"fires,” “devour,” and “tear"
The tone in this final section, fueled by the increasing tempo and sexual imagery, is positively lusty. These words emphasize the tone, but they have clearly been affected by the midsection’s melancholy tone. It is less likely that the speaker is content in this final section; creating a downcast atmosphere that contradicts what the speaker is trying to persuade the woman to do, though fervent use of buoyant adjectives and influential metaphors create a contentment with the reader at the passionate twist to the poem.
Contradictory to the fervent tone in the opening stanza in to his coy mistress, Sonnet’s first line takes on a more quizzical nature.
“how do I love thee, let me count the ways”
At this point the reader cannot know whether this is a rhetorical question, although this line could be seen as comfort to the reader and allows them to decipher what the poem concerns. This enquiring is dashed in the subsequent lines, where the tone becomes relaxed, almost tranquil as the woman tells of her love for her husband.
“my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”
The spiritual imagery in these lines creates a spiritual sentiment among the reader, turning the mood to an almost illusory state. By using lofty and abstract ideas, the speaker provides no image or symbol to make her love concrete or easy to grasp.
This feeling continues until line 6,
“Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.”
Sun and candle-light allow the reader to feel this love is real, for they are existent and show their love is not only spiritual. However the lofty mood still remains, as by referring to both day and night, their love is shown to be limitless.
As the poem progresses, the mood diminishes faintly as the speaker’s perspective “comes down to earth” a little, shifting from its religious tone to a focus on human interests.
“I love thee freely, as men strive for Right”
the writer selects a particularly glorified image of humanity to identify with her love, thus this personification creates a moral disposition among the reader, and generating a positive atmosphere.
The poem takes a turn in the closing stages, the speaker’s broad and abstract view becoming personal, turning away religion to her individual past.
“In my old griefs and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose”
Specifically, she describes her love such that it changes the quality of grief. This creates a poignant tone to the poem, making the reader feel sympathy for the writer. This technique is also used in to his coy mistress, as the reader is made to feel compassionate for the woman and her anguish.
The concluding lines of the poem take on a passionate aura, as if the woman is attempting to shout it to the world. There is increased tempo as in to his coy mistress, quickening the pace as the poem comes to a close. The final line is extremely powerful, making the tone incite as the woman cries out her love even after she is deceased, making the reader extremely content at the concluding atmosphere of the poem.
The rhyme scheme of sonnet is typical of such a poem. As it is a sonnet it is written as a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter, with the abbaabba as the rhyming lines.
This is conflicting with to his coy mistress, which is a 46 line poem that uses rhyming couplets. Sonnet also only has one verse, whereas to his coy mistress has 3, each stanza changing the tone and mood of the poem.
Sonnet conveys the view of love as innocent, free of worry and concern. It overlooks other aspects of love, such as sex or divergence, and focuses on other manners which love can be associated with. One of these aspects is spiritual or religious, comparing her religious beliefs to that of what she feels for her partner.
“I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.”
This is the predominant aspect that is discussed in the poem, as she uses metaphorical language to show her love is pure as is god and her love for her religion. She explores unreachable concepts, that she cannot fulfil however much she loves her partner.
Another feature she discusses is more suttle, or hard to analyse. She portrays that love requires a kind of death of her former identity, to be replaced for her love and to love itself. By doing this, the love becomes greater than before, as she has given up her dear childhood beliefs to be with this man.
She examines the different types of love needed to be successful, “freely”, “purely” and “passionately”, with every fibre of her being.
Marvell’s poem explores the physical side of love, rather than the emotional views of sonnet. He refers to sex throughout the poem, as this is what he hopes to accomplish from his lover. He does not see sex as making love, and believes the woman should embrace his views as he is the dominant male. The speaker only refers to love in the first paragraph, as he feels the woman may be wooed by his sentiments. As he becomes increasingly impatient however, he merely uses sex as leverage. Unlike sonnet, the predominant style of love is not emotional but physical, and does not refer to spiritual love as its opposition.
My preferred poem is sonnet as opposed to to his coy mistress, as it uses powerful language to convey the love the poet feels for her significant other. It creates an in depth view of the emotions felt by someone in love in a variety of ways, with the religious views of the woman bring the poem into context. As well as creating the intense atmosphere that is used, the metaphorical language is superior to those of to his coy mistress, proving it to be a well written, well executed poem that explores the concept of love perfectly, creating a satisfying finality to its ending.