To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s the Point?

This poem is a dramatic monologue. It is written in the character of a man who is trying to seduce a woman. The reader is not necessarily supposed to agree with the man's arguments.

The poem is called To HIS Coy Mistress which suggests that it is not Marvell's own voice that we hear in the poem.

The man is arguing that we should "seize the day" (which is carpe diem in Latin). He thinks that life moves fast and that you should take pleasure as and when it comes up. The belief that you should live life for pleasure is called hedonism.

It is unlikely that Andrew Marvell was a big believer in hedonism, He was a political reformer and despised fast living and "carnal pleasures". It is very likely that this is a satirical poem and that the reader is supposed to dislike the speaker. Marvell was most famous for his many political, satirical poems.

 

Where’s my Evidence?

• An hundred years would go to praise/ Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze
• For, Lady, you deserve this state/ nor would I love at lower rate.
• worms shall try/ thy long preserved virginity
• Now let us sport us while we may
• like amorous birds of prey

How do I Analyse this?

Form: This poem is a dramatic monologue written in a three part argument structure. It is written from the point of view of a man who is trying to get some woman to climb into bed with him. He does not promise marriage or commitment as an honorable man would have at this time, He just promises "rough strife" and to take her virginity (lucky girl - who can resist an offer like that?).

 

He uses an argument structure. The first part of the poem tells this woman how he would love to spend time complimenting her; the second part tells her that he can't because we're all going to die; and the third part tells her what he wants to do. The use of a formal structure has the effect of making the speaker seem quite calculated and cold. This contrasts with his passionate, spontaneous persona, perhaps giving the reader a clue that he is not quite as lost in his passion as he pretends to be. 

The first part of the argument is a satire of the blason from. This can be seen in Romeo and Juliet and was popular in Renaissance times. Blasons were like Just the Way you Are by Bruno Mars. Poets listed all the parts of the girl's body and said how perfect each one was. It was as rubbish then as it is now. Marvell is satrising (taking the mick out of) this kind of drivel.

Imagery: The listing of body parts is very sexualised and emphasises the fact that this poem is about eros or physical love rather than a more spiritual or agape love. He uses hyperbole to exaggerate how long he would spend adoring each body part which might sound quite sweet, but the quote "all the rest" feels careless and suggests that he can't even be bothered to list each part in this first stanza. He also finishes this part of the poem talking about a "lower rate" which suggests a financial transaction and undermines (takes away from) any romanticism in the previous lines.

 The second stanza uses a lot of imagery about death. there is the particularly gruesome image of "worms" taking her virginity. This means that when she dies, she will be eaten by worms but is also an allusion to sex. He is trying to frighten the woman in this stanza by reminding her that she will inevitably die.

The final part has a lot of violent images. There is a simile "like amorous birds of prey" and a metaphor "tear our pleasures/ with rough strife". And the speaker personifies the sun saying that "we will make him run". This is quite a far cry from the romantic and sweetness in the first stanza. Moreover words like "devour" and "fires" and "languish" all connote hell. Although the speaker might be urging this woman into bed with a sort of carpe diem, YOLO urgency, the subtext is that if you engage too freely in the pleasures of the flesh (sex), you might find your soul being condemned to eternal damnation (hell).

 

Form: The poet uses a galloping iambic tetrameter throughout which lends the poem pace and urgency. He doesn't want to wait around and the rhythm reflects the quick pace at which he wants to live. The rhyming couplets emphasise this and are commonly used in love poetry to promote the idea of unity.

The use of enjambement and alliteration in "our sun/ stand still" emphasises the speed with which he wants them to live their lives.

The use of modal verbs (would/ should) in the first stanza and the use of the conditional (if) at the beginning, immediately lets the reader know that he has no intention of doing any of this romancing.

Note the change in pronouns: stanza 1 = "I"; stanza 2 = "you"; stanza 3 = "we". Why do you think this is?

What is the Reader supposed to feel?

 

I quite enjoy this poem. There is something about its energy that is very enticing and something about its audacity and carpe diem message that appeals to a twenty first century point of view. However, I find the voice of the speaker quite sinister and forceful. He is not affectionate at all towards this woman he is seducing and his audacity, although entertaining, is clearly not rooted in any feeling other than the desire to have a quick "roll in the hay".

 

I think it's quite a tricky poem because it is so old and almost impossible to access if you don't have any context for Marvell, his beliefs and his life. Marvell takes the "pleasures of the flesh" far more seriously than it is possible to take them today - he lived in a very different world and the consequences of casual sex, particularly for a woman at this time, could be catastrophic. It wasn't just socially taboo, it could also result in syphilis (a very frightening and prevalent disease which was incurable) or an unwanted pregnancy outside marriage.

 

I find it difficult to relate to the idea of anyone taking casual sex so seriously but I think he captures the voice of a predatory man perfectly and perhaps gives us some insight into how little the art of seduction has changed over the ages...

How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?

 

Marvell spent his life fighting corruption in Parliament and probably dealing with people who wanted to live their lives in this way. I think that he is extremely scornful of this point of view and believes that only a fool would risk eternal damnation for fleeting pleasure. He is satirizing seduction and he does it very impressively. His control of imagery and poetic form is masterful and muti-layered, making this poem a real pleasure to pick apart.

 

 How can I Link this to another poem?

The Farmer's Bride - another dramatic monologue, another man who is thinking mainly about his own needs.

Sonnet 116 - a poem about agape love which contrasts well with to his Coy Mistress. it uses some similar rhetorical devices and also has many layers of possible meaning.

In Paris With You - Another dramatic monologue in the voice of a sleazy guy.

 

 

 

 

Not Mr Bruff but better

 

BBC Bitesize

 

Extra A* material

A* To His Coy Mistress

This is cut and paste from here, and offers a more complex, contextual reading of the poem.


The masculine assault upon the reluctance of the "coy" woman lies at the heart of Marvell's best-known love poem--perhaps the most famous "persuasion to love" or carpe diem poem in English--"To his Coy Mistress." Everything we know about Marvell's poetry should warn us to beware of taking its exhortation to carnality at face value. Critics from T. S. Eliot on took note of the poem's "logical" structure, but then it began to be noticed that the conditional syllogism in that structure is invalid--a textbook case of affirming the consequent or the fallacy of the converse. Has Marvell made an error? Or does he attribute an error to the speaking persona of the poem? Or is the fallacy part of the sophistry that a seducer uses on an ingenuous young woman? Or is it a supersubtle compliment to a woman expected to recognize and laugh at the fallacy? These alternatives must be judged in the light of the abrupt shifts in tone among the three verse paragraphs. In the opening lines the seducer assumes a pose of disdainful insouciance with his extravagant parody of the Petrarchan blason:

An hundred years should go to praise
Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
Two hundred to adore each Breast:
But thirty thousand to the rest.
An Age at least to every part,
And the last Age should show your Heart.

Although the Lady is said to "deserve this State," the compliment is more than a little diminished when the speaker adds that he simply lacks the time for such elaborate wooing. It is also likely that most women would be put off rather than tempted by the charnel-house imagery of the poem's middle section where the seducer, sounding like a fire-and-brimstone preacher, warns that "Worms shall try / That long preserv'd Virginity." Finally, the depiction of sexual intimacy at the poem's close, with its vision of the lovers as "am'rous birds of prey" who will "tear our Pleasures with rough strife," is again a disconcerting image in an ostensible seduction poem. The persona's desire for the reluctant Lady is mingled with revulsion at the prospect of mortality and fleshly decay, and he manifests an ambivalence toward sexual love that is pervasive in Marvell's poetry."

Nettles by Vernon Scannell

What’s the Point?

• This poem is a first person narrative told form the perspective of the speaker.
• This poem works on two levels.
• It's the story about a boy who falls in the nettles and hurts himself, so his father gets really angry with the nettles (it's a little weird) and goes out and slashes them and then burns them. He then realises it's pointless and that the nettles will just grow back and he will not be able to protect his son forever.
• An extended metaphor about his experiences with war. Scannell felt very angry about the waste of life he saw during World War 2. In this metaphor the nettles represent the soldiers, the sun and rain represent the government who just 'grow' more recuits to have them killed again.

Where’s my Evidence?

• That regiment of spite
• White blisters beaded on his tender skin
• And then I took my hook and honed the blade/ And went outside and slashed in fury with it
• that fierce parade
• But in two weeks the busy sun and rain
• Had called up tall recruits behind the shed

How do I Analyse this?

Form: This poem is written in iambic pentameter which reflects the tight control of military life or perhaps the pulsing anger running throughout the poem. In line 10 the iambic pentameter is broken, perhaps reflecting the anger and loss of control at this point in the poem.
The alternating ABABCDCD rhyme scheme helps to control the rhythm, giving the poem a strict, militaristic feel while also stressing certain ideas (tears/ spears or dead/ shed and parade/ blade).
Alliteration is used effectively to exaggerate key images and emotions: "blisters beaded" sounds painful and exaggerates this image effectively. Similarly the repetition of the 'h' sound in "took my hook and honed my blade" emphasises his breathless fury.

Imagery: The extended metaphor of the Nettles works well. Nettles are common and grow everywhere. Thus they represent the cheapness of human life in war. Also, they are impossible to avoid, like painful experiences in child's life and will always grow back, no matter how much you try to get rid of them.
There is a lot of military imagery in this poem: "spears", "sharp wounds", "regiment of spite". This alludes to Scannell's experiences in war and experiences in the army.
It also reveals that he sees the world as a hard and dangerous place for his children. Scannell had six children and two of them died: one as a baby and one in a motorbike accident. In this poem the reader learns that he feels powerless to protect them: "My son would often feel sharp wounds again."
The imagery of physical hurt: "sharp wounds", "blisters beaded" and "sobs and tears" emphasises the vulnerability of his son or of the young soldiers fighting in the war. Perhaps he is reminding the reader that all these young men were only just out of childhood when they died.
Personification of the sun and rain make them sound foolish and uncaring like the governments who send soldiers to war.

What is the Reader supposed to feel?

This poem strikes me as very masculine. There is something about the order and tidiness of the form (the use of iambic pentameter, the precise use of rhyme, the almost a sonnet-ness of it), coupled with the army imagery which strikes me as distinctly male. It's very different to Ghazal or Praise Song for My Mother, which have more feminine fluidity.


Also, it's a poem about a father and a son and is possibly saying something about the way in which men in the twentieth century were trapped into the roles of soldiers. Both World War 1 and World War 2 had conscription and Scannell tried to desert the army twice. I can feel his helplessness and frustration when he burns the nettles - it's such a pointless and overblown action which achieves nothing ("But in two weeks" the nettles have grown back again). It is also alluding to the endless supply of conscripted soldiers "tall recruits" who continue to feed the war machine. Perhaps Scannell feels that should another war arise, he will be unable to protect his son - that life is full of injustice and that it is impossible to escape it or to protect those you love the most: "the boy..seeking comfort."

How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?

So why did Scannell write this poem? What does he want to say?


Scannell deserted the army twice and was very affected by what he saw in war. He thought that war was a senseless act and is clearly very angry at the waste of life war engenders. He believes that the government are careless with human life reflected in the bitter tone of  the poem. Scannell thinks that life is full of unavoidable pain and pointless suffering.

Scannell also seems to think that day-to-day life is unjust, uncontrollable and full of danger. He would like to stop his son from feeling pain but seems to believe that suffering and cruelty are part of nature, reflected in the growing back of the nettles, and therefore he is powerless to prevent it. The line "watery grin", "tender skin" and then his fury reveal the strong love he feels for his son but in the end, he says that he cannot protect his son from hardships and pain in life. He feels hopeless. Ultimately, it is a pessimistic poem perhaps reflecting his own unhappy experiences in life: life hurts you and no sooner than you have dealt with one problem, another grows back in its place.

How can I Link this to another poem?

The Manhunt - another poem about life being full of pain and suffering. It also has military imagery.

Harmonium- this poem is about pain in father son relationships and uses imagery to represent aspects of the relationship similarly to Nettles.

Praise Song for My Mother - This is quite different in tone but is also about parent child relationships

BBC Bitesize
Mr Bruff

Ghazal by Mimi Khalvati

What’s the Point?

• A Ghazal is a form of Persian love poetry. Persia was one of the great ancient civilisations and is now Iran.
• Each stanza in this poem is called a sher. And the repeated rhyme is called a radeef.
• Poems were traditionally written by a man to a woman and contained imagery of unrequited (unreturned) love. 
• Khalvati is modernising the Ghazal by writing it from a woman's point of view and in English. She is playing with traditional ideas about love and how women are supposed to be treated by their lovers.
• This is both playful and romantic.

Where’s my Evidence?

"If mine is the venomous tongue, the serpent’s tail,
charmer, use your charm, weave a spell and subdue me. "

"Be heaven and earth to me and I’ll be twice the me
I am, if only half the world you are to me."

"If yours is the iron fist in the velvet glove
when the arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me."

How do I Analyse this?

Form: A Ghazal is a traditional form which follows strict conventions like a sonnet. The whole poem is written in shers which are couplets reflecting the unity of a couple in love. The repeated rhyme, called a radeef  is "me/me" which creates a slightly self-absorbed tone. This poem is all about what the speaker wants in a lover or what "Mimi" wants... (do you see what she's doing there?). Is she self-absorbed? Is she asserting a woman's right to be assertive in a relationship? You decide...

Imagery: There is a lot of natural imagery in this poem placing the speaker in a more submissive position. She uses metaphors to create the idea that he lover cam complete her, or fulfill her:
"If I am the grass and you are the wind, blow through me
If I am the rose and you are the bird, then woo me."
In this stanza she is passive and her lover will bring her to life. She is also using traditional images of romance.

Different aspects of love are revealed. For example this metaphor suggests that love is a violent and forceful experience:
"If yours is the iron fist in the velvet glove
when the arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me."
Note the violent imagery, the permanence of a tattoo and the forceful rhythm contained within the word tattoo.

Structure: The poem sounds like it is being tentative with the repetition of "if". It can sound like she is unsure of her lover's reaction. However, note the use of imperative verbs: "tattoo me" or "woo me". This is quite commanding and lends the voice strength.

The use of excalmatory phrases and the dramatic "Oh":
"Oh would that I were bark! So old and still in leaf.
And you, dropping in my shade, dew to bedew me!"
suggests that she is enjoying the drama of falling in love. Perhaps she is playing a role.

The use of long sentences in each sher leave the reader waiting for the end of the sentence, like a lover awaits a response. Each couplet contains a complete image, so we need to read the whole sentence to complete the image. This adds to the sense of anticipation in the poem, reflecting the tortuous and delicious anticipation of waiting for a lover to respond so you can feel completed.

What is the Reader supposed to feel?

This is a strange poem. At first I found it very irritating - her neediness and the overblown romantic imagery seemed exaggerated and unconvincing to me. However, as I explored further, I began to believe that she is playing a game with gender roles in a romantic relationship. At first glance, it seems like she is saying that she wants her lover to 'subdue' and dominate her which is a pretty old fashioned idea. However, her voice does not sound like someone who would be easily dominated. The use of imperative verbs and the repetition of what she expects, starts to make her sound like a woman who knows what she wants. I think that we are supposed to allow ourselves to get lost in her vision of romantic love and to submit to its old-fashioned ideas - hence the use of an old-fashioned and traditional form as a vehicle for these ideas.

How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?

So why did Khalvati write this poem? What is she saying?

I think that Khalvati is presenting a range of metaphors which define romantic love : love can be beautiful, soft, timeless, ageless, enduring, painful, returned, unrequited, renewing, sublime and earthy. You can find a metaphor in the poem for each of these adjectives (have fun).

However, I think that she is also adding a more modern take on the poem. She is suggesting that within a romantic relationship you can try on different roles: "Weave a spell, subdue me" and allow yourself to get lost and carried away "charmed" by your lover or even improved by your lover: "twice the me". Nonetheless, at the  centre of this Khalvati seems to suggest that it is important to retain a sense of yourself or "me" and this is a more modern and feminist view.

Mr Bruff thinks this is a religious poem and that it's about her relationship with God. I'm not sure but maybe...

How can I Link this to another poem?

The Manhunt - this is written in rhyming couplets, uses a lot of metaphors to try and define what love is and its relationship to your sense of self - Laura has lost her husband.

Hour- another modern poem in a traditional form, written by a woman attempting to define love. Also uses a lot of metaphor.

Sonnet 43 - Another woman trying to define love in a traditional form and also suggesting that she should submit herself to love.

BBC Bitesize
Mr Bruff