Andrew Marvell’s poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was clearly entitled this on purpose. Coy meaning shy can easily be connected to the woman described in the poem. Marvell is talking about this woman who is saving her virginity. The woman would be embarrassed about her virginity. The word ‘Mistress’ could mean sex partner besides the wife, so this could be a name he gives to the woman he’s having an affair with, they are in love with each other but to embarrassed or even shy to tell people.
Again Shakespeare’s sonnet is some what similar to the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ in the way that both do not follow in the Petarchan style of the century. The first few lines of Shakespeare’s sonnet describe the woman not only by her perfections but by her faults and imperfections. In the second line of the poem, Shakespeare says ‘Coral is far more red than her lips red’ this is something men would not say to a woman; this is very disrespectful to a woman, women like to be flattered not insulted. This quote shows Shakespeare either had no idea about women or he had a plan, and as the poem progresses the reader finds out, he has a plan.
The poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ starts with a flattering approach towards the woman reader. For instance ‘Thou by the Indian Ganges side.’ This statement compares ‘his coy mistress’ to the Indian Ganges. A pilgrimage many Indians take. To compare the woman to the Ganges is an excellent phrase to say when trying to impress a woman; it is a clear use of flattery.
The middle of ‘Sonnet130’ is very much the same as the beginning, picking at the woman’s faults instead of her fine qualities. Although among all the faults there is a compliment, nearer to the end of the poem Shakespeare adds ‘Never have I seen a goddess go.’ Implying she is a goddess, that she has a beauty incomparable to others. Even with all of the woman’s blemishes Shakespeare she can still be compared to a higher more beautiful being. At this point in the poem we start to get the implication that this lady could be of an ethnic origin. For instance, Shakespeare says, very near the beginning, that ’If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.’ ‘Dun’ being a brown colour; if her breasts are brown, surely then the rest of her body is the same colour. Also to back up this idea of the woman being of an ethnic origin, Shakespeare describes her hair, ‘Black wires grow on her head.’ Textured similar to a wire, this may mean she has afro like hair. These quotes are ambivalent, many people in the 17th century had never seen a black woman before, and now to hear Shakespeare writing a poem about a dark coloured woman, would be surprising.
For a love poem, Marvell’s definitely starts well, but when it comes to mid way through the poem we see it is far from the ordinary. From absolute flattery ‘A hundred years should go to praise’ to a deplorable way of convincing his mistress that life could end the next and what would she have accomplished in her life. Shakespeare speaks of the mistress’s virginity a lot. He shows her that ‘worms will try that long preserved virginity.’ Marvell describes how after his mistress is dead, and never had the chance to experience sex, the worms decomposing her body will take it from her. He is trying to out across that without doubt, losing her virginity to man is far better than losing it to a worm. Andrew Marvell could well be convicted of lechery, by the way he writes in this poem, as if the main object on his mind is sex. Marvell uses metaphors in the mid poem stage, ‘Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.’ To emphasise that time is running out, he end is close. Why not lose her virginity now, until it’s too late, and she’ll never be able to.
Shakespeare’s poem ends on a happy note, revealing his true feelings and emotions towards his mistress, ‘And yet, by heaven, I think my love is rare.’ William is trying to say that even when she does not live up to his absolute dream woman, but even then he is prepared to love her just as much, and for her to imagine how his love would be if she was his dream idea of a woman. Shakespeare is almost praying or ‘swearing’ to god ‘by heaven’ to show how much his words mean to him for him to swear by god, they must be truthful. Shakespeare uses the word ‘rare’ to show how his love is incomparable, how he can love such a woman, or by how much he loves a woman with many imperfections, and on top of that black, which was frowned on upon the 17th century community. Shakespeare, concludes his poem by flattering the woman ‘never have I seen a goddess go’ implying that she is easily comparable to a goddess, that she must really be something to be able to have as many faults as Shakespeare describes and still be able to live up to the standards of a goddess. Shakespeare exalts his mistress at the end to add emphasis on how great the woman is.
Marvell’s can be a very controversial subject. It most probably ended the utter flattery of the Petarchan style. He has cleverly modified the style into his own different original style. Marvell uses the Petarchan style in the beginning of his poem, but with certain sarcasm to it, he uses many hyperboles, to an extent that it seems to be insulting what he is saying. The mistress may not have been extremely intelligent and could have really taken what Marvell said to heart, but the more intellectual among the crowds would realise Marvell is just having some fun, with an exaggeration of sarcasm.
Similarly ‘Sonnet 130’ is totally different to an average poem found in the 17th century. Shakespeare correspondingly to Marvell, took the Petarchan style and developed it into his own. Unlike Marvell’s poem which was aimed at the upper-class, I feel that this poem is fit for the lower class audience, the hyperboles of the appearance of the woman seem to be what people who have not much intellect or class would think. Upper class members would feel disrespected by the comments in the poem, they certainly would frown upon the poem centred around a black person, the lower class being more understanding will understand the metaphors, and it is every day they would compare the woman to every day objects, for example the wires, an every day object used to describe the hair texture of the woman.
.