English Poetry Analysis - The Backslappers & To His Coy Mistress.

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English Poetry Analysis – The Backslappers & To His Coy Mistress

In this essay, I will be analysing the two poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, and “The Backslappers” by Elizabeth Wilson. These two poems have apparent similarities and contrasts from the very beginning. One of the most obvious similarities being the theme, and one the most obvious contrasts being the structure, and tone. Both poems are written with a theme of sexual relations, but “The Backslappers” approaches it from a very sleazy, corrupted point of view, whereas “To His Coy Mistress” approaches it with a very innocent, loving perspective. The Backslappers is about a group of young boys playing cards in an old dingy toilet, giving each other stories of girls they used. To His Coy Mistress is about a man who is in love with a woman, who is trying to get her to sleep with him. To elaborate on this, the opening couplet in To His Coy Mistress is “Had we World enough, and Time, This Coyness Lady, were no crime”. This immediately shows us that the person in question is a woman, and that she is coy, this presents an innocent image. Comparing this to The Backslapper’s opening live “What greater secrecy of love, the cracked tiles of the boys room” This line is a very sarcastic and biting line, referring to a dingy boys bathroom, hearing tales of sleazy one night stands, a very different opening line than in to his coy mistress.

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To His Coy Mistress’s opening is filled with alliteration. Each of the first four lines contains alliteration: “We”/“world” (1), “coyness”/“crime” (2), “we would”/“which way” (3), “long”/“love’s” (4). This alliteration adds to the speaker’s playfulness and the poem’s beauty in the sections in which he is trying to woo his lover. The Backslappers however, uses alliteration to a much more negative effect, in line 9, it explains about boys boasting of “breaking down the barrier of mother tightened pant elastic”. This metaphor is very powerful, portraying underwear as a “barrier” whose purpose is to protect what is behind. The mention of the mother ...

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