The poem shows that he is really in love with her but is getting frustrated with her ‘coyness’ (shyness). Then Marvell uses a double entandre which is;
‘My vegetable love shall grow vaster than empires and more slow.’ This means he would get aroused and that his love will last a long time. He writes about how he could spend eternity to describe every part of her body. Marvell writes about this to make his mistress more embarrassed and thankful for his compliments. Then he says ‘Lady you deserve this’ which is just another of his compliments to his mistress and she becomes even more embarrassed.
In the next verse it becomes more seductive as if he is trying to scare her into thinking ‘Id better do it now or I will not be able to do it ever again. He talks about her getting older ‘Times winged chariot hurrying near’ and ‘The deserts of vast eternity ‘ means that when they are dead they wont be able to make love and her beauty could no longer be appreciated by anyone.
Marvell then says that if she does not have sex all of her life than in her marble vault, which was used to describe a tomb in these times, Worms would take her virginity and she wouldn’t want that would she.? This suggests that he is so desperate that he uses comments like this to try and seduce her. This poem is quite similar to ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning because in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ he wants to take her virginity and would be jealous of any man who took it, just like in ‘My Last Duchess’
In the third verse Marvell writes about how they should make love now and it will be bliss and they will treasure it forever
Andrew Marvell writes with astonishing good wit and the poem has a twist about it. He writes about love as if it’s a seduction but he loves her really deep down inside. He defines love like no other person does; he uses similes and metaphors to exaggerate his lust.
‘Porphyrias Lover’ is a very shocking monologue because it is an example of the possessive type of love. Love poems often have a recurring theme of wanting time to stand still as in to make that intense moment last forever. Porphyrias lover is jealous of her because she has the best of both worlds.
In the beginning there is a storm which suggests that a sense of mystery about it, because no one knows that they are there. It also implies that Porphyria is so beautiful that the storm stops straight away.
‘Porphyrias Lover’ is about jealousy. Her lover is secret and nobody knows about them. She has come from a ‘Gay feast’ to see her lover. When he realises that she loves him more than anything he kills her to make her love and that moment last forever. He wants her for himself and when he realises he cant he kills her out of pure jealousy as well.
In the middle of the poem it is rather erotic for both of them because the way she lets her long hair down, this is kind of a hint at him that she wants more. This is when he realises he won’t have her forever so he wraps her ‘Golden locks’ around her neck and strangles her, Supposedly to make this moment last forever but it is his façade of covering up for having her all of the time.
He reassures himself that she felt no pain and that he is doing the right thing. This is how browning portrays love as clouding your judgement. On the last line it says ‘And yet God has not said a word’ this is backing up my hypothesis that he is reassuring himself that he has done the right thing. And he has not sinned because it is about love.
This poem is written in such away that it is very clear in portraying the lover as an innocent man doing it for his passion for this girl. But his passion is that love can be shared by no one else so he must end it, but really he is not innocent and it is not acceptable to kill someone for love.
The last poem I have chosen is ‘First Love’ by John Clare. This poem is about a young man falling in love for the first time. He sees this beautiful lady and falls instantly in love with her. It hints this in the first line; ‘I ne’er was struck before that hour’ suggesting that this is the first time he has fallen in love.
You can tell it was at first site because he says ‘With love so sudden and so sweet’ it’s as if he is completely speechless. Clare can relate to this because he couldn’t marry a wealthy farmers daughter. So he probably wrote poems to get his feelings onto paper about the girl he loved. The last line ‘My heart has left its dwelling place and can no longer come back’ which means he will never love anyone ever again and things can never be the same again.
In the second verse he talks about how he was rooted to the ground and how love basically stuns you and leaves you feeling all warm inside. Everything goes dark and he focuses in on her.
In the third verse he asks rhetorical questions such as ‘Are the flowers the winter’s choice?’ and ‘Is loves bed always snow?’
The answer to both of these is No because flowers bloom in summer and love isn’t always cold, this suggests that she might return to him someday or he is hoping that she will return to him. He certainly thinks that she understands how he feels.
This poem is a great representation of how first love and love at first site is. Clare is truly an excellent love poet.
All of these poems have one thing in common, they all talk about love.
