Whereas in ‘To his coy mistress’ the man is telling the person he loves that she is. He finds he behaviour, as being shy but flirtatious, makes her more attractive to him. He also implies that the time is running out with phrases such as ‘had we world enough, and time’ and ‘times winged chariot hurrying near.’
There is also a difference in the way the writers make the poem look, feel and sound. This has resulted in the language being different. We can see this as the writers present their poems differently for example the poem ‘A women to her lover’ is very straight forward no nonsense and direct and we can tell this as the poem says ‘no servant will I be’ and ‘I am no doll to dress’. Whereas the poem 'To his coy mistress’ is set out very differently as the writer takes his time and doesn’t actually directly say what he wants. He insinuates in the poem that he wants to make love to his mistress. We can tell see in the poem ‘To his coy mistress’ as the writer has written ‘And tare our pleasures with rough strife, through the iron gates of life.’ Which means he wants to have sex with her. Also there is a difference in the way that the two poems are set out as the earlier poem being ‘To his coy mistress’ has rhyming couplets every two lines for example ‘Thus, though we cannot make our sun, Stand still, yet we will make him run.’ but the later poem, ‘A woman to her lover’, the writer does not use rhyming couplets for example ‘In drudgery and silence, No servant will I be.’ Also there is a difference in the tone used in the two poems. The poem ‘a woman to her lover’ uses quick and sometimes harsh sentences such as, ‘o lover I refuse you!’ and ‘fool, I refuse you.’ This is because the poet is showing her strength as a woman and that she will not be bent to her partners will and we can see this as she says ‘if that be what you ask, O lover I refuse you!’ While in the poem ‘To his coy mistress’ the writer uses soft and gentle persuasion such as ‘let roll all our strength and all, our sweetness up in to one ball.’ Which is more relaxed and subtle, so instead of telling the person what to do, he is asking her, will she do this? Which is the complete opposite to the poem ‘A woman to her lover’ because in that poem the writer is telling and not asking. There are also similarities in the two poems. These are the fact that they have been written about a loved one or an object of the writers’ affection. Additionally both writers appear to be talking about how they want their relationship with their loved one to be and how they don’t want it to be. Also in both of the poems the writers appear to use old language.
So although the poems have a few similarities they have more differences. I believe this is a result of the time difference in which they were written and also because of the genders of the different writers as they may have a stereotypical view of the opposite sex.
