In the beginning of the second stanza, Marvell suddenly increases the pace of the poem to show how time is moving on. He increases the pace by shortening the beat, and by choosing words of fewer syllables “Times winged Charriot hurrying near:” This extract emphasises the fact that time is passing quickly, and possibly that the male is becoming impatient. Marvell also creates images of how his mistress is also ageing, and that he is becoming less attracted to her “Thy Beauty shall no more be found”. Marvell once again creates a clear picture in ones mind of how, along with her beautiful body the man’s passion, attraction and love for her will also turn to dust “And into ashes all my lust.” Marvell also creates through the male characters words, a negative image of how his mistress will one day pass away so they had best make haste. The male character ends the second stanza with a sarcastic tone by using condescending alliteration.
In the beginning of the last stanza, the male character opens with “Now therefore,”. Marvell having justified his actions he continues with complimentary language to describe his mistress’s complexion, “youthful hew Sits on thy skin like morning dew,” He does this to try and persuade his mistresses into having sexual intercourse with him. After complimenting her mind and body he now compliments her soul, “And while thy willing soul transpires” And tells her of how he can no longer control his animal instincts and desire for her “instant Fires” “Now let us sport us … like am’rous birds of prey, … roll all our Strength, … up into one ball: … And tear our Pleasures with rough strife,”.
All through the poem, rhyming couplets are used to emphasise the significance of the couple’s unity. The last couplet of the poem is effective as an ending, as it emphasises the fact that they do not have the power to stop time “we cannot make our Sun Stand Sill”. But we do have the power to use our time wisely and pleasurably “yet we will make him run”.
In the opening stanza of the poem “The Seduction”, McAuley presents both characters in different and almost contrasting ways. Unlike the male character in “to His Coy Mistress”, McAuley presents the male as the one who was over powering, in control of the girl “He led her” and his only purpose was to satisfy his own desires. He showed no respect for the girl when he muttered “little slag”, this quote also shows how little the young girl knew about what was going on around her. This contrasts with Marvell’s poem, who in order to win the trust of his mistress he had to compliment, worship and appreciate his mistress’s mind body and soul. The young girl’s lack of maturity is shown by the way she fails to control herself, “She giggled, drunk and nervous,” and when “she knocked it back like water” not knowing what the consequences would be. The innocence of the girl is shown when, her “ high white shoes” are mentioned. Here naivete shows when the “So she followed him there,” this gives the reader the impression that the girl once again is not aware of what is going on around here “her eyes wide and bright”. McAuley describes the river as “green as a septic wound.” this image is used as a symbol of what the relationship between the two characters is really like. Although at the time the girl may have a false impression, that it will all turn out fine like the stories in her photo comics but the truth is that it does not. The two characters are presented as having two different impressions of what love is and what it means to them. The boy’s idea of love is to make love, but for the girl it is very different; the girl is perceived as having an idealised perception of love, she gained this idea from her “My Guy” and “Jackie” photo comics. When she realised that not all relationships end up like the many she had read about she tore her photo comics into “bright paper like confetti”, this quote is some what ironic because the confetti symbolises marriage and romance and that is what the girl was looking for.
When the girl realises that “she was three months gone” it was to late too abort the child and that she would have to keep it, and by doing this she would lose all the happy summers with “Day trips to Blackpool,” Because now she has responsibilities this is also why she “broke the heels Of her high white shoes” because she will not be needing them to go out every Friday night.
Because she has realised the responsibility she has now got, she becomes depressed and talks of how it is “better to be smoking scented drugs … Better to destroy your life in modern man-made ways”. The poet uses these awful alternatives to highlight the prejudice that people feel towards teenage pregnancy “Than to fall into this despicable feminine void” and to emphasis the relaxed approach to modern-manmade problems. The last stanza is somewhat ironic in the fact that it talks of how “neighbours whispered that you always looked the type” when really she was not and had a hopeful future.
Although both poems are about seduction and love, both poets have approached the subject differently. Marvell has used the male character to tell the story, whereas McAuley has mainly told the story through the eyes of the female character, the overall mood in the poem “The Seduction” is one of anger, disappointment and depression. When the poem “To His Coy Mistress” has a mood of happiness and a little anticipation, the poem is made up of three lengthy stanzas and “The Seduction is made up of a series of small stanzas together in block of around ten to fifteen. The two poems create two completely different images, “The Seduction” creates an image of deceitfulness, lack of respect on the behalf of the male towards the girl, and one of anger from the girl directed at her teenage magazines and especially towards the male character. To His Coy Mistress creates an image of anticipation, lust, desire and one of gratitude and respect for the other character.
