...Andrew Marvell “His Coy Mistress “To His Coy Mistress” Andrew Marvell open as a carpe diem themed poem in the first line. The speaker set the scene in the first stanza by explaining to his mistress “Had we but world enough, and time,” he would accept her shyness. He continue on comparing his affection to vegetable, that will grow “vaster than empires”, and would be more gently and deeper only if we had time. Throughout, this stanza the speaker made very valid points on how he adore his mistress willing to spend eternity gazing into her eyes and looking over here body .However, there simply is not enough time for him to pursue his mistress like this. Transitioning into the second stanza the speaker tone change. Expressing his strong reasons on why he can’t wait for her to come out her shyness. “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near”. The speaker is no longer wooing his mistress but reminding her that time will not wait for her or him. The death door might be coming for them next. He proceed on by telling his mistress that her beauty shall fade as time progress. The speaker now trying to pull the woman in more by saying then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turns to dust Meaning that the honor she is holding on to so dearly will mean nothing once she have passed away, and the worms will have the best part of her. The thought of death and decay bring your attention to time...
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...English To His Coy Mistress Classic literature is indeed difficult to understand and interpret. You really need to read it more than ten times just to get the thought of the whole text. This poem To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell is indeed difficult to understand. I really had a hard time comprehending its whole text and to get its point and message. I also searched on its modern English translation to fully understand its message and for me to have this occasional paper. As I’ve continuously read the poem I’ve got some points that leads me into clues on what is it all about. This occasional paper is written based on my own understanding, interpretation and by the use of the four approaches- the historical-biographical and moral-philosophical approach. For me to have a better understanding about the poem and for me to use the four approaches, I looked for some information and the references are indicated at the last page of my paper. Andrew Marvell was a metaphysical poet usually focused on love and relationship with God. During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the commonly used themes or motifs of literary pieces are about love, religion and the so-called Latin term carpe diem which means “seize the day”. Before we go on with the four approaches, let us first look into the text. So the literary piece is a lyric poem written in iambic tetrameter. The speaker is probably a young boy who is very passionate with his love to his “mistress”. I can say that he...
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...To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell Critical Analysis Andrew Marvell is famous for his poem, “To His Coy Mistress”. Marvell is viewed by many as being a chauvinist. This is a typical carpe diem poem where the writer encourages his love to seize the day. He is basically trying to coerce his love into physical intimacy. In modern times, Marvell seems like a chauvinistic jerk, particularly in his selfish nature. However, I agree with a lot of what he stands for in the poem such as not taking the present time for granted. More than I feel time should not be taken for granted, I feel that this poem is representative of the selfish love we see too often. Love that is based on physical, instant attraction rarely lasts. There are many flaws in Andrew Marvell’s poem because he does not show much respect for the point of view his love may have. He is trying to convince her that having sex now will be better than waiting until they are married. Marriage is not specifically spelled out in the poem, but speaking in current social terms, marriage is not his goal. He seeks instant gratification with his shy girlfriend. She is portrayed as no being ready to give him what he wants. His urgency is criticized because he is not thinking of consequences. What if he gets her pregnant? This unanswered question, along with the issue of not accepting the mistresses position of not being ready, make the impatient gentleman seem crude and ungentlemanly. Most men have a great desire for sex, but...
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...satirizing of idealized romantic poetry and divines of love through crude or shocking imagery * Gross exaggeration * Expression of personal, private feelings * Presentation of a logical argument, or syllogism THE TITLE: “To His Coy Mistress” * Mistress - A young woman who has an affair with a married man - A person in- charge (manager, caretaker, courtesan) - A patron or a female sweetheart in 1650’s - The female equivalent of master * Coy -Pretending to be shy or reserved -Olden days referred it to the feeling of shyness - “To coy” (v) means to stroke - The lady is no easy catch * His - Third-person possessive pronoun -Refers to the young man The tying of both the words ‘mistress’ and ‘coy’ brings about the beauty of the poem which talks about complicated relationship and complicated communication between the speaker and his mistress. It’s a plea to a young lady by his lover. THE PERSONA (The Young Man): * First-person point of view * Presentation as the plea of another man (fictional) who is the persona of the poet * The young man is impatient, desperately so, unwilling to tolerate temporizing on the part of the young lady * His motivation appears to be carnal desire rather than true love; passion rules him. Consequently, one may describe him as immature and selfish. SETTING: * Our Imagination * The poets imagination * No specific place is mentioned...
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..."To His Coy Mistress" is divided into three stanzas or poetic paragraphs. It’s spoken by a nameless man, who doesn’t reveal any physical or biographical details about himself, to a nameless woman, who is also biography-less. During the first stanza, the speaker tells the mistress that if they had more time and space, her "coyness" (see our discussion on the word "coy" in "What’s Up With the Title?") wouldn’t be a "crime." He extends this discussion by describing how much he would compliment her and admire her, if only there was time. He would focus on "each part" of her body until he got to the heart (and "heart," here, is both a metaphor for sex, and a metaphor for love). In the second stanza he says, "BUT," we don’t have the time, we are about to die! He tells her that life is short, but death is forever. In a shocking moment, he warns her that, when she’s in the coffin, worms will try to take her "virginity" if she doesn’t have sex with him before they die. If she refuses to have sex with him, there will be repercussions for him, too. All his sexual desire will burn up, "ashes" for all time. In the third stanza he says, "NOW," I’ve told you what will happen when you die, so let’s have sex while we’re still young. Hey, look at those "birds of prey" mating. That’s how we should do it – but, before that, let’s have us a little wine and time (cheese is for sissies). Then, he wants to play a game – the turn ourselves into a "ball" game. (Hmmm.) He suggests, furthermore...
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...poem “To His Coy Mistress,” by Andrew Marvell is a poem that reads intently on the passions of human nature when attracted to the opposite sex. The setting is on the banks of two rivers, The Indian Ganges, and the Humber in India. A woman stands on one bank, while the speaker stands on the other trying to persuade the woman into sexual relations with him before they grow and both die. The man is the only character speaking in this one-sided conversation. He tells her of his love for her that began before the flood and would continue until the Jews convert to Christianity. The man tries to persuade the woman to have sex with him by telling her how fast time will take them into the grave and then her genitals will be useful to nothing but...
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...“To His Coy Mistress” TPS-FASTT | Title | The title “To His Coy Mistress” implies that the speaker is talking to his mistress who is reserved and modest. The subject of the poem is towards the speaker’s mistress. | Paraphrase | In Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker is talking to his mistress throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the speaker tells his mistress that if there were more time, her coyness would not be a crime and that he would be able to compliment and admire her if they had to time to sit down, think where they would walk, and their love would grow slowly but vastly. Furthermore, the speaker also states that if he had more time, he would focus on each part of his mistress’s body for hundreds of years until he had gotten to her heart. In the next stanza, the speaker states that they do not have time, since life is short and death is forever. He states that eventually, beauty will no longer exist due to aging and when she is dead, she will not be able to hear the speaker’s song when inside her coffin. Furthermore, the speaker states that the worms will try to take her virginity and will result in his no longer feeling love for his mistress. In the last two lines of the stanza, he comments that a grave is a nice and private place but does not have much room to be together and embrace. In the last stanza, the speaker once again compliments his mistress’s beauty and youth and that they should embrace just like the birds of prey and play games...
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...------------------------------------------------- Year & Section: III – English ------------------------------------------------- To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress is a poem which is really hard to understand. One has to be meticulous and scrupulous in reading the poem for great understanding and analysis. Nevertheless, this paper aims to analyze the literary piece using historical-biographical and moral-philosophical approaches. Specifically, this paper aspires to understand the relevance of the writer’s life to the poem, to know if the writer’s experiences were reflected in the poem, to identify the historical events or movements that influenced the poet to write the literary piece, to identify the speaker’s viewpoints in the poem, to know the morale present in the story, and things alike. Initially, Andrew Marvell was born on March 31, 1621. His father, Reverend Andrew Marvell, was a lecturer at Holy Trinity Church and a master of the Charterhouse. He was one of the metaphysical poets during his time. Along with John Milton, Thomas Browne and others, Andrew Marvell was considered as one of the prominent English writers in the seventeenth century. In fact, he was also the assistant of John Milton, Latin Secretary for the Commonwealth. John Milton could have also influenced Marvell in writing his masterpieces. As what I have learned in our English and American Literature subject, seventeenth century encompassed several events like the...
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...The comparison of the tone between two poems "To His Coy Mistress" by Andew Marvell and "Maarvell Noir" by Ann Lauinger. Tone of both poems is romantic because both speakers are talks about thier love and lust towards thier mistress,though, the difference is that in " To His Koy Mistress" the persona truely loves his Mrsstress and it is very romantic. However, in "Maverll Noir" the persona is kind of sarcastic, because at first he shows little romance and care for his wife, but later there is no romantic any longer. He doesnot care about her, while she is in prison, which he says in line 30 to 35, "But Irish bars are more my taste than Iron one: Strips ain't my style." in this point, he is kind of look down on his wife that he does not like...
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...At the start of ‘to his coy mistress’ the poet describes how the voice would love his mistress if he had all the time in the world. This is represented in the first line which says ‘had we but world enough, and time,’ This immediately gives the reader a sense of urgency as it creates the image of time being limited and constricted. The use of the word ‘if’ suggests that time is imperative in order to be able for love to reach it’s full potential and that there is an absence of time so it is impossible to patiently enjoy love without rushing it. Alternatively, the language used in the first stanza could be seen as making a mockery of the idea of taking love slowly as it is referred to as ‘vegetable love’ that grows slower than empires. This guides the reader to view the idea of a love that is drawn out as boring and undesirable. This is emphasised towards the end of the poem when the voice describes the love that he wishes for with similes like ‘instant fire.’ This creates a contrast to the idea of a ‘vegetable love’ and makes the voice’s idea of a love sound much more favourable. Therefore, one of the ways that the poet presents ideas of time is that it is necessary for love to be savoured but at the same time it makes love boring. Another way that the poet presents ideas of time is in the first paragraph. This is because the voice says ‘but at my back I always hear, time’s winged chariot hurrying near.’ This creates the idea of time being powerful and ruling over love because...
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...“Harlem” * Of the six images, five are similes. Which is a metaphor? Comment on its position and its effectiveness. “Or crust and sugar over-“ The metaphor helps create the shift in the poen and also gives a deeper meaning of what the poet is trying to say with greater impact. * What specific denotation has the word “dream”? Since the poem does not reveal the contents of the dreams, the poem is general in its implication. What happens to your understanding of it on learning that its author was a black American? The specific meaning of “dream” is to be in pursuit of something, or a goal on e wants to accomplish. The understanding of the poem reveal some struggles and hopelessness because as a black American in the early 1900s it was difficult to do anything or even aspire to dreams. “The author to Her Book” * Vocabulary: haiting, feet, meet, vulgars. Line 3-4 refer to the fact that Bradstreet’s book The Tenth Muse was published in 1650 without her permission. * Haiting : feet or impoerfect * Meet: to become aquainted with * Feet : standing position * Vulgars: ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste, crude * The poem is an extended personification addressing her book as a child. What are similarities does the speaker find between a child and a book of poem? What does she plan to do now that her child has ben put on public display? “ill-formed offspring” tells that something was wrong with the baby, but in different...
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...In "To His Coy Mistress," Andrew Marvell presents a speaker who has a deep conviction appeal to his love. The speaker uses an appeal as his main tool, but he also appeals to his mistress through emotion to gain a response. In the first part of the poem the speaker appeals to his character, second part emotion, and last reason. By using the methods of appeals the speaker hopes to win her love. . In the first stanza, the speaker professes his love for his mistress by saying he would love you ten before the flood (7-10). The speaker's "love should grow vaster than empires"(11-12) and he would adore her for thousands of years (13-18). “What it’s like to be a Black Girl (for those of you who aren’t)” by Patricia Smith, The speaker uses sharp sentence structure and strong forceful language that showed the reader the seriousness of her topic. . Smith’s poem gives the readers a view into a young black girl’s transition into black woman-hood at a time where both being a black girl and a black woman was not as welcomed. In the beginning “It’s being 9 years old and feeling like you’re not finished,” writes Smith, “like your edges are wild, like there’s something, everything, wrong.” (4-5). She refers in her poem is feeling the awkwardness of her changing body and the hope of something different. “It’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence. It’s popping a bleached white mop head over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of the...
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...“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and “To His Coy Mistress,” what do Herrick and Marvell say about time and its effects on youth and beauty? Herrick’s poem is a warning to young, beautiful, unmarried women to make the most of their time and marry young. He does not address it to any particular woman, other than young virgins. He uses to metaphor to compare the women's youthful beauty to flowers that will begin to die as they age. Meanwhile, Marvell's poem is a bit more personal. It's actually a seduction poem and the narrator is speaking directly to his coy (shy) mistress. He is basically telling her that her coyness (avoidance of having sex) would be fine if time were not running out for them. He compares time to death. In doing your comparison and contrast, some of the things you might look at are the arguments that the two poems make in favor of sexual activity, and the language they use (including metaphors and other figures of speech) to discuss such topics as sex, love, youth, old age, and death. 2. A famous image of time appears in couplet form in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” in lines 21–22. To what does he compare time? What does this image make you see? He suggests that time (death) is inescapable and that time (death) is something that both haunts and hunts us. 3. What does the speaker in Herrick’s “To the Virgins” say about marriage? How do you think the speaker in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” feels about marriage? Speaker in Herrick's...
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...Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 exemplifies how you are able to immortalize someone through the legacy of art. Ironically “To the Virgins” by Robert Herrick and “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell both were written on the theme of Carpe Diem, about not fixating on the future but about “seizing the day”, yet evidently they have managed to leave a legacy as we still today discuss and analyze their works of art. Shakespeare captured in Sonnet 18 how someone is able to leave a legacy through art. The sonnet compares a boy to a summer’s day and describes him as “more lovely and more temperate” meaning that the youth’s beauty is more perfect and gentle than the beauty and violent excesses of a summer day. The poem then shifts and speaks about how “summer’s lease hath all too short a date” and that just like how the summer months are always too short and come to an end, the lease that this boy has on life has abruptly come to an end all too quickly as well. The next few lines “sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, / and often in his gold complexion dimmed, / and every fair from fair sometime declines,” illustrates that even though the sun shines, it is usually dimed by the clouds and how with time all beautiful things eventually decline from perfection. The poem then takes its final shift where the ever-living poet in the next few lines, through his last verse, promises eternity. He writes that “thy eternal summer shall not fade, / nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,” referring that...
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...In Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker effectively argues that his “mistress” should consider giving up her virginity due to imminent death. His argument is based upon his effective use of logic, the emotions that his words evoke, and his strong display of his love for her. His purpose for writing this poem was to get his mistress to sleep with him. His purpose of telling her about imminent death is what really persuaded her. The audience would be very fearful if these things were happening to them. He successfully persuades her with facts of both good and bad. The appeal to ethics in this his credibility for how he loves her. He strongly displays this love throughout the poem. He displays this love by telling her how long that her one adores every part of her. That he wishes that they had forever so he could admire her more. The ethics in this poem wouldn’t go with what we are taught today. He tells her about how much he adores every part he especially talks about her breasts. He tells her that he would spend two hundred year admiring each of them. That he would spend thirty thousand to the rest of her beautiful body. His emotional appeal for this poem would be all the lust he shows. He shows emotion by talking about her beauty throughout the entire poem. Which comes back to him wishing they could be together forever so he could adore every part of her. But his emotional appeals where mostly about his love for her. He shows her something to fear about dying...
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