(Star Trek) Kirk: "To His Mistress..."

Kirk's omnivorous appetite relishes sweet and savory and everything in between--and plenty of it; but what I love best about the captain is his smirk.

Donne (pronounced "done") would have approved Kirk's naughty use of his poem---his objection here is to the way Kirk is slaughtering his meter.

*The music is "The Stripper," by Daniel Rose, who wrote it for a TV show in 1958. No wonder it fits Star Trek so well.

*Paramount owns Star Trek. My intentions are entirely frivolous, er, educational.
(May blessings rain on Trekcore.com for screencaps. And on my friends who listen to me rant.)
Thanks to William Shatner, avatar of Captain Kirk, and Angelique Pettyjohn who is somewhere underneath all that makeup on the green-haired Shahna in "The Gamesters of Triskelion" episode. The delectable Nichelle Nichols is Uhura, and Walter Koenig plays that sweet boy in Kirk's arms, Lt. Pavel Chekov.
I'm sorry but if you want to know who played all the other lovelies, you'll have to look 'em up episode by episode in Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki. Thanks to them all, and I hope they had fun kissing the captain.

*Portrait of John Donne as a young lover (c.1595), by an unknown painter; National Portrait Gallery, London.

John Donne (c. 1572-1631), metaphysical poet—(like Andrew Marvell, of "The Definition of Love")--and Anglican priest is known for his early love poems and his later spiritual ones: for instance, "no man is an island."

Here's the complete poem, by, of course, the young Donne:

ELEGY XIX. TO HIS MISTRESS GOING TO BED

Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labor, I in labor lie.
The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
Is tired with standing though he never fight.
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.
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 flowry meads th' hill's shadow steals.
Off with that wiry coronet and show
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
In this love's hallowed temple, this soft bed.

In such white robes, heaven's angels used to be
Received by men; thou, Angel, bring'st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet's Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know
By this these angels from an evil sprite:
Those set our hairs on end, but these our flesh upright.

License my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How blest am I in this discovering thee.

To enter in these bonds is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.
Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be
To taste whole joys. 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.
Like pictures, or like books' gay coverings made
For lay-men, are all women thus arrayed;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)

Must see revealed. Then, since that I may know,
As liberally as to a midwife, show
Thyself: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,
There is no penance due to innocence. To teach thee, I am naked first; why than,
what needst thou have more covering than a man?

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Star
• Trek
• humor
• (TOS)
• Capt.
• Kirk
• John
• Donne
• metaphysical
• poetry

[Villazonlover1]

what is the episode called with the girl with green hair and kirk in straps, please?

[frescadp]

@Villazonlover1 It's "The Gamesters of Triskelion." Some hair, eh? : )

[ShauKenshin]

Cheesy playboy music = CHECK

Word mash Poetry = CHECK

Coolest ladies man EVER = CHECK

Result: About $420,367 in alumony and child support per month.

Its hard to be that good, guys!

[SMURFS549]

actually, at this point he hadn't become a Protestant preacher, that was later in his life. It was actually the guilt and shame in writing this poem and indulging in the sexual desire that emotionally corroded him in the days of his preaching!

[dannypavelchic]

i am never looking at kirk the same again...

[frescadp]

I truly did laugh out loud at your first paragraph--yes, you never know where Star Trek will take you!

Right, Donne's poetry was almost all published after he died. (He lived from 1572-1631.) So I gather it's hard to date exactly, but the love poems are from his earlier years. Still, as you say, most likely written to his wife.

Btw, I'm no Donne scholar--I just garnered this from various introductions to his poems, which are heavenly, even if written on Earth.

LIve long & proser!

[sjplwc]

A scholarly discussion on YouTube prompted by Star Trek clips! What next!!?!?

My Norton Anthology dates this poem at 1669, unless I am reading it wrong. Of course, I just realized that since he died in 1631 I suppose he couldn't have written it then -- that would REALLY have been heavenly poetry.

[frescadp]

Ah, well... Jim Kirk obviously isn't burdened with an "anti-sex" attitude! : )

But, then, he's no Christian either.

Just to clarify a small point: I don't doubt Donne was a devout believer when he wrote this poem, but he wasn't yet a priest--he wasn't ordained until 1615, the year he turned forty-three. Afterward he said he was happy to leave behind the mistress of my youth, Poetry for the wife of mine age, Divinity.

Thanks for writing.

[sjplwc]

At risk of becoming farrr too serious about this discussion: Donne was a devout Anglican priest when he penned this poem -- & clearly saw no conflict between frank, sexual desire for his WIFE and his commitment to Jesus Christ. Why should he have? There is no conflict -- at least not from a biblical perspective. God invented sex & made it fun. But he intended it only to be enjoyed between husband and wife. The anti-sex attitude of many is NOT a true Christian viewpoint. Donne understood that.