Throughout the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’, Marvell uses time and space to persuade the girl to have sex with him. Marvell also relates death to having sex, he uses words such as ‘Grave’, ‘ashes’, ‘dust’, ‘vault’, ‘Marble’, ‘worms’. For example he uses the word ‘worms’ in lines 26 and 27;
‘then worms will try
That long preserv’d virginity’
, this means that the worms will have her virginity, as they will feast at her sexual organs in her grave, as she did not loose her virginity when she could have with him. Marvell does this to put her under pressure to have sex with him; this is a fear tactic and a persuasive technique. He also associates the passing of time with her beauty fading, to make her more self conscious and see that she should have sex with him beauty fades and she becomes ugly, then nobody will have sex with her. He uses fear tactics throughout the poem to persuade her to have sex with him; this affects the mood of the poem making it more threatening and tenser. For example;
‘To talk and pass our long love’s day’
In line 11, Marvell talks about sex using phallic imagery when saying ‘vegetable love’, this makes it humorous which will affect the mood making it less tense and relaxing. Marvell uses many different tactics, such as exaggeration, by comparing her to the Indian Ganges;
‘Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side’
This affects the mood of the poem making it flattery, imagery such as this will flatter the girl and persuade her to have sex with him, and this establishes that this technique is persuasive. Marvell is Romantic in the poem in line 19;
‘For, lady, you deserve this state’
This makes this part of the poem calm and sensitive, which contrasts to the following verses of the poem as they are threatening and sad because Marvell uses aggression. For example; ‘Nor in thy marble vault, shall sound’.
In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare uses many techniques in the poem to change the mood and to persuade her that what he is saying is right. For example in lines 9 and 10 Shakespeare claims that unlike Summer, her beauty will not fade.
‘But thy eternal Sommer shall not fade
Nor loose possession of that faire ow’st.’
This makes the mood of the poem flattery which adds to the purpose; of praising her. Shakespeare also uses exaggeration and elaborate language to also relate to the purpose of the poem.
The style and tone of the two poems contrast. In the poem ‘Shall I compare thee…?’ Shakespeare uses a flattery tone making the style uplifting, full of praise and the tone gentle and calm. For example when he writes; ‘But thy eternal Summer shall not fade’. Shakespeare compares her to a Summer’s day, at the end of describing how beautiful Summer is, he writes that unlike Summer, her beauty will not fade, this is the turning point of the poem.
In the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’, the style and tone is quite aggressive, fearful and sinister. Marvell uses tactics throughout the poem to seduce the girl, such as fear tactics;
‘But none I think do there embrace’
making her feel as if she is old, and that she should not waste her virginity, also when she will grow, older he will grow uglier; this makes her feel under pressure to have sex with him now before she becomes older and uglier. Marvell also uses flattery techniques such as;
‘My vegetable love should grow’
and uses unsubtle persuasive techniques. He then defies time.
I think that the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ has a more persuasive technique than Sonnet 18; this is because a fearful tone is more persuasive than a flattery tone in the poems.
The structure of Sonnet 18 is separated into four parts. From lines one to four, Shakespeare sets up the argument of why she is better than a summer’s day;
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate’
Shakespeare begins the poem with these two lines, the first, telling the reader what the poem is about and the second starting the argument describing how beautiful summer is, we know this as Shakespeare uses colons to introduce and develop the argument, he is also repetitive when using the word more and does this to emphasis how much better a Summer’s day is. In the first four lines, Shakespeare describes how beautiful Summer is. From lines four to eight, Shakespeare criticises summer;
‘And often is his Gold complexion dim’d’
Shakespeare uses personification when using ‘his Gold’, he criticises summer to be prepared and contrast the next argument. From lines eight to twelve describes how beautiful she is;
‘Nor loose possession of that faire thou ow’st.’
Shakespeare says that she won’t loose her beauty. From lines twelve to fourteen Shakespeare ends the poem;
‘So long as men can breath or eyes can see,
So long lines this, and this gives life to thee.’
In the last lines Shakespeare says as long as the poem will live to be read, so will she continue to exist. He uses Rhyming couplets to add more effect to the poem.
In the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’, the structure is separated into three parts. From lines one to twenty, Marvell sets up the argument in philosophical terms, he uses words such as;
‘Had we but world enough an time’
Time is one for the important themes of the poem that Andrew Marvell uses. In lines twenty-one to lines thirty-two Marvell brings the argument closer to the woman and makes it relevant and realistic.
‘But at my back I always here’
Marvell uses ‘But’ to change the direction of the argument and the turning point. From lines thirty-three to lines forty-six, Marvell concludes the poem, he suggests what they should do.
‘Now let us sport while we may’
This is a turning point in the argument, Marvell is now saying lets do it while we can.
Throughout both poems imagery and symbolism were used. In Sonnet 18 Shakespeare uses metaphors such as; ‘eye of heaven’ meaning the sun and ‘the eternal Sommer shall not fade, this highlights the way Shakespeare is praising the girl and makes the poem more flattery. He also uses personification: ‘Nor shall death brag’.
In the poem ‘To his Coy Mistress’, Marvell uses many metaphors, including ‘Time winged chariots’, meaning fast, this adds emphasis on the fact that time passes by quickly, ‘Marble Vaults’ meaning tombs , this makes the mood more fearful as the tombs are related to death, this adds on pressure to the girl to have sex with him, ‘Indian Ganges’ describes her body as exotic, beautiful and curvy, this is a flattery tactic, which is effective in persuading her to have sex with him.
The Rhymes in both poems are very different. Shakespeare always uses Rhyming couplets at the end of his poems to make the ending more dramatic. There are ten syllables on each line. Lambic pentameter is also used in Sonnet 18 to make the Rhythm like most natural speech this makes the poem seem more genuine. Stressed words such as ‘temperate’ meaning reliable are stressed to add effect on the fact that they are reliable. There are unstressed words such as ‘Shines’ making the sentence calmer and softer to relate to what is being said.
In the poem ‘To his Coy Mistress’ there are Rhyming couplets, but there are few syllable Patterns, for example the first four lines; line one has eight syllables; line two has seven syllables; line three has eight syllables and line four has seven syllables.
The sound and Rhythm of the two poems contrast. Sonnet 18 sound and rhythm is slow, calm, and soothing, whilst THCM is speedy, aggressive and frantic. There is repetition used in Sonnet 18 in line two;
‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate’
, the repetition emphasises on how much better a Summer’s day is.
I think that Sonnet 18, has many persuasive techniques and tactics to add effect to the purpose of the poem, however I think that the poem ‘To his Coy Mistress’ has more techniques, tactics, themes, Imagery, Symbolism and better Structure, it was therefore easier to achieve it’s purposes.
