“To His Coy Mistress” is another poem of seduction in which Andrew Marvell uses a lot of interesting metaphors, imagery and personification to convey his messages. It is a “Carpe Diem” poem, in which the character in the poem is trying to convince his shy lover to sleep with him. He wants to show her that time waits for no one and he suggests that they spend their time wisely and with care because every second lost will never be regained, therefore, they should “seize the day” and live every day as it comes. I believe that this poem is similar to “Song to Celia” because they are both written to persuade women to get into bed with their lovers. There are three distinct sections to this poem: firstly, there is what could happen if they had enough time and if they were immortal – “Has we but world enough, and time,/This coyness, lady, were no crime.” Here Marvell is trying to flatter his mistress and he is saying that if he had time, her shyness would not be a problem to him and he would love to play games with her. His use of short sentences help to get straight to the point and it also makes the reader read the poem faster. This aids the overall message of the poem because Marvell wants to get her into bed quickly, and by using many punctuation marks, he can show his intentions in more than just words. Marvell’s use of hyperbole in the first section of the poem to represent time periods shows that he is exaggerating his love for her to flatter her and to get her “into bed”. For example, he says:
“A hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast.
But thirty thousand to the rest;”
Marvell’s intentions were, in my opinion, much more innocent than Johnson’s. I believe that Marvell actually loved this woman but he wanted to sleep with her and so he decided to write a poem, ensuring her that although he wants to have some fun, he is also willing to stay with her and he is ready for commitment in life. He flatters her and although exaggerated it is very effective and grabs the readers’ attention. Throughout this poem it is evident that the narrator is a learned and well travelled man because he mentions “the Indian Ganges”. During the time which this poem was written, England was beginning it’s era of great exploration and so this shows that the character is an educated man of his time. He uses Biblical references, for example, when he says, “I would/Love you ten years before the Flood;/And you should, if you please, refuse/Till the conversion of the Jews”, he is talking about the story of Noah’s Arc and he is basically saying that if you refuse my love it will not matter, because my love for you is eternal and never ending (the Jews will never convert). The character is showing off, but he could also be putting on an act to show her that he is cultured and sophisticated – this could be another attempt to win her heart and to get her to sleep with him. Marvell portrays the characters eternal love for her by using the hyperbole, "My vegetable love should grow/Vaster than empires, and more slow." Again, the character is showing off the fact that he is well educated, by mentioning his knowledge of the Roman Empire which was extremely strong at the time. I think that this imagery is extremely effective because as soon as you read it, you see images of a small seed, which grows slowly and steadily until eventually, it becomes “Vaster than empires.” The use of this metaphor shows how his love for her will grow slowly into something immense and complex. He compares his love for her to the greatest Empire and again, he is flattering her and telling her all of the things which she wants to hear from him. Marvell uses all of these different conventions to bring across his message of love and lust throughout the poem; and it is effective because it is continuous throughout the first few stanzas.
The second part of the poem talks about what will happen and in this section, the main themes are death, loneliness and old age. I think that in a way, Marvell is trying to make his mistress afraid of the future, afraid of what would happen when she’s not beautiful anymore and afraid of how time is passing quickly. In this section, he uses metaphors to bring across a strong message. For example, “Time’s winged chariot” is a metaphor in which Marvell is comparing time to a chariot which takes away the dead – this is a convention used often in poetry. He uses the metaphor “Marble vault” to represent the grave and her death bed. When Marvell says, “And your quaint honour turn to dust,/And into ashes all my lust./The grave’s a fine and private place,/But none I think do there embrace” I think that he is being quite ironic because he is trying to show her that if she doesn’t sleep with him, no one will want to sleep with her once she is dead and buried and so she will be die a virgin. In this section, his choice of words and themes are completely different to that of the first section because whereas in the first section Marvell flatters her, in the second, he threatens her and plays with her fears to make her see how ridiculous the fact that she is not willing to sleep with him is.
In the third and final section of the poem, Marvell offers a solution to all of the problems which he has thus far talked about and that is for her to sleep with him. He says:
“Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while they willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires.”
He is convincing her that the only way for her to enjoy life and to use the few years in which she is beautiful is by sleeping with him. He uses personification to allow her soul to breathe, “And while thy willing soul transpires/At every pore with instant fires.” He is making her feel anxious about having sex with him and so again, he is showing her what she is missing out on by not agreeing to sleep with him. Marvell uses rhyming couplets to get straight to the main point of the poem which is: let’s not waste time in doing pointless things. This poem, similar to “Song to Celia” and “My True Love Hath My Heart” is written in the first person narrative; however, Marvell could haven written this poem from the point of view of someone else. I think that it is an effective poem due to the poets interesting use of language and form to show his state of mind. This poem is based on love and sexual desire and Marvell’s use of metaphors, personification and imagery throughout the poem creates vivid images and settings to which any reader can respond and relate to.
Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, wife of English poet Robert Browning, is arguably the most respected and successful woman poet of the Victorian period. Due to the fact that her oppressive father had forbidden her to marry anyone, her relationship with Robert Browning was kept a secret and she eventually eloped with him to get married in September 1846. Her greatest work, “Sonnets from the Portuguese” is a sequence of love sonnets addressed to her husband. The most famous poem in that collection is entitled, “How Do I Love Thee?” and it has recently been voted as the best love poem of all time in a large readers’ poll. It is a powerful poem in which she discusses the reasons as to why she loves her husband and I believe that the love which she talks about is similar to that of “My True Love Hath My Heart”. She uses metaphors to show her love for her husband-to-be, for example she says, “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right,/I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise”. She is comparing her love for him to the way people praise God and this shows that the love between them is very strong and solid. It is like faith, never ending and immortal in a sense because, to her, it will never fade away. This theme is again very similar to that of Sidney’s poem because they both talk about eternal love which can never be destroyed or ruined. Again, similar to Sidney’s poem, it is written in sonnet form, however it is an Italian sonnet, also called a Petrarchan. It is divided into an octave with pattern ABBA ABBA and a sestet with pattern CDCDCD. I think that the fact that the poem has a regular rhyme scheme adds to the overall effect of the poem – it shows the seriousness of her love for him.
Likewise to Sidney, Browning uses many Biblical references to describe her love for Robert Browning. In the first quatrain of the poem, she states that she loves him with her all and that there are no boundaries to her love for him. She creates an almost three dimensional image by saying, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height.” This shows just how passionately she feels for him and unlike Johnson and Marvell, she is not talking about lust and sexual desire, she is talking about genuine love. Her use of imagery helps the reader to get a sense of just how intense and powerful her relationship with her husband is. This is also a Biblical reference because it refers to St. Paul’s prayers of Christ’s love and the fullness of God. This gives a very strong image because it compares her love for her husband to her love for God and I believe that to her, they are very similar because they both make her feel complete and whole – so much so that her life seems to be impossible without them. In the 14th line, she says, "I shall but love thee better after death" – she expresses her love for him as everlasting and eternal. I think that this shows how in love with him she really is, but it also goes to show that she believes that she is inadequate, and this could have derived from the Victorian belief that men were superior to women. She feels as if she is not good enough for him, so only by dying and becoming one with God could see ever reach his standards.
Browning’s use of language to convey her love for her husband is very effective as well. For example, she says, “I love thee to the level of every day’s/Most quiet need, by sun and by candlelight.” The word “candlelight” represents night time and by using this metaphor, she sets the scene for any readers and it gives them a vivid image of what she is talking about. Also, her use of candlelight instead of night could be because of the fact that candlelight is associated with romance and love and so her use of this word make the overall effect of the poem more powerful as it creates images of romantic settings for the reader. Also, in the seventh and eighth lines she says, “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;/I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.” This is an exaggerated and glorified image of her love for him compared to humanity. She is personifying her love to be whole and pure and this creates images of a powerful love between two people. By the end of the poem, she has explained how she will be with him, through the good times and the bad as she is loyal and true to him – she says, “I love with the breath,/Smiles, tears, of all my life!” I think that the use of an exclamation mark at the end of the poem is effective because it shows that she is serious about what she is saying and it adds emphasis to the sentence. Browning uses punctuation and form to great effect throughout the poem as she uses enjambments to make the poem flow and because of this, the reader is forced to read it at a slower pace. This goes well with the poet’s overall romantic message and it helps to show the reader how meaningful and profound their love is. The wording of the title of the poem is very effective because it is a question, one to which the reader would like to find the answer of. This will encourage the reader to continue reading the poem and to see what Browning is talking about. Browning uses very descriptive words, such as “passion” and “ideal Grace” cause the reader to “feel” what she is talking about and it enables the reader to actually get an insight into her emotions and feelings. This is a very powerful effect which causes the reader to become engrossed in the poem and to think about what it is like to love some one so much that you are willing to do anything for them. This is my favourite poem out of all of the poems which I mention in this essay for the simple reason that it manages to convey the emotions and feelings of the poet to the reader and this makes the poem more emotive and heartfelt.
Love can be, at times, a wonderful and joyous thing, however losing someone after loving them is a tragedy and can result in serious depression and grief. Lord Byron, a poet renowned for his love affairs (with his half-sister as well as many other women) and his experiences of public scandals, wrote a poem entitled, “When We Two Parted”. It is said to have been written for Lady Francis Webster, a women who he was deeply in love with. The poem is about how he has lost the one woman who he truly loved and how he is going through a period of depression where he cannot stop thinking about her. He uses two different senses to convey how hurt he feels in different ways. He says, “Paler grew thy cheek and cold,/Colder they kiss” and this shows how she had become cold towards him and how her kisses were less passionate and loving. This shows us that he knew even before the separation that there was something wrong with the relationship, but he just didn’t want to admit it because he loved her too much. Byron uses spiritual references, for example when he says, “Thy vows are all broken”, he is making her feel guilty about leaving him. He is telling this woman that she has broken her promise to him and this has left him heart broken and depressed. Byron uses metaphors to convey his strong feeling of dejection, for example, he says, “They name thee before me,/A knell to mine ear”. A knell is the bell which is rung at a funeral and this creates an image of death and this goes to show that when they mention her name in front of him, it sounds like a death bell to him. He has been hurt so deeply by her that even the mention of her name sends chills down her spine. The poem is written in ABAB CDCD and this regular rhyme scheme helps to bring across the message of the poem clearly. This rhyme scheme also helps to stress the points which are being put across to the reader and this helps the reader to understand the pain and heartache which Byron was feeling at the time. The poet’s use of enjambments throughout the poem helps the reader to appreciate the intense emotions which are being expressed.
Byron’s use of repetition to stress certain words is very effective. For example, he repeats the phrase “In silence and tears” twice, once at the beginning of the poem and once and the end. This is very effective because it shows that he will great her the same way that he parted from her – he doesn’t want to be hurt again and so the chance of reconciliation is slim. Also, the word silence is generally referred to emotional moments and this fits in well with the message of loss throughout the poem. He repeats the title of the poem in the first line of the poem as well and this adds emphasis to the key moment in the poem – when he and his lover ended their relationship. Byron also uses rhetorical questions to grab the reader’s attention and to create a moment of pause in which the reader can reflect upon what is being asked. For example, Byron says, “Why wert thou so dear?” This is ironic because he is asking about the worth of the relationship, however, it obviously meant a lot to him because he is still thinking about her, even after their separation. He wishes that he didn’t love her as much he did because then he wouldn’t have been so hurt after the separation. The use of the question mark creates a pause in which the reader can think about and comprehend the meaning of the question which is being asked. The ending of this poem is the most powerful part because it says, “If I should meet thee/After long years,/How should I greet thee?-/With silence and tears.” This shows that although even after many years he will probably still love her, he has been hurt by her once and is unwilling to go through the pain again and so they would not be involved again. No matter how many years they stay apart from each other, she will always be in his heart and he will always love her. However, due to their “secret” relationship, he is unable to grieve over her openly so he does it “With silence and tears.” This poem deals with the theme of loss very well by using metaphors, such as “knell”, to create dramatic and vivid images for the reader. This helps the reader to understand how the character was feeling at that particular point in time and how deep his love for her really was.
William Wordsworth was an English poet who grew up in England’s Lake District and spent much of his life there. Many of his poems, including the poem “Lucy”, have been affected by his views on nature. In this poem, Wordsworth admires Lucy’s beauty and mourns her death. Wordsworth builds suspense throughout the first few stanzas by setting the scene and saying that, “Strange fits of passion have I known:…/What once to me befell.” This means that he is only willing to talk about this to people in love because others will not understand what he is talking about. This immediately grabs the reader’s attention and makes the reader want to read more to see more clearly what the poem is about. In the last stanza of Part I to the poem, Wordsworth says, “What fond and wayward thoughts will slide…‘If Lucy shall be dead!’” This shows that the poet is in love with “Lucy” and doesn’t know what he would do if she died or disappeared from his life. The use of an exclamation mark at the end of the section shows that the character has just realised that if Lucy is dead and it is just sinking in that he will have to live without her. In Part II, Wordsworth says “But she is in her grave, and oh,/The difference to me!”. He loves her and however insignificant she was to the world, she meant everything to him and losing her causes great emotional sorrow for the character. In part III, he says, “Travell’d among unknown men,/In lands beyond the sea;/Nor, England! did I know till then/What love I bore to thee.” Wordsworth is imagining what it would be like to lose his lover, “Lucy”, and he says that now that he’s lost her, he realises her true meaning in his life and he deeply regrets the fact that he has lost her.
Wordsworth uses similes to describe Lucy’s beauty. He says that she is “Fresh as a rose in June,” and this immediately gives us an image of a rose during summer and we can so this shows us how beautiful Lucy is. Also, Wordsworth uses metaphors to describe Lucy’s beauty, he says, “A violet by a mossy stone.” This is a metaphor for Lucy’s beauty – there is an immediate contrast because a violet is a beautiful flower, and when it is near a mossy stone, its beauty is shown even more. Wordsworth creates wonderful images to describe Lucy and this shows that he truly loves her. His use of simple words could be a metaphor for Lucy’s simple life, away from people and in a natural setting. Throughout the poem, Wordsworth uses many different techniques to grab the reader’s attention and he uses language to show his great sense of love and loss for her.
Christina Rossetti wrote a poem entitled, “Remember”. Similarly to the poem, “How do I Love Thee”, “Remember” is a Petrarchan sonnet with an octave/sestet pattern. In this poem, Rossetti is telling her lover that when she dies, he should not grieve for her; he should remember the good times which they have spent together and forget the bad. There is a very personal tone to the poem as she uses the first person narrative throughout the poem. Rossetti uses of euphemisms to talk about death, for example, she says, “Gone far away into the silent land”. She uses this technique so that her lover does not feel upset while reading the poem. She repeats the word “remember” five times in the poem and this shows that it is an important theme and it helps to emphasise the title of the poem. In the last few lines, she says, “Better by far you should forget and smile/Than that you should remember and be sad.” This creates a contrast in the poem because she uses the word “forget” and this immediately grabs the reader’s attention as it is the opposite of everything else she has mentioned up to that point. She is telling her lover that it would be better for him to think about the good times and be happy than to think about the bad times and be remorseful about their relationship. Rossetti’s use of repetition is extremely effective throughout the poem and it helps to describe the strong sense of loss which would be felt when a loved one dies.
In conclusion, the poems which I have studied describe a range of emotions from extreme love and happiness to extreme sadness and depression. The poets’ use of words, metaphors, similes, personification, imagery and punctuation all add to the overall feeling of the poems and they help to convey the messages to the readers. Sidney’s poem has a lot of spiritual and religious symbolisms, Browning’s poem is heart-felt and emotive and Marvell’s poem is persuasive as if Johnson’s. These four poets deal with the theme of love in their poems and each of them convey the messages a unique and interesting way. Lord Byron’s poem is gloomy and sad; however, Rossetti and Wordsworth balance out their poems by mentioning the good times and the bad. Although these poems were all written during the Victorian era, their themes are universal and timeless because as long as there is love, loss will accompany it.
