`To his coy mistress` and `Come. And be my baby` are both love poems. Which do you consider to be more effective in conveying its message and why?
`To his coy mistress` by Andrew Marvell and `Come. And be my baby` by Maya Angelous are two enchanting love based poems. Both poems are written in a persuasive style and try to uphold an argument. Nether are “romantic,” which is what people normally relate to love. In this essay we will be looking at how each of the poems portrays love, and what device’s it uses conveys its message and influences the reader. This essay will be contrasting both poems and stating which conveys its message best and how.
In the poem, `To his coy mistress` we hear the voice of the mistresses lover, or wishful lover. It is written in 1st person narrative, which in turn makes the poem more personal, so the poet, Andrew Marvell, is able to create deeper emotions related to love, conveying its message better. As a reader we may also feel slight empathy with the lover which enables us to relate our ideas of love with the speaker. `Come. And be my baby` uses the same narrative method as `To my coy mistress,` sharing most effects this method of narration has. There is hardly any contrast between the methods used, as this is the standard basis for most poems trying to create persuasive text.
In the first stanza of `Come. And be my baby.` Maya Angelou presents a picture of humans going no where fast in life by using the personification “The highway is full of big cars going no where fast.” She then continues on with the negative approach, stating that people everywhere are ruining their lives by abusing alcohol and drugs, “folk is smoking anything that will burn,” suggesting drugs and “people wrap their lives around a cocktail glass.” This vivid imagery is powerful in giving a destructive image but not romantic, which isn’t what we expect from love based poems, it’s in contrast to love. The word “glass” is maybe portraying human life and love, as its fragile and vulnerable, it’s nested on it own line to make it stand out more to the reader and has a longer lasting effect. The next line in the stanza uses the word “you,” which is the first time it’s used in the poem, it starts making the poem personal and draws in the readers attention, in effect making the poem more persuasive. She then asks “where you’re gonna turn.” Which once again grabs the readers attention as it’s a question. Maya is then positive, and gives an answer to the question, stating “I got it. Come and be my baby.” Meaning, come and be hers to love. She is offering her wishful lover, something to wrap their life in, love, opposed to them spiralling to ruins by the abuse of alcohol and drugs, this line is contrasting the beginning of the stanza, destruction/love and is demanding making it more persuasive yet non-romantic. This is also saying that love is opposite to harm.