`To the Virgins` and `To His Coy Mistress`

Andrew Marvell 's `To His Coy Mistress

and

Robert Herrick 's `To the Virgins , to Make Much of Time

2007

Andrew Marvell 's `To His Coy Mistress ' and Robert Herrick 's `To the Virgins , to Make Much of Time

In Europe , the seventeenth century was a time that was called a part of the Renaissance (meaning rebirth , an era that was so called , because it was a time in which learning and development in every sphere of life occurred . This was prompted in part by the general reawakening to the

idea that since life is temporary , one should make the most of one 's life . This is why the carpe diem (`seize the day ' in Latin ) theme frequently occurs in the literature of the seventeenth century . This theme is of central importance in Andrew Marvell 's `To His Coy Mistress as well as in Robert Herrick 's `To the Virgins , to Make Much of Time and other than this theme , both poems share a number of similarities However , there are also striking differences , which contribute to the individual understanding of each poem

Carpe diem referred to all worldly pleasures , but theses two poems are similar in the way they approach this theme . Although `seize the day could mean all worldly pleasures , both of these poems emphasize sexual pleasure . Thus in Marvell 's poem , the speaker addresses his coy mistress and tells her than in death , her long preserved virginity (Marvell line 28 ) will turn to dust (29 . Similarly , Herrick 's poem is addressed also to the Virgins ' who are told to be not coy (Herrick line 13 . Also , both poems emphasize the pleasure to be gotten in one 's youth , as Herrick 's poem talks of Youth (10 , and Marvell 's poem mentions the youthful hue (33 . This shows that the speaker in both poems is intent on persuading these women that sexual pleasures are of most importance and are best when enjoyed in youth , and thus to be coy is nothing but wasting time , since life is short

Some comparisons and images are also common to both poems . For example the image of the sun is used in both poems that time is running out - in lines 5-8 in `To the Virgins , and lines 45-46 in `To His Coy Mistress Time itself is also personified in both poems in `To the Virgins , time is referred to as Old Time (2 , and `To His Coy Mistress , the speaker tells his mistress of Time 's wingyd chariot (22 , and urges her to make the most of time , rather than languish in his slow-chapped pow 'r (40 . Such a use of personification makes it easier to visualize time as a person , under whose forces are all people . Also , both poems compare the ladies to flowers and thus , again , emphasize their transience . In Herrick 's poem , in the first stanza , there is an indirect comparison of the virgins to the flower that Tomorrow will be dying (4 . This is evident in line 3...