Paper Topic:

17th Century Poetry

The poem To His Coy Mistress was written by 17th century poet Andrew Marvell . This poem has been claimed to be the poem that endorses living for the moment (Han 2003 ) The story of the poem is about a man who is trying to convince his love to be with him . By the tone and the lines of the poem , being with him would entail engaging in sexual intercourse This idea is very radical especially during Marvell 's puritanical time the reason for which the title is His Coy Mistress ' instead of My

Coy Mistress ' in an attempt to divert the readers ' attention to another instead of Marvell 's own disposition regarding love (Han 2003 However , in his poem , Marvel was able to present his argument as to why the mistress of the male speaker should engage in love at the soonest possible time and he did so using numerous styles of poetry

Marvell , in his poem To His Coy Mistress , uses the following styles to present his case : alliteration , allusions , metaphors and similes

In the first line , Had we but world enough , and time , This coyness lady , were no crime (Marvell 1 ) Marvell states that if the male speaker had the time then he would go through the normal processes of courtship . He also uses crime to indicate that there is something wrong with the lady 's coyness for he had no time to spare . He continues on in the first stanza , to use metaphors like My vegetable love should grow (11 , and allusion like I would Love you ten years before the flood , And you should , if you , refuse Till the conversion of the Jews (7-10 ) to portray his eternal love . By using the metaphor that his love is that of a vegetable , the idea that his love is constantly growing and nourishing comes into mind . It could also refer to his sexual form of love symbolizing the need for a vegetable to be planted the same way that a man 's semen has to be planted in a woman 's womb Thus this use of vegetable love ' paves the way for the following stanzas

But at my back I always hear Time 's winged chariot near (21-22 ) this is the line that indicates the need to live for the moment because the speaker feels that time drives by so fast that it may wasted in coyness Marvell continues on to indicate , with reference to the passing of time which , if not taken hold of this minute , will just waste away with aging and death : then worms shall try That long preserved virginity , And your quaint honor turn to dust , And into ashes all my lust : 30 The grave 's a fine and private place , But , I think , do there embrace (27-32 . Again , the reference virginity and lust indicate the speaker 's desire for physical love

He finally ends his poem with the conviction that while the youthful hue (33 ) roll all our strength and all...

4 pages

33.5 KB

Free sing-up