One of the poems in which I am investigating is by John Donne; it’s called the ‘The Sun Rising’. The theme of this poem is evidently to do with love, though I believe the poem is quite lustful beneath a romantic coat. There are a mixture of tones in this poem which are mainly based around the rude interruptions of the ‘unruly Sun’ and the passion he possesses for his mistress. He exaggerates his passion and anger through the use of hyperbole, conceits, imagery, rhetorical gestures, and other literary mechanisms. The opening lines are placed under apostrophes ‘Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us’ with the use apostrophe Donne plunges the reader into his own reality. He exclaims at the sun, making direct personification that it’s a ‘busy old fool’. In a very angry and pestered tone Donne says that the Sun is interfering and ignorant – ‘busy’, and cannot understand the young lovers in bed – ‘old fool’. Then the term ‘unruly’ pops up, which once more expresses that the Sun a nuisance and is very disruptive, but also a powerful character; as it out of control (unruly; cannot be ruled). Again in an angry but questioning tone ‘Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us’, this is the actual concern of the poem; why does the sun shine through the windows and interrupt Donne’s unfinished business with his mistress. In these opening lines a representation of the sun is shown that it’s almost like a bully; pestering and interfering though powerful and uncontrollable. These opening lines definitely grabbed attention as it was a contradiction to the usual 16th century literature, where the Sun was perceived as a celestial object of respect. Now Donne goes onto giving orders to the Sun in a much pestered tone. ‘Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide’ He says the Sun is rude; ‘saucy’ also fussy and petty; ‘pedantic’. He tells the Sun to go and bother someone else-‘go chide’. He represents the sun as being a narrow minded and an ignorant character. But with the use of ‘saucy’ other characteristic pops up: It could image the Sun as a sly and sneaky spy, ‘through windows and through curtains’ spying on the two lovers; further within these lines we find a lusty undertone. Why else would he call the Sun ‘saucy’ unless he was spying on some sort of sexual act, almost like a peeping Tom. Donne carries on disrespecting the Sun by commanding it to go and pester ‘late school boys and sour prentices’ who need it; indirectly telling the Sun that is all it is worth. He tells the Sun to go and supervise ‘Court huntsmen’ and ‘the country ants’ that are actually directly affected by the Sun’s actions. Within this we find another hidden meaning, it is probably classed as a sexual pun. Which transforms this poem to being lustful rather than romantic: ‘Go tell court- huntsmen that the king will ride’ this is not only a command to the Sun, but also a sexual undertone with the line ‘King will ride’; to ride a horse with it’s pulse and motions, has long been a metaphor to show sexual activity. After telling the Sun off, Donne began to descend into a tone of pride and self satisfaction. He boasts that unlike the ‘country ants’ his love was constant and strong through out whatever season or climate; ‘love all alike, no seasons know, nor clime’. And unlike the Sun the love that he possessed wasn’t categorized into different quantities of time (because the Sun had to follow a certain time schedule; orbit) ‘Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time’. Continuing with a tone of pride he rhetorically asks; ‘Thy beams so reverend and strong, Why shouldst you think?’ meaning ‘What makes you think you’re beams are so strong and powerful’. Donne uses this rhetorical question to assert his power. Then he asserts his power even more by commenting: ‘I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink’ he is saying that he can overshadow the Sun power (light) with a mere wink; but he wouldn’t do that because he wouldn’t bare to not see her: ‘But I would not loose her sight so long: If her eyes have not blinded thine’ with an extract of hyperbole Donne says that his mistresses eyes are brighter than the Sun. This undermined his argument a little, because if wasn’t for those beams of light he wouldn’t be able to see his mistress at all. I think that Donne was aware of this ludicrous assertion; he seems to be highlighting the flaws of his argument against the Sun, perhaps to emphasize the foolishness of a person in love. His praise to his mistress continues through the use of a strong hyperbole. He asks the Sun ‘Look, and tomorrow late tell me, whether both th’Indias of spice and mine, Be where you lefts them, or lie here with me.’ He asks of the Sun to go round his orbit, from the West Indies which grasps Gold mines, to the East Indies which holds expensive spices and perfumes and then see if that’s where the true wealth lies or does true wealth lie in Donne’s bed. Donne is arrogantly saying that ‘all here in one bed lay’ all the wealth and royalty in the world. In this strong hyperbole he compares his mistress to the exotic places, which sort of expresses to the reader how attractive he believes his mistress is. Donne tries to compare his world between him and his mistress to the outer world. A microcosm has been developed, ‘She’s all states and princes I; Nothing else is’. He has compared his love life to the outer life, placing his mistress as the states and he’s the princes who govern the states; this also brings out the man and woman relationship in his own microcosm. In a tone occupied with pride, Donne affirms that he and his mistress are not only greater to the master of the sky but everything else as well. ‘Princes’ he sneers ‘do but play us’. He declared that ‘all honors mimic’ of the reverence he and his mistress share, that ‘all wealth alchemy’ to the radiance of love, and that the Sun is ‘half as happy’ as this couple. I think that it’s quite clear that Donne is aware of his foolishness. But his eloquent lines are purely for the benefit of his love. She silently receives his words as the sun silently rebuts them; as the Sun cannot be stopped the arrogant lover pretends to grant the Sun leave to remain, because he feels sorry for him as he is old: ‘ Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be To warm the world, that’s done in warming us.’ He cunningly twists the Sun’s refusal into a show of his generosity. If the Sun is determined to warm the whole world, then the speaker would make his job easier for the Sun by permitting him to stay ‘Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere, this bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere’ The idea of microcosm has hugely developed here as Donne believes that in order for the Sun to warm this world you can warm his bedroom. The last two lines also imply romance, as the sun is rotating around the two lovers, who Donne declares passionately to be "all states, and all princes. . . nothing else is." and is significantly passionate. Yet this is undermined by the title, which says that the sun is rising to a new day after a night of being together, which certainly further implies sexual activity. Indeed, despite its romantic qualities, invoking the bed the lovers share as the center of the sun's orbits has a clear sensual tinge; it is as if the sexual activity of the lovers is the center of the world, for what else is a bed the symbol of, if not sex?
Andrew Marvell was born after John Donne in March the 31st 1621 exactly ten years after Donne died. Marvell was born in Winestead in Holderness, Yorkshire. But Marvell was educated at Cambridge where he received an inheritance upon his father’s death that gave him four years to travel the continent. Marvell wasn’t a puritan himself but he supported them during the civil war and he held a number of posts for example becoming the assistant of John Milton whom was blind and who was Cromwell’s Latin secretary. Then in 1659, Marvell was elected to parliament where he served until his death. In parliament he expressed strong disagreements against the government in a series of outspoken and anonymously printed satires. And it was because of these political satires rather than his love poems that Andrew Marvell has become so famous. Marvell died on the 16th of August 1678 of tertian ague and the unprofessional conduct of the attending surgeon.
The Poem in which I am analyzing is by Andrew Marvell, it’s called ‘To His Coy Mistress’ which was written between 1650 and 1653, when Marvell was around 29 to 32 years of age. Andrew Marvell writes a sophisticated poem that is not only targeted to his ‘coy mistress’ but to the audience as well. The main concern of this poem is that time is unavoidably passing and Marvell wishes for his mistress to act upon his desire and have a sexual relationship with him. Marvell constantly proposes to the reader and his mistress that they must act upon their desires, and not to hesitate anymore but to seize the moment, make the most of their youth before time expires, overall it is this concern that provokes the persuading tone of this poem which is clearly evident. In order to persuade his mistress Marvell uses a dramatic sense of imagery and exaggeration. In the very first two lines; a rhyming couplet, Marvell puts forward his argument: ‘Had we but the world enough, and time, this coyness, Lady, were no crime’. He is saying that it would be fine to have a slow and absorbing relationship- but they’re simply isn’t enough time! Marvell’s opening lines are first of all to lay the introduction to his argument. And secondly flatter and impress his mistress, though maybe he has gone to hyperbolic with this (too over the top) as it seems that he is being ironic (or sarcastic), because it’s as if he is saying: ‘If we were to live forever, I could spend a great deal of time seducing you’. Quite obviously, they won’t live forever, and Marvell knows this before he even begins his flattery. Also through his use of language we can distinguish that he is very pestered by his mistress’s coyness as he labels it as a ‘crime’. In these first lines as well as investing in his persuasive tone Marvell also employs a fun and playful tone, this is recognised by his play with words through the use of alliteration, such as; ‘we’ and ‘world’ in the first line. ‘Coyness’ and ‘crime’ in the second line. In the next lines he tries to woo his lady even more by telling her that he would take his time to be romantic; ‘we would sit down and think which way, to walk and pass our long love day’. Again this was presented in a very playful tone as alliteration like; ‘we would’ and ‘which way’ in one line. And ‘long love’s day’ in the other. Marvell now uses a hyperbole and imagery to impress and flatter his mistress even more, in the lines: ‘Thou by the Indian Ganges side shouldst rubies find I by the tide, of Humber would complain’, he is telling his mistress what he would do for her if only he had time. But these lines also indirectly express what he thinks of her. He relates may be relating her to exotic places (river Ganges) to demonstrate to mistress and the reader her beauty. Though on the same time he is expressing her coyness to the relation of the river Ganges which is holy river (for the Hindus) and also to the fact that he finds ‘rubies’ which symbolises her preserved virginity; as that is what rubies were thought to do. Marvell also tries to place his mistress as high importance by putting him self less than her; less exotic: ‘I by the tide of Humber would complain’. This line is very clever because it actually is where Marvell lived as a boy, and where he served as an M.P for more than twenty years. Again Marvell uses a clever conceit and hyperbole to explain the time span in which he would love his mistress in: ‘ I would love you ten years before the flood , and you should if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews.’ To flatter her even more he says he would love her from The great flood (which consisted of Noah to taking in the animals two by two) that took place a thousands of years ago till the ‘conversion of the Jews’ which is suppose to take place at the end of the world. Though I think that in these line’s Marvell attempts to impress his mistress rather than to flatter because he alludes to biblical history and geography as if to assert his worldliness and intelligence. Now Marvell goes back into the track of flattering his mistress through this hyperbolic imagery: ‘My vegetable love should grow vaster than empires, and more slow’. Vegetables only get larger and riper as they grow, corresponding to his love, which will very slowly like vegetables into vast empires. An empire is a symbol of strength, and to say that his love will grow vaster and stronger than an empire is a great hyperbolic complement to his mistress. The next set of lines sort of outlines the agenda of this poem: ‘A hundred years should go to praise thine eyes, and thy forehead gaze, two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest; an age at least to every part, and the last age should show your heart’. Still in a playful and persuasive tone, he begins to immensely flatter physical attraction as he moves down her body almost as if he is sexually visualising her. Whilst doing this the numbers increase as they reach more sexual parts of her body into finally an age is given to every part, which totally outlines how much he is lusting for her rather than how much he loves her. But in the end ‘the last age’ would show her heart, which could articulate her heart (personality) as being quite insignificant or it could contrast in stating that it’s the most valuable because in the previous lines the years of praise were increasing to reach the most valuable. To end his fun and playful tone, Marvell expresses one last flattery; ‘For lady you deserve this state, nor would I love at lower rate’ he is saying that this is what she deserves and nothing less. In the next stanza the teasing and playful tone modifies into a serious tone, which tries to persuade her by slightly frightening her of the negative outcomes of being coy. The opening to the second stanza not only opens with a more serious tone. But also Marvell puts forward the middle/ second section of his argument; the first section being- ‘it’s alright to be coy and preserved if we had more time’. The middle section of his argument is- ‘but the problem is that we don’t have enough time’. This is portrayed in the highly witty conceit; ‘but at my back I will always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near’. Marvell uses an interesting image when he tries to suggest to his coy mistress that death is near but he replaces the word death for a more gentle and delicate term of ‘time’s winged chariot’ (a connotation), to prevent the coy mistress from getting frightened. A winged chariot is unreal because chariots are ground transportations and it’s also a link to roman mythology: Apollo’s flying chariot which drove the Sun. It is used as a metaphor or a witty conceit to express the speed of time (a winged chariot could most probably move fast), and for the inevitability of time (the sun rises and sets regularly every day). This metaphor develops and enhances the cliché that ‘time flies’ and sets the darker tone of the second section of Marvell’s argument. Once again Marvell uses imagery to fully activate the reader’s attention; ‘and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity’. What do deserts of vast eternity look like? Maybe it’s the ‘age’ in which he would worship his mistresses ‘every part’. Or what if the ‘times winged chariot was hurrying near’ to the ‘last age’ were her ‘heart would show’. The poem has advanced from ten years before the flood into eternity. Marvell says what use is your beauty, it’s as useless sound trying to escape from a marble vault: ‘Thy beauty shall no more be found, nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound’. Marvell uses a conceit to emphasis how useless her beauty will be if they do not give in to their desires. Further, all his worries, ‘his echoing song’ is that he doesn’t want her to die a virgin, as it’s all for her own good (in Marvell’s point of view) to let him have her ‘long preserved virginity’ rather than let the worms have it, because then ‘your quaint honour turn to dust’, meaning that all her elegance won’t mean anything when the she dies a virgin. This idea is reinforced by the revolting and disturbing imagery that goes along with it, of her rotting body with worms all over it, and the word ‘dust’ also takes part to build this frightening imagery. Whilst he says; ‘’and your quaint honour turn to dust’ he follows it up with ‘and into ashes all my lust’. This basically translates into ‘As well as your elegance and dignity turning to dust when you die a virgin, all my desires for you will turn to ashes.’ He tries to create a connection between himself with his mistress by saying that they both loose something, and also by using two similar words ‘dust’ (her dignity) and ‘ashes’ (his lust). There is also another imagery within ‘and into ashes all my lust’. Marvell makes it look like his desire for her was very passionate, almost like a ball of fire that burnt away into ashes, due to her coyness. Then Marvell takes the old imagery of a grave and reactivates it again, in the line: ‘the grave is a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace’. He reactivates the grave imagery once more to hold the attention of the reader and also to really emphasis what would happen if was to die a virgin and not have sex with him. In that line he basically says, in a slight sarcastic tone; ‘yes, sure if you want to die a virgin, why not? After all the grave is a “fine” and “private” place, but I don’t think anyone will embrace down their’. Now we arrive at the third stanza, where Marvell brings us to the third section of his argument, the conclusion. We recognise it as a conclusion due to two very simple words; ‘Now therefore’ The third/ concluding part of his argument is: ‘As it’s quite clear that we don’t of all the time in the world, why not make the most of our youth’. This argument is brought up and highlighted with the use of a simile ‘while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew’ This simile is quite a standard comparison of the mistress’s nature; the morning dew (actually glew-glow), like the mistress’s nature is short-lived.
Over all I think that both are to do with love, although ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was a more lustful poem than ‘The Sun Rising’, or it may have been more explicit about it’s lustfulness. Because ‘The Sun Rising’ also contained some lusty, though Donne did not directly target them at his mistress instead he laid them down very secretly with in his pun’s that were targeted at the sun. For example the part where ‘the king will ride’ as I explained before. Though Marvell made some lustful gestures directly at his mistress, for example ‘two hundred years to adore each breast’. Maybe this is because Donne had already bedded his mistress which may have took the spotlight off sex little in his poem. Overall, due to these factors ‘The Sun Rising’ is the more romantic of the two. Both of these poems used hyperboles to do with time themes. In Marvell’s poem he uses the hyperbole; ‘vaster than empires and more slow’. Empires are seen to be strong, so he uses love and compares it’s greatness to and empire. But in the ‘The Sun Rising’ far more appropriate hyperboles are used as it uses measures that are far more natural in order to portray a continuation in time ‘love all alike, no seasons knows nor clime, nor hours, days, months which are the rags of time’. This shows that when two people are facing true love; time often flows by quickly, sometimes with no meaning. There were also very obviously different tones in each poem, because of their different concerns. Donne’s tone was quite pestered, aggressive and scornful, as the opening line portrait; ‘busy old fool, unruly sun’ or sometimes he used rhetorical questions to assert his power; ‘thy beams so reverend and strong, why shouldst thou think?’ Donne’s tone didn’t change tremendously through out the poem, but he did sometimes descend into an arrogant and boastful tone; ‘she’s all states and princes I’. Marvell’s tone was in general quite persuasive. Initially as well as having a persuasive tone he also had a fun and playful tone, this was evident through his use of alliteration in the opening lines. But from the second stanza onward he still possessed a persuasive tone, but he eliminated his playful tone and replaced it with a more serious, and dark tone; as he kept reminding the mistress of death: ‘But at my back I can always hear times winged chariot hurrying near’. There is also a constant reference to the Sun in each poem. Donne refers to the Sun because it is the cause of concern of his poem, because the sun ‘through windows and through curtains calls on’ him and mistress whilst they are trying to relax. Whereas Marvell relates to Sun as a tool of time, that provides him and his mistress with time; ‘thus thou we cannot make our Sun’, meaning we cannot make more time. But there is one thing in which both the poets are fully related on: The praise of their mistresses. The romantic Donne compared his mistress to being equivalent of the wealth of ‘both th’Indies’. Where as the saucy Marvell visualised his naked mistress head to toe and promised ‘an age at least’ to praise every part of her body!
