The 17th century poets, Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick, in their poems "To His Coy Mistress" and "To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time" offer extraordinary insight into the feelings and emotions connected with love.

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In Its Now or Never         The 17th century poets, Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick, in their poems “To His Coy Mistress” and “To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time” offer extraordinary insight into the feelings and emotions connected with love. With twenty-eight definitions for the word “love” in the dictionary and therefore with no surprise we find this broadly defined word contributing to a diverse array of poems, which can all claim to be centered around “love.” Two such poems are, “To His Coy Mistress” and “To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time” both of which are obviously dealing with the subject of love, despite being written thirty-three years apart they still share a commonality. Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick both use vivid figurative language and ardent rhyme devices in similar ways in their respective poems to communicate a common theme: that beyond the obvious amorous and passionate nature of love, love is ultimately ephemeral and therefore we must seize it and fully experience it, before love, true to its transient character, passes us by.         Both Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick use dramatic and vibrant figurative language not only to create visual effects that complement and enliven their shared theme but they also use it to convey abstract ideas and concepts that would have been very difficult or even impossible to express in literal terms, such as the transient spirit of love and necessity of seizing love while it lasts.   Andrew Marvell in his “To His Coy Mistress” romantically describes a young man persuading his “coy lady” (2) to release herself to live in the present. Marvell brilliantly illustrates the temporary character of love as well as the need to live life to its fullest
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as shown in the three different stanzas, each overflowing with powerful and moving imagery. In the 17th century England was just beginning its exploration and discovery of the exotic east, and as such we find Marvell evoking images of places such as mysterious “Indian Ganges” (5) as he carefully describes the great feelings of love apparent throughout the poem. Marvell continues by evoking images of the grand and growing British Empire by claiming that his, “love [would] grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow” (11-12). At a time where colonialism and empire building were like epidemics raging throughout Europe, ...

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