Discuss how Marvell in "to his coy mistress" and Shakespeare in "sonnet 60" use the concept of time in these poems and to what purpose.

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Discuss how Marvell in “to his coy mistress” and Shakespeare in “sonnet 60” use the concept of time in these poems and to what purpose.

Both poems focus on the unavoidable passing of time although their primary purposes are different. Shakespeare uses the passing of time to assert the strength of his love and the power of his verse while Marvell talks about “Time’s winged chariot” to induce his mistress into sleeping with him. Marvell’s poem’s main message is to persuade his mistress to enjoy life, make the most of time and stop being “coy”. In the first section he says that if they had “but world enough and time” he would love his mistress from the beginning of time and she could refuse him till the end of time. However, “time’s winged chariot” hurries near as he says in the second section. His mistress’ “beauty shall no more be found”, her “quaint honour” will “turn to dust” and time will also take away his lust. Therefore they should use their time while they can and tear their “pleasures with rough strife” because they cannot make “our sun stand still” so they “will make him run” by enjoying life as much as they can. Shakespeare, on the other hand, stresses the unstoppable minutes that “hasten to their end”. He focuses on how we go from “nativity...in the main of light” to death and on how “Time...delves the parallels in Beauty’s brow”. Nevertheless, he is more romantic that Marvell as he does not pursue physical action but says that “to times in hope” his poem will still be there, praising his love’s beauty and effectively saving it from the ravages of Time.

In the first section of his poem Marvell imagines a situation in which time is everlasting and his mistress’ “coyness...were no crime”. He would love her “ten years before the Flood” which is effectively the beginning of time and she could be shy and refuse to sleep with him until something that will never happen happens – “the Conversion of the Jews”. If time were eternal he would gaze at her body for ages, “ a hundred years...on thy forehead gaze”, spend “an age at least” looking at “every part”. He also uses long distances to emphasise his eternal love. She could be “by the Indian Ganges side” which is the most exotic and distant place people knew at that time and he “by the Tide of Humber would complain”. In other words, he would miss her and love her, although it wouldn’t, ultimately, matter. He also uses very strong imagery to strengthen the idea of his eternal love for her. His “vegetable love should grow vaster than empires and more slow”. The vegetable image gives the impression of a deep love as vegetables have strong roots and the length of the polysyllabic word also give the impression of a long love. Also, he talks about empires which makes people think about enormous territories, emphasising the idea of loving her over vast areas of land. Marvell also uses long sounds like the a’s and o’s in “our long love’s day” and “and more slow” to underline the idea of a long-lasting love. The use of rhyming couplets underlines the effect of persistent and consistent affection.

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The entire opening section imagines a situation where time is eternal but this is clearly not the case. Rather, the poet is always aware of “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near” and in the second section he tries to persuade his mistress to sleep with him by confronting her with macabre reality. For instance, he talks about “deserts of vast eternity”, creating the image of death in contrast with the rivers and vegetable imagery in the first section and confronts his mistress with the effects of age and death that will take away her beauty so that it “shall no more ...

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