for the court. The poem “The Long Love That in My ThoughtDoth Harbour” expresses this point through the imagery of a battle. Few people would compare their love to a battle, because if they did, it probably wouldn't be true love. Wyatt's vanity is a siege (battle), and it focuses on the theme that the lover suffers in this poem. Wyatt's poems are not typical love poems; most people would expect desire, true love to win middle of paper ... found in the 16th century. The 17th century was more open to the idea of ​​physical love as well as spiritual love. The 16th century focused on court love rather than lovers. The theme of love in the 16th and 17th centuries is treated similarly in some ways and differently in others. Overall, Donne compares love to how it feels, while Wyatt compares love to a battle. Poems about love have changed dramatically over the centuries. Love poems have evolved, just like people. But as the poem “The Long LoveThat in My Thought Doth Harbor” quotes: “For good, life ends faithfully. » In the end, it's all worth it. “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. ».”