The last paragraph concludes the argument by emphasising the theme carpe diem (or seize the day). In this paragraph, Marvell explains what he and his mistress should do now, while they are both young. For example:
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life
By doing this, Marvell is insisting that his mistress should agree with him. This adds to the persuasion. He is saying they should make the most of what they have. The use of the intensifying adjective “rough” has connotations of violence, and force. The use of this lexis shows how far Marvell’s desperation has extended. Also the metaphorical phrase: “the iron gates of life” is an example of allusion. Therefore Marvell assumes that his audience knows that the gates of life refer to heaven in Christianity.
Consequently , the structure of “To His Coy Mistress” highlights the argument within the poem. This is an example of sophistry, since Marvell already knows what the conclusion of the argument is, but he is finding reasons to fit. Furthermore, in each paragraph Marvell uses different rhetorical features or tactics to persuade. In the first paragraph flattery and exaggeration is used. In the second paragraph disgust, fear and sarcasm are used. Finally, repetition and violence is used. As a result it seems as though Marvell is trying every tactic he knows to persuade his lover.
In “The Sun Rising”, the structure is similar “To His Coy Mistress”. While To His Coy Mistress has three verse paragraphs “The Sun Rising” is written in three stanzas this structuring makes them effective. The conceit in “The Sun Rising” is talking to the sun, this is called aubade. John Donne explores different aspects of the conceit in each of the three paragraphs. In the first paragraph, Donne complains about the arrival of the sun:
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?
Here he is complaining bout the sun’s arrival. This symbolises the passing of time, and the fact that he wants it slow down.
The second stanza focuses on the poet’s lover. He says the sun is not powerful as he can close his eyes to get rid of it, but then he cannot see her:
“I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink”
This is similar to the first paragraph in “To His Coy Mistress”. Both poets flatter their mistresses and say how much they love them. However, Marvell uses flattery purely for his own gain. Whereas Donne uses the poem, just to express his love for his mistress. He is not persuading his mistress to change or to do anything for him. He just says how much he loves her. This is a significant difference between the two poems. We know this, because Marvell says
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
This shows that Marvell is trying to persuade his partner to sleep with him. To do this he flatters her. So we know he is flattering her, to get his mistress to agree with him – not for love.
The rhyming structure is incredibly significant in both of these poems. Marvell uses rhyming couplets to make him seem witty, and clever, to help influence his lover. Whereas Donne uses a more complex rhyming structure which draws in the reader. Both of these rhyming systems help the poem to flow.
In “To His Coy Mistress”, the use of language tells us a lot about how Marvell wants his poem to be interpreted, what his intentions are and what assumes his audience already know. For example he uses allusions, double meanings and pronouns. Also his use of metaphors, similes, and personification enhances these intentions.
Firstly, he uses the metaphor
My vegetable love should grow
This shows that if time lasted forever Marvell would love her slowly and naturally. Vegetables are fresh and healthy, so the poet implies his love for her would be strong. However, this metaphor has a double meaning- double entendre. This is the primary meaning; the secondary meaning could be that he says his vegetable love should grow. Marvell implies that he owns their love, and like a plant should grow he says his love should grow, but it may not. Therefore, he is saying their love should get stronger, because he owns it.
Next, he uses the personification:
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
Marvell writes that time owns a winged chariot, and assumes that the audience of the poem knows what this statement refers too. This is called allusion. The sun, which marks the passage of each day, was said to travel in a chariot across the sky. Even when this poem was written, this belief was old-fashioned, from classical mythology but this belief is something only educated people would know. Therefore, this shows that a lot of Marvell beliefs and views may be out of date, even though he was very knowledgeable.
In the third paragraph, Marvell writes:
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
This simile is comparing age to the time of day. Therefore the morning is young, the afternoon middle aged and the evening is old. This reference could be, because the sun was used to measure time. Therefore, the morning the day starts, or life starts and by the evening the days ends as the sun sets or life ends.
Both Donne and Marvell use the semantic field of time throughout the poem. Marvell does this to remind his mistress that they have no time. At the start of the poem when flattering his lover he mentions hundreds of years, but as the poem reaches it’s conclusion in the final paragraph Marvell repeats the word now three times. As a result the poem progresses to smaller times scales throughout to pressurise his lover that she has no other option but to give in to his argument.
Donne uses this semantic field recurrently, because of the conceit- the sun. For example:
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time
In this quote, he says love has no time. He is thinks that love is more powerful then time, therefore love is more powerful then the sun, and because he is describing his love for his partner in the poem, he is saying his love is more powerful then the sun. This again flatters his lover.
Also in the third verse, Donne says the sun is jealous, and that is why the sun bothers them. He also thinks the sun is so old so it should take a break. “In To His Coy Mistress” the sun is also mentioned in the last paragraph.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
As the sun was used to measure time, Marvell is saying that we can’t make time stop, but we can make every moment last. “In the first paragraph Donne says that when you are in love time can’t be measured. Therefore, Donne is saying he does not want time to carry on, because he wants to stay with his lover as he is in love. Consequently, both poets want to stop time, and time is a major recurring theme in both poems.
Pronouns are also prominent in this poem. Marvell starts of the poem by using the first personal plural pronoun “we”. This shows that Marvell wants to show his mistresses that he is including her with what he wants. For example:
We would sit down and think which way
To walk,
This makes his lover feel wanted or important; this adds to his persuasion tactics. He also uses direct address by the use of the possessive pronoun “your” As the poem goes on he stops using plural pronouns, and uses possessive pronouns, and first person singular pronouns. He talks more about what he would do, and think. This relates to how women were viewed in the 17th century, because he thinks what his views are, are more important then his lover’s. However, by the third paragraph he starts using the first personal plural pronoun “we” again. He explains what they would do if he gets his way, and what they should do.
This poem shows that Marvell thought that men were superior to women, and that husbands shown own their wife when they marry. conversely, the fact that he is trying to persuade his lover, shows that although he doesn’t like her decision he is not forcing her to change her mind.
Donne’s use of language is also extremely significant in this poem. He personifies the sun, and the whole poem is based on him talking about the sun. The pronoun use in “The Sun Rising” is similar to the pronoun use in “To His Coy Mistress”. Mostly the first person singular pronoun is used, but occasionally he uses the first person plural pronoun “We” and “Us”. Both these two poems use a lot of modal auxiliary verbs such as would, could and can. For example
But that I would not lose her sight so long. “The Sun Rising”
The repeated use of this type of verb leads to uncertainty and an indecisive feel to the poems. The semantics of this could be that both poets are hesitant about love.
Donne objectifies his partner, showing he thinks women are precious and need to be looked after. However, the pragmatics of this are that women are the property of men. This reflects the time the poem was written in. For example
“She's all states, and all princes I”
Therefore, we learn a lot about the poets judgments throughout both poems.
Some ideas that Donne writes about are based on the 17th century theory that the sun orbits the earth and the earth is the centre of the solar system. This leads Donne to think that the earth is superior to the sun, so he feels its right to treat the sun like a servant.
Finally, as a result both poems show the difference experiences of love between men and women in the 17th century. The view in both poems is that generally, men are superior to women, and women are treated as precious objects rather then people. However, in love although women were allowed an opinion, men’s was more important.