“A gentleman in hunting rode astray,
More out of choice than that he lost his way:
He let his company the hare pursue,
For he himself had other game in view:”
This quote shows that he was chasing a woman and that he is not looking for anything more than sex. He just wants a bit of fun like any sport would give him.
When reading the poems they create images of what is happening are created. In The Beggar Woman, William King does not use any similes or metaphors. I think this is because he needs to keep things simple for his audience. When he wrote it, he relied on his descriptive words to create a mental picture for the reader. For example, “mounts the infant with a gentle toss upon her generous friend, and like a cross, the sheet she with a dextrous motion winds” and “her cheeks were fresh and linen clean.” When reading this line, you can imagine her cheeks; they are smooth, rosy, red, beaming cheeks. Both these quotes make you ‘see’ an image created by his cleverly written words.
In To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell does use metaphors and similes because he thinks the audience expects them as they are upper class. Some examples of the imagery created by metaphors and similes are “vegetable love,” which is a metaphor; “times’ winged chariot” and “his slow chapped power”, which are personification; “like morning dew” and “like amorous birds of prey” are both similes.
So even though they are created in different ways, both The Beggar Woman and To His Coy Mistress, use description to help us imagine what is happening in the poems.
Both poems also use very different language; this is because they have very different audiences.
The Beggar Woman uses everyday language and it is very informal. This is because it is aimed at lower class readers. It is also just like a story and has a plot, which also means it is easier to understand. Because The Beggar Woman is like a story, it suggests that it should be read to people. This is again because it is aimed at lower class and uneducated people who would have to have someone read it to them rather than reading it for themselves.
On the other hand To His Coy Mistress has no plot and uses imagery instead. Also imagery is used to put across his love and uneducated people would find it more difficult to understand. This is how Andrew Marvell cleverly chooses his audience. The poem is also written in the style of a speech, as if it is being read to one particular woman. “Had we but world enough, and time.” This gives an example of how the poem uses words like “we” as if there were only two people there.
To His Coy Mistress also uses “Coy” in the title, instead of shy, so if the reader doesn’t know what this means they will immediately be put off. This again shows the aimed audience is upper-class people.
“Sitting, says she, ’s not my usual trade” is a quote from The Beggar Woman. This is everyday language, she could have said ‘sitting is not my usual profession’. Profession is a word that implies a job that you need to be educated for. So she is, in a way, saying she is not educated.
When reading The Beggar Woman, it is mostly metaphysical, whilst To His Coy Mistress is mostly pastoral. But both poems are also metaphorical and pastoral. Metaphysical is when things are literally beyond physical, which includes abstract ideas, whereas pastoral is when it is looking at somebody’s ideal situation, and not at real life.
We can tell The Beggar Woman is mostly metaphysical but it is pastoral as well because it is set in the woods and there are mostly “normal “ things happening. A quote to show this is “A gentleman in hunting.” This shows that what they are talking about is very real and there. It also has metaphysical parts to the poem. This is right at the end when the woman runs off and leaves her baby. This is not very realistic and out of the ordinary. “I trust the child to you with all my heart.” No one today would run off leaving their baby with a stranger just to teach a lesson!
On the other hand, To His Coy Mistress is mostly pastoral. Although the poem talks about abstract concepts, for example, time. But also it is pastoral because it talks about the beauty of love and the perfection of it. Right at the beginning of the poem, Andrew Marvell introduces the concept of time – “Had we but world enough and time, this coyness, lady were no crime.” But also, near the end of the poem, he goes on to introduce pastoral aspects into the poem, like the world being perfect. This is called Arcadia. You will find this in most pastoral poems. He talks about “morning dew,” which is very realistic as you imagine the water droplets on the grass.
“A gentleman in hunting rode astray,
More out of choice than that he lost his way:
He let his company the hare pursue,
For he himself had other game in view:”
This quote shows that he was chasing a woman and that he is not looking for anything more than sex. He just wants a bit of fun like any sport would give him. I think that To His Coy Mistress is written more formally. This is probably because it is aimed at a more upper class audience. The write picks out his audience by the words he has used. The words that are used will be more widely understood by a lot more people and so it will appeal to a much wider audience. For example, a pun is used with words like “game” and “trade.” This is not what people expect because they are being used in a different context than they are usually used in.
The poems have quite different styles for the structure of each poem. In The Beggar Woman, a very popular style of poetry writing is used, known as rhyming couplets, for example, “A beggar by her trade; yet no so mean, but that her cheeks were fresh and linen clean.” Also, when a poem tells a story, the author doesn’t put across many of their feelings and emotions and it is difficult to know much about them.
To His Coy Mistress uses a different writing style and structure. The structure is almost like an argument. It talks about thing that are completely opposite, for example, that you should enjoy yourself but that there are bad things like dying happening. It then goes on to say that because of both things you should live life to the full.
Each poem could also be said to be giving out a message. However, these messages contradict each other. In The Beggar Woman, William King is saying that not many people have time for romance or love.
Andrew Marvel, in To His Coy Mistress, says everyone should have time for love and romance but it is only there for entertainment value.
Of he two poems, I prefer The Beggar Woman because it uses simpler language that is easier to understand. It is more like a story, which makes it easier to follow. To His Coy Mistress is more difficult because it uses more abstract concepts and ideas which do not make up a story.
