Compare and contrast how Donne and Marvell present death in To His Coy Mistress and Death Be Not Proud.
English Literature Coursework: Poetry Comparison Compare and contrast how Donne and Marvell present death in To His Coy Mistress and Death Be Not Proud To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and Death Be Not Proud by John Donne were written for two different purposes but the poets have used death as one of the main ideas in both poems. Death Be Not Proud was written at the time when Donne was ill so anger and contempt are very strong feelings that feature in the poem. Death Be Not Proud is in a group of poems and hymns written by Donne called the Holy Sonnets. Donne's Holy Sonnets explore his love of God and depict his doubts, fears and sense of spiritual unworthiness. Death Be Not Proud is the most prominent example because the messages and ideas Donne has written about never show him as spiritually at peace. The arguments used in Death Be Not Proud tend to defy death and are much more positive even though the poem is in fact quite negative. This may be because Donne was trying to make death seem small and insignificant because of his fear of it. The opening words of the poem "Death Be Not Proud," immediately show Donne's need to challenge death. He treats death as if he is arguing with a person and this may be to make it seem more of a mortal and something that can be beaten. Donne's first two lines are degrading death and Donne tries to show that he has no fear of what
Compare the presentation and treatment of women in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress"
H/W-Gareth Jenkins Compare the presentation and treatment of women in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" Sex, lies and intrigue are just a few of the themes explored in "My Last Duchess" and "To His Coy Mistress". The control men have over women and the control women have over men are also closely observed in these 16th century poems. The two poems also give us an insight to the treatment and presentation of women in that era. The poets, Robert Browning and Andrew Marvell, have used a narrative style to write their poems, however the eye of the poem appears not to be speaking directly to the audience in either case. We shall have to study and compare the content of both poems in order to come to a conclusion in which we can decide which of the two poems is more effective. Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess". This is a narrative poem told by a duke, supposedly Alfonso II the Duke of Ferrera, to a representative of the Count of Tyrol, who is arranging for the duke to marry the Count's niece. The duke tells the agent about how his last duchess treated him throughout the poem, which includes the sex, lies and intrigue in their marriage. The title of the poem, "My Last Duchess", is significant as it instantly hints that the poem may be about having a women in your possession when the word 'my' is used. The word 'last' is used to say
Andrew Marvell and William Shakespeare both write their poems featuring love and time, which are the two main themes of the poems. In Andrew Marvell's "to his coy mistress" the love is physical in contrast to William Shakespeare's "sonnet 116"
The similarities and differences between William Shakespeare and Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell and William Shakespeare both write their poems featuring love and time, which are the two main themes of the poems. In Andrew Marvell's "to his coy mistress" the love is physical in contrast to William Shakespeare's "sonnet 116" in which the love is passionate. They have many similarities and differences between the two poets. For example they both use time to illustrate their feelings about love. Both poets believe that love is important, as they have taken time to write a poem, however what they believe differs. Andrew Marvell's attitude to love is rude and vulgar where as William Shakespeare's love is romantic as he believes that a couple should always remain together even if they argue. In the first stanza of "To His Coy Mistress" Marvell is extremely romantic, as he wants to impress his mistress. He says to her "Thou by the Indian Ganges side shouldst find rubies" This phrase explains that the Mistress should go to the river Ganges where she is able to find rubies. I believe that Marvell particularly chose the Ganges for his Mistress, as the Ganges is a hot, warm, exotic and a romantic place. I can tell that Marvell has a lot of affectionate love for his Mistress as he constantly speaks about love. Another phrase that Marvell uses is: - "My vegetable Love should grow
To his coy mistress by Andrew Marvell
In the poem "To His Coy Mistress", the author Marvell, uses the essence of time to compare a timeless existence with the brutality of running out of time. This contradtion parallels the coy, timid, self-conscious attitude of the mistress, while the coyness of the man is, on the other hand, strategic and intelligent. The author uses the time old theme of seizing the day in combination with a double standard, in which, the mistress's coy behavior, is regarded as shy and prude, while the narrator uses his coy and flirtatious behaviour in an attempt to seduce his mistress. The narrator begins the poem "but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady would be no crime" implying all the things he would do if time permitted, in a sense, the poet is commenting on all the unnecessary forms of courtship. The poet continues by exclaiming he could spend "An hundred years...(on) Thine eyes and forehead gaze; Two hundred years to adore each breast". The poet is an a sense listing the attributes of her body in a shopping list fashion and then becomes distracted after listing a few things and then decides to devote "thirty thousand years to the rest" of her attributes. The poet, is attempting defend the fact that he does not have enough time to continue the list, which follows his plan of convincing her he would be wasting his time if he were to simply mention more aspects of her body that
To His Coy Mistress - critical review
Academic Reading 1 October 2004 596 words To His Coy Mistress Mutability has often been the subject of poems in the past. Andrew Marvell also uses this subject in his poem "To His Coy Mistress". Marvell's poem speaks of two lovers wanting to waste their time on coyness and courting. However there is haste to their love for there is mutability. Carpe Diem explains the speaker's haste best. Marvell uses certain forms of imagery to underline this motif and his theme. This imagery can be divided into the following three categories: the concept of time, the concept of space and other tenors used. The theme of this poem suits the idea of Carpe Diem: love while you can, for even love is subject to mutability. The concept of time is present throughout the entire poem. In the first part of the poem the speaker longs for immortality and the slow passing of time. He talks of the Flood and the conversion of the Jews. These two events stand ages apart from eachother: the Flood appears not far after the creation of man, yet the conversion of the Jews is supposed to happen right before the Apocalypse. Furthermore "My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow;" metaphorically implies a long and slow passing of time. The dictionary defines vegetable as "growing or multiplying like plants". Plants are slow growing and so is the speaker's love. Also, empires take ages
Write a Comparison of "To His Coy Mistress" and " The passionate Shepherd to his Love". What similarities and differences are there in the writers approach to love? How effective are there poems as expressions of love?
Write a Comparison of "To His Coy Mistress" and " The passionate Shepherd to his Love". What similarities and differences are there in the writers approach to love? How effective are there poems as expressions of love? Writing and reading love poetry is a way to get in touch with your inner feelings about the emotions of loving and being loved. Love poetry spans emotions from hate and despair to admiration and adulation. Love poetry is not only for "lovers" it is enjoyed by anybody and can also be used to persuade as it does in the two poems that I have been studying. The poems "To his Coy Mistress" written by Andrew Marvell and "The Passionate Shepherd" by Christopher Marlowe can be compared with each other because they are both addressed to a particular women about love and they both have attempts of persuasion in them, but they both have different forms and techniques to achieve this. The first poem that I studied was "To His Coy Mistress" It is a well known to seduce a woman but to women it's saying that it's showing women are just there for sex and have no personality. It is quite a long poem that isn't in verses, but is split into three paragraphs that are three separate sections. The first section being what would ideally happen, then in reality this would happen and the last section what he hopes to happen. When he wrote this poem he was writing a syllogism writing a
To His Coy Mistress: This Seventeenth Century poem by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) is a
To His Coy Mistress: This Seventeenth Century poem by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) is a "carpe diem" ("Seize the day") poem. Its theme is that life is short and time is passing. The persona takes the loved one to task for not yielding to his persuasions to make love to him. It is another poem about power. The woman is holding power over the man by refusing his entreaties. This kind of poem was very popular in Marvel's time. It does not necessarily describe a real situation. In the first part of the poem, the persona complains that if time were in plentiful supply, the woman's modest shyness would not be wrong. She could go to the River Ganges in India, a very exotic place, and celebrate her virginity ("rubies" are symbols of preserved virginity), while he would lament her loss beside the Humber, a far less attractive place. Marvell came from Hull, which stands on the Humber, so would know it well. In Hull, outside the Church of the Holy Trinity, is a statue of Marvell with these lines from the poem written on its plinth. It was believed that "the flood" would never happen again, because, after Noah's Flood, God promised that there would be no more and put a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of this (See Genesis c. 9, v. 12) and the Conversion of the Jews was expected to happen at the end of the world, so in saying that he would love her and she would refuse before these things
A Comparison Of 'An Answer To A Love Letter' and 'To His Coy Mistress'.
Harry Noble 0 Blue English Mrs. Lucas A Comparison Of 'An Answer To A Love Letter' and 'To His Coy Mistress'. The poet of 'To His Coy Mistress', Andrew Marvell, was born in Hull in 1621, he was a metaphysical poet in seventeenth century England. Both he and Lady Wortley Montagu (born 1689), the poet of 'Answer To A Love Letter', were involved in English learned high society and in these works wrote their opinions and view on love and the role of women in love. 'To His Coy Mistress' begins by using gentle persuasion and eloquent language to try and win over his mistress. This is best shown using this quote: "We would sit down, and think which way, To walk and pass our long love's day." This quote explains very well how the poet tries to encourage his mistress into loving him, by telling her that if she is coy it doesn't matter as they have all the time in the world and can just sit down and watch life pass by until she is ready to take their relationship to a physical level. This tactic is also used in 'An Answer To A Love Letter', but is not the first tactic used as the intention is different. There is however a minor hint of gentle persuasion when the poet talks of his, "plenteous fortune," and, "beauteous bride,". This is intended to show how lucky the subject is and that the poet is just a minor flight of fancy. She then later goes on to say that she is not what
“Holy Sonnet”, “To His Coy Mistress”, and “Sonnet 71”.
"Holy Sonnet", "To His Coy Mistress", and "Sonnet 71". We have recently studied 3 poems " TO HIS COY MISTRES " by Andrew Marvell in which he is trying to persuade his mistress to sleep with him using the imagery of love sex and death. The second of the three is HOLY SONNET written by John Donre a priest who is challenging death. The third and final is SONNET 71 written by William Shakespeare who is writing to his lover telling her to no longer mourn for him when he is gone .The three poems have very strong emotions and feelings and consist of strong images of love sex and death. Through out the poems the power of persuasion is very is very much apparent. To His Coy Mistress was written in the 19th century. The language is difficult to understand to a modern reader as it was written before our time, but we can recognise Andrew Marvell is using the imagery of love death and sex to persuade his lover to sleep with him. The power of persuasion is very much apparent, throughout the poem he emphasises that time is of the essence, Andrew Marvell aims his work at his mistress. Using three sections in his work, he hopes to convince her to have sex with him and portrays a sensitive and loving image of himself to do this. Marvell uses three sections to give definite structure to his work. The first section is written using the past tense He uses death as a major issue in this poem
A Comparison of Two Love Poems
Sarah Tribedi A Comparison of Two Love Poems In this essay I am going to compare 'To His Coy Mistress', written around 1640 by Andrew Marvell, with 'The Sun Rising', written by John Donne around 1600. Although they are both love poems of a kind, they are different many ways, especially their attitudes to women, love and time. The speaker in 'To His Coy Mistress' is a guy, trying to persuade a woman to have sex with him. She is being 'coy', which suggests she is being shy on a playful, teasing or provocative way. To try and persuade her, he uses a three-stage argument - If, But, Therefore. The 'If' section of the poem says that if they had forever, he would woo her slowly, and respect her honour by not hurrying her: "Had we but world enough, and time This coyness, Lady, were no crime" He feels she deserves to be wooed slowly, and be flattered and praised: "For, Lady, you deserve this state Nor would I love at lower rate" This section of the poem is praising and flattering, but joking and a bit nudge nudge. For example: "My vegetable love would grow, Vaster than empires and more slow" This means he would have lots of love for her, and it would be natural and organic. But it also implies that his 'vegetable' would grow very big, and he's boasting to her about it. He's trying to subconsciously get the lady to think in a sexual way. The same goes with: "Two thousand
