The two poems I have chosen for my English coursework are 'A Woman to Her Lover.' and 'To His Coy Mistress.'

Whereas in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ the man is telling the person he loves what she is, which is beautiful, and what she is doing which is being shy but flirtatious which makes her more attractive to him but also he is implying that time is running out with phrases such as ‘Had we world enough, and time,’ and ‘Times winged chariot hurrying near.’

There is also a difference to the way the writers make the poem look, feel and sound. One possible explanation for this could be the time in which they were written as they were written at very different times. The poem ‘A Woman to Her Lover’ was written in the second half of the 19th Century, and the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was written in the mid-16th Century therefore the writing styles were almost definitely different as there is a time period of approximately 215 years. This has resulted in the language and style being different. We can see this as the writers present their poems differently for example the poem ‘A Woman to Her Lover’ is very straightforward, no nonsense and direct whereas the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is set out very differently as the writer takes his time and doesn’t actually directly say what he wants. He insinuates in the poem that he wants to make love with his mistress. Also there is a difference in the way the poems are set out as the earlier poem being ‘To His Coy Mistress’ has rhyming couplets every two lines but the later poem, ‘A Woman to Her Lover’, does not use rhyming couplets. Also there is a difference in the tone used in the two poems. The poem ‘A Woman to Her Lover’ uses quick and some time harsh sentences such as, ‘O lover I refuse you!’ and ‘fool, I refuse you.’ While in the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ the writer uses soft and gentle persuasion such as ‘let roll all our strength and all, our sweetness up in to one ball.’ Which is more relaxed and subtle, so instead of telling the person he loves what to do, he is asking her, will she do this? Which is the complete opposite to the poem ‘A Woman to Her Lover’ because in that poem the writer is telling and not asking. There are also similarities to the poems. These are the fact that the poems have been written about a loved one or some one who is an object to the writers’ affection. Additionally both writers appear to be talking about how they want their relationship with their loved one to be and how they don’t want it to be. Also in both of the poems the writers appear to use old language.

So, although the poems have a few similarities they have more differences. I believe this is a result of the time difference in which they were written and also because of the genders of the writers as they may have a stereotypical view of the opposite sex.