Andrew Marvell’s poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ Essay

With this essay I will compare and contrast Claire Marvell’s composition, ‘To His Coy Mistress’, with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet, ‘How Do I Take pleasure in Thee…? ‘ Andrew Marvell’s poem is around an older man trying persuade a more youthful women to ‘carpe diem’ (seize the day), to make love to her, by using kind comments and flattery, ‘Vaster than empires, and should go to compliment. ‘(Stanza 1, line 12) Additionally , At the Barrett Browning’s sonnet is approximately a female that is expressing her feelings toward a male.

Judging by the poem, the woman is excited about the man within a spiritual impression, ‘I take pleasure in thee to the depth and breadth and height, my personal soul can easily reach. ‘ (Line 2-3) ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is a comparatively long poem of 46 lines, which can be divided into three stanzas, representing different parts of the argument that he is aiming to persuade her to sleep with him. In the first stanza, the man flatters the women through the use of grandiose symbolism and affectation. He says that her ‘coyness’ would be of no result ‘had we all but world enough and time’ (Line 1) and then follows with an increase of detail inside the following stanzas.

The more mature man as well shows just how interested he can by expressing the degree of his feelings, simply by explaining how he would, ‘love you a decade before the flood’ (Line 8), even if his love were to remain unreturned, ’till the conversation with the Jews. ‘(Line 10) Moreover he then details how long he would be prepared to love all of her physical features, ‘two hundred or so to enjoy each breast, But thirty thousand for the rest. ‘(Line 15-16) Similarly, he is planning to prove to the young ladies how much he wants her; on the other hand your woman could see his words and phrases in the wrong way, could be he just wants to rest with her? You could argue that this is satirising the king’s court, because even though he could be flattering her, it is improper to assume that he would be permitted to look at her for this long period of time.

In the second stanza, he continually us the grandiose imagery from the 1st stanza, nevertheless introduces a sense of urgency. If he says, ‘but’ in the initial line, the group realises there is going to be considered a shift in focus. He now says that this individual hears ‘times winged chariot hurrying near. ‘(Line 22) From this point, his imagery becomes increasingly eager.

He attempts to shock the women into sleeping with him, by talking about her ‘coyness’, and if your woman perseveres in life that way, the lady runs the chance of only ‘worms…trying that long conserved virginity. ‘(Line 27-28) He says that his attitude can turn to dust particles and ‘into ashes all my lust. ‘(Line 30) This sentence the actual audience even more aware of his actual motives by stating the word ‘lust’ rather than ‘love’, making us believe that he has betrayed his accurate motives, and slipped in front with the woman, he can making away he ‘loves’. In the last stanza of ‘To His Coy Mistress’, it sees him almost demand that they produce ‘sport’ (love).

The images on this stanza becomes even more erotic, and may have more than one interpretation. ‘Let us roll…. up into one ball, and split our pleasures…through the straightener gates of life. ‘(Line 41 and 44) Moving up into a ball could represent two people making love together or a cannon ball that can smash down, ‘the flat iron gates of life. ‘ These entrances could signify the woman’s chastity belt or society’s conventions which would frown upon a great extramarital affair. The past two lines are likewise ambiguous.

That they both tie in with lines from the second stanza. ‘Thus, through we cannot produce our sun, stand still, yet we all will make him run’ (Line 45 – 46), shows that they should get the most from their period they are spending together, and conceive a kid (son). Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem, ‘How do I take pleasure in thee…’ gives quite a distinction to Toby Marvell’s composition. Its imagery is very humble, and very personal.

It is an manifestation of profound love and devotion from a single person to a new. The purpose of the poem is to quantify the dimensions of her take pleasure in and at the beginning of the poem, it is very obvious to the target audience that this woman is excited about her spouse By starting with the line, ‘How do I like thee?

Let me count the ways'(Line 1) she begins to compare her love to religion and thoughts rather than physical attributes, ‘I love the freely, because men shoot for right. ‘ (Line 7) The symbolism she uses to supposedly quantify this love is usually suggestive of infinity, and a love which has no limitations, even following the soul is free from the physical human body, ‘I shall but take pleasure in thee following death. ‘ (Line 14) Constructive explanations are always found in this composition, compared to Toby Marvell’s, which in turn also details the adverse issues. Besides Browning’s composition having a very romantic that means, you could query why over needs to prove her take pleasure in for her spouse, because she continually brings up and repeats, ‘I appreciate thee…’ generally in most of her sentences.

The lady could be certainly counting the ways she adores her partner, however could be her partner needs comforting of her love intended for him. You can argue that, Barrett Browning hand picked the sonnet kind for this composition, for the purposes of contrast; to adopt something which can be supposedly infinitive (her love) and place it in a limited and restricted form (sonnet). Alternatively, people could think different because there are such stringent rules regulating sonnet composing, (i. electronic. 10 syllables per series, 14 lines etc) and individuals might question why your woman chose such a stiff format, intended for something which she feels most firmly about.

Total, the two poems are opposites, but they are the two concerned with the idea of time, individual life and love. Towards the end of the poem, browning says, ‘if god choose, I actually shall like thee better after loss of life, ‘(Line 13-14) showing that even after she passes away, her love for this guy will still grow, supportive him pertaining to eternity. ‘To His Coy Mistress’, and ‘How Will i Love Thee…’ have many correlations with each other. One example is; Both poems are about love; although represent different varieties of love.

Toby Marvell’s composition is about lust and sex gratification, when Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s composition is about real love and commitment. The sonnet is written from a women’s viewpoint, where the girl expresses her true love for her husband. The other composition is crafted from a mature mans standpoint, and represemts his lust for a young women.

This kind of poem is definitely an elaborate ‘chat up line’ to present may well argument to be able to persuade her to make wish to him. This could show the way the significance of any poem may vary because of the hundred years it has been written in. ‘To his coy mistress’, was written in the 1600’s while ‘How should i love thee…’ was written in the 1800’s. The social difference between these two times, is the producing style, as in the 1600’s people were enthusiastic about composing clever arguments, and were more interested in writing about sex, lust and passion.

Whereas in the 1800’s, the poems drafted had more true which means, with a more deeply, more intimate feeling. ‘And into ashes all my lust’, compared to, ‘How do I appreciate thee…Let me personally count many ways. ‘ A large number of love poems are drafted in a very traditional format, with very rigid rules. Elizabeth Barrett Browning took the battle to write regarding something which should really have no limitations (love) into something which is fixed (sonnet). On the other hand Andrew Marvell’s poem is based about ‘carpe diem’, in a nontraditional format, without having strict guidelines or guide-lines.

This can affect the imagery used as one does not have limitation towards the amount of syllables, lines or stanzas, while the additional has a restricted format going out of a certain amount of phrases which can be utilized. Clearly this means that there are different types of imagery applied between the two poems since, ‘How should i love thee…’ uses summary and emotional imagery, which usually tends to be very personal and humble. In some instances you cannot quite put a finger on what she’s describing. ‘I love the to the standard of every day, many quite close by sun and candlelight. (Line 5-6) ‘To His Coy Mistress’, will use ostentatious hyperbole and grandiose imagery.

He uses big overdone, tacky photos, by using phrases such as, ‘times winged chariot’, ‘instant fires’ and ‘iron gates of life. ‘ You can photo what the person is talking about; but on the other hand, you may tell that he might be misleading the group to make them believe that he’s in love with this kind of woman. Through the entire whole of my composition, I have come to the summary, that both poems have many comparisons, comparison. They both equally describe a form of love among two people. I think, the poem I prefer is, ‘To his coy mistress’, because it got more of an impact on me, because of the terminology used. The person comes across because very needy, but on the other hand with very very good charisma.

The imagery used is effective, as I could relate and think about what he’s describing. And keeping the target audience intrigued on what the ladies will do subsequent, he leaves the closing on a high cliff hanger, by not sharing with on the final decision the women makes! However , I actually do not dislike the poem, ‘How do I love thee…’ because it offers appropriate vocabulary for the notion she is explaining. I just believe that it is rather tiresome describing the particular optimistic attributes about a person, for the reason that most people have faults and pessimistic characteristics.

Furthermore, I actually didn’t believe it is unique or perhaps distinctive from the other love poetry, since the dialect and imagery was much the same.