Compare the attitudes to love presented in the poems 'To His Coy Mistress', by Andrew Marvell, and 'Porphyria's Lover', by Robert Browning.

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Naomi Wilcox 10G

Compare the attitudes to love presented in the poems ‘To His Coy Mistress’, by Andrew Marvell, and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, by Robert Browning.

Andrew Marvell and Robert Browning were both great love poets in their time, and although the times were very different, their attitudes to love were sometimes very similar. Marvell’s poem, ‘To his Coy Mistress’, was written in a very romantic period where many hyperboles were used, and sex out of marriage, which is partly the main context of Marvell’s poem, was very much frowned upon, and the woman was tainted. Very little is known about Marvell’s personal life, although it is stated that he wasn’t married, but after he died a woman claimed to be his wife so that she got rights to his property and manuscripts. He was writing in the metaphysical era. Robert Browning, on the other hand, married Elizabeth Barrat, who also composed poetry, and had a son. He was writing in the Victorian era, which was a time of high morals, values and religious scepticism, and at this time this kind of poetry would have caused great excitement. Both of the poems look at love in different ways, but they both portray the same element; time, or ‘carpe diem’- seize the day. Marvell has a very physical attitude to love, focussing on appearance and age, whereas Browning looks very much at psychological love.

  In ‘To his Coy Mistress’, the main content of the poem is that the writer, who isn’t necessarily Marvell, is trying to woe his mistress into sleeping with him. He is telling her that they should stop talking about it, and actually get on with it. In contrast, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ concentrates on how Porphyria’s lover is trying to preserve the moment, as it can’t get any better, therefore killing her. As with ‘To his Coy…’ it is highly unlikely that it is Browning’s viewpoint portrayed in the poem. Both poems are written from a male perspective. ‘To his Coy..’ is written in a very persuasive way, with lots of romantic metaphors, and quite a pressurising tone. On the other hand, ‘Porphyria’s..’ is quite psychotic, with a constant sense of foreboding up to when he kills her.

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   Both poets use a wide variety of language techniques in their poems, some the same and some different. In ‘To his Coy Mistress’, Marvell uses a lot of metaphysical conceits to try and persuade his mistress that he is the best and only lover for her; “I would love you ten years before the flood”; “For lady, you deserve this state, nor would I love at lower rate”. In both of these stanzas the character is exaggerating his love, saying that it knows no bounds, and that his mistress will not find better love anywhere. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is not ...

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