Romeo and Juliet and Metaphysical Poetry Practice
‘How is the strength of love presented in Romeo and Juliet and in at least two metaphysical poems?’
In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘To his Coy Mistress’ and ‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’, the strength of love is presented in many different ways. In ‘To his coy mistress’, we can tell that the strength of love present is relatively weak, and seems lustful and more physical. ‘A valediction forbidding mourning’ seems opposite to this as the narrator says that their love is ‘inter-assured of the mind’. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ seems to be a compromise between the two other poems, as the lovers seem to be attached physically and spiritually.
‘To his Coy Mistress’, by Andrew Marvell seems to be based around the courtly love ethic, where a man is seemingly ‘in love’ with a women of a higher rank who does not return his love. The ‘love’ that the speaker has for the woman in this poem seems to be mainly lust as the speaker is wooing the woman to give him her ‘long preserv’d virginity’. The narrator highlights on her physical appearance which he seems most attracted too like ‘eyes’ and ‘breasts’ but mentions the ‘heart’ last which is symbolic for love. This could suggest he does not want a romantic relationship emphasising everything is built on lust. The idea of unrequited ‘love’ or ‘lust’ is present both here and in Romeo and Juliet, at the beginning of the play where Romeo’s love for Rosaline is denied; in Act 1 Scene 1, Romeo says, ‘she'll not be hit with Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit’. Romeo admits that Rosaline has vowed to remain "chaste" like "Dian," the goddess of virginity.
