Analysis_

This poem, in part, refutes the poems of John Donne and Andrew Marvell. In Donne's "The Flea," the speaker sees no difference between blood mixing within a flea and blood (bodily fluid) mixing during sex. In Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," the speaker argues that if his mistress does not give herself up to him soon, then she will grow old and it will be too late to find a lover because no one will want to be with her. Both Donne and Marvell's speakers attempt to persuade (or even trick) women into having sex.

The first three stanza's of Montegu's "The Lover: A Ballad" discount the arguments of Donne and Marvell's speakers and the arguments of men as a whole. Mary Wartley Montegu alludes directly to these poems when she states that she knows that one day she will grow old, but that she will not "buy long years of repentence for moments of joy." While the beginning of Montegu's poem is spent complaining and chastizing the young rakehell's that court her, she moves on to describing the ideal husband in the second half. Montegu's ideal husband is a mixture of friend and lover. Initially the beginning of the poem that criticizes the mentality of Montegu's young courters is obviously separate from her ideal husband. Upon closer consideration however, it can be seen that Montegu's prudishness is not only motivated by her own good will, but is also driven by social pressures put on her during "the long hours of public."