“…Roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness into one ball.”
This could just means that they should ‘get together and become one, possibly through matrimony or having a child hence ball. It could be a euphemism for having sex.
However in Montagu’s poem she uses a different argument. At first she says that he is seeing a false impression of her because of all the flattery at the beginning, then saying ‘but leaving her-‘tis me you pursue’. She is complimenting his wife (as the man I s already marries) trying to persuade him that his life at the moment is much better as he has a wife and money and would be stupid to leave that behind. Then she starts getting really aggressive and offensive against mankind, likening them to pug dogs,
“Why should the poor pug (the mimic of your kind)
Wear a rough chain and be to a box confin’d?”
This is meant to be an immense insult against mankind- likening them to simple dogs, that to be fair are quite ugly and just sit on a lap to be stroked all day. In saying this she infers that men have no use but to ‘be’. In the next line she begins to give you an idea about why she is hostile and critical to men:
(Referring to the pug)
“…Some cup, perhaps, he breaks, or tears a fan
While roves unpunish’d the destroyer, Man.”
What she means by this is that when a dog breaks something such as china or furniture then it is punished ‘and be to a box confin’d’ whereas when man breaks (destroys) a lady’s heart then his is left unpunished to attack his next victim.
However in Marvell’s poem the only ‘bullying’ he employs is to prove to her that in her coyness she is being irrational and that if she doesn’t get with him soon then ’Thy beauty shall no more be found’, which means that on earth beauty such as hers will not be found because she will have died without leaving anything behind, such as children. He also uses macabre imagery to ‘scare’ her into getting it on with him. He incites that if she takes her virginity to the grave
‘…Then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity’
By this he means that if she doesn’t have sexual intercourse with him then the worms will take it in her grave and worms epitomize ‘creepy crawlies’ and everything that is ‘abhorrent’.
He flatters her with compliments about her body
“An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze”
He uses the forehead as an example because that was the only part of the female body that in those days was visible as the rest of their body was covered up.
“Two hundred years to adore each breast
But thirty thousand to the rest”
He uses the word ‘but’ because if he didn’t then he would sound like some kind of pervert who is just interested in the physical part of the woman and he wants to come of as someone who wants her whole self. He can make these empty promises because he knows that he will never have to carry out these promises, as they do not have that much time. Almost in reply to this she says in her poem that he means none of this and she is ‘without one single charm, but being new’ so he is not in love with her because of her looks or personality but simply because ‘the grass is greener on the other side’
Both poems bring into play rhyming couplets throughout, in an A A B B C C D D E E structure. This creates a certain rhythm throughout the piece that ensures that the reader carries on reading.
In both of these poems there is a lot of figurative language used, for example similes like ‘…sits on thy skin like morning dew,’ or metaphors ‘the destroyer, man’ she actually drops in an oxymoron near the end ‘like a begging thief’ they also use a lot of personification ‘time’s winged chariot, hurrying near’ these all contribute to the ‘personality of the poem and add to the readers enjoyment because they make them more compelling.
I think that the tone of these poems that Marvell intended his poem to be read was one of lust and adoration moving to a kind of husky rough tone as though he doesn’t mean what he is saying. However I think Montagu wants her poem to be read in a kind of angry, suppressed tone or one that emanates anger but does not show it.
Personally I preffered Marvell’s poem because of his chauvinistic attitude that sums up men from all ages and I find quite amusing. Montagu picks up on this and I particularly enjoyed herlikening of men to pug dogs and the language of that part which shows her bitter defiance of ever giving her love away again. Even so I preferred Marvell’s macabre imagery and bullying techniques to try and bed the lady that stands in difference to the traditional techniques of wooing them.
