This first stanza, I think is the most important in the poem. He has introduced the poem dealing with profound experiences, enjoying the present and exploring the idea of enjoying the experience of every moment. All Marvell’s thoughts have been poured out and we have been captured into the idea of love and how much love he has for his mistress. Not only this, but also the fact that time is an important feature in this poem, so much, it has taken over all Marvell’s thoughts and is leading him to think only of time and love in the context of time. Throughout this stanza, he has used repetition, alliteration, rhythm, mono syllabic words at the end of each line and long vowels, to express his feelings of time. In this case that there is not enough time for what he wants to do, but also the idea of time expanding and becoming endless in some cases, which is what he wants. He would love an unlimited amount of time to spend with his love, so he would never have to part with her. The question, ‘If this is the case?’ has been expressed in this stanza; we can see it is like a fantasy for Marvell, with him wondering about the endless love he could give if he didn’t have to worry about dying. He uses words such as ‘would’ and ‘could’ to show this. For example, “We would sit and think which way to walk and pass our long love’s day.” It is clear he is in quite a dreamy state throughout this, with no visible grasp on time. But this is to change.
While Marvell’s poem is split into stanzas which each suggest a different idea in his poem, Audens is very different. It is not split up, but all in one long paragraph. He has approached the themes of love in a different, yet much simpler way. While Marvell began his poem and approached his intended themes successfully in a more complex manner, Auden begins his poem in a more straightforward way. He begins, “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,” suggesting a degree of seriousness with the short, negative imperatives. The second line, “Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,” suggests the idea that Auden does not want anybody else to be happy and already we are under the impression that this is not a happily themed poem. “Silence the pianos and with the muffled drum, bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.” Through this line we can see that he feels that normality cannot exist because of the death of his friend, and he wants to stop all normal things from happening. The imagery of the muffled drum, suggests no rhythm or momentum in his life. Also, the piano provides the image of all the rejoicing being silenced. The conventional rhyming couplets and disjointed rhythm scheme that Auden uses give order to his thoughts and suggest that he cant quite get the message and the question of why his friend is dead is not being answered. Early 20th century poets communicated with the use of unconventional techniques to get their message across. The line, “Let the airplanes circle moaning overheard,” suggest the message that he is dead being brought to Heaven.
These few lines have already expressed how upset Auden is and how the death of his friend has left such a big hole in his life. Therefore, his intention of expressing his love for his friend and his sorrow of his death has already been made successful and he has created a mood of sadness around his poem. While Auden continues to express negativity, Marvell proceeds to his second stanza, in which he shows a different outlook to what was expressed in his first stanza. The first line begins with the word ‘But’ and already we can tell his objective has changed. He says, “But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near.” Chariots were the fastest vehicles used in war, and so this was a threatening image used to suggest time was catching up with him. In this stanza, he uses the iambic meter once again, however the pace has quickened and it is a lot faster now, almost breathtaking. This is also suggested in the imagery of the chariot. “Deserts of vast eternity thy beauty shall no more be found,” no longer is Marvell referring to life as eternal, but death and when he dies he will no longer have his love, no longer will she be found. We know for sure now he is talking about his death, as he then says, “Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound,” his ‘marble vault’ was his tomb is the tomb in which he would lie dead. It has now become clear that Marvell is worrying about time. Few of the lines are ended with a full stop, suggesting that time will charge on at a terrific speed without patience. Again, Marvell talks about his love’s ‘preserv’d virginity’ that was suggested by the ‘rubies’ in the first stanza. He talks about it dying, along with her ‘quaint honour,’ suggesting that time will catch up on his love also and she too will die. In this sense, the word, ‘quaint’ is used to describe his mistress’ honour as unimportant or frivolous. But in the sense of it being used as a pun, along with Marvell’s references to his love’s preserved virginity, we start to wonder if this poem could be on more to do with his longing for a sexual relationship with his mistress before time runs out? Towards the end of this stanza, Marvell makes quite graphical references on the subject of death. For example, the physical implications of death when he refers to his lust turning to ashes and him being in his grave, the ashes, in theory, referring to the uses of the word at a Christian burial ceremony. The last line of the stanza brings it to a stop, “But none I think do there embrace.” The purposes of this line being to end and to shock and to also increase the vigor of his argument.
The objective of this stanza has clearly been shown throughout. Marvell has changed from questioning, “if this is the case?” in the first stanza to now thinking, “But this is not the case.” The second stanza expresses a transitory nature through its rhythm and rhyming schemes. The constant fast pace of it reminds us that time keeps going and in doing so waits for nobody, it is unstoppable. A little lightness is used in this stanza, but behind it is still the gray and grim, i.e. the thought of death.. The fact that death is an impending factor in life, and we will all have to face it at some point, is clearly expressed. The rhyming scheme in this stanza illustrates how Marvell felt about death and time catching up with him. It quickens the pace and symbolizes the way in which time acts. The stanza also uses a connection with religion in the sense of a Christian burial, which suggests a contradiction between the reality that life is limited and the seemingly eternity of the poem. This also shows a contrast between life and eternity, and between time and death.
As Marvell begins to come to terms with the fact that his time, along with his mistress’ will come for them to move on, Auden continues to deepen in sad thoughts of his friend’ death. Unlike Marvell who preparing for and talking about his death, Auden had obviously not taken the fact that time catches on people into account, hence his extremely depressed feelings and emotional poem. If Auden had lived for the present and said all he wanted to say to his friend, his feelings on his death may have been a lot different. The imperatives in his poem, such as ‘stop,’ ‘silence,’ and ‘cut off’ suggest a degree of negativity in Auden’s life. He says about his dead friend, “He was my north, my south, my east, and west,” we are now exposed to the depth of Auden’s feelings. “My working week and my Sunday rest, my noon, my midnight, my talk, my song.” In this technique Auden is using, we can see just how important his friend was to him, and how much he misses him. The disjointed rhythm scheme Auden uses suggests that something in his life is disjointed, this is obviously the fact that his best friend has been taken away from him. He says, “I thought love would last forever. I was wrong.” This is the tragic climax of the poem with the sense of him being let down. The rhythm of this line is cut short, stressing his disappointed realization. As Auden moves on to express his regret, Marvell’s ‘realization’ has also changed his mood, but his, unlike Auden’s is for the better. The opening line of Marvell’s third stanza is “Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew,” it is obviously on a much lighter note than the previous two stanzas, as he is now talking about fresh colours and morning dew, rather than death. The imagery of the ‘morning dew’ suggests how easy it would be to have fun while we can. He maintains the eight syllable lines, however the pace at which they are read is steadier at a happy medium now. “At every pore with instant fires,” suggests he has now learnt to act in the heat of the moment, as he could die at any time. Sadly though, Auden failed to realize this and is now left mourning over the death of his loved one. While Marvell talks now about how he will appreciate time using phrases such as, ‘amorous birds of prey,’ to suggest taking pleasure immediately rather than savoring it, (the juxtaposition of strength and violence show his idea on love), and ‘up into one ball,’ to suggest that he will now concentrate on the present, and the ‘gates of life,’ which suggest an idea of Heaven, where he will go at some time but not yet Auden proceeds to grieve. The last few lines in his poem show just how disappointed and upset he is and how he has come to realize that nothing is invincible. He says, “The stars are not wanted now, put out every one. Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,” this shows how he now feels about his life; he does not see the point in anything anymore, not even the sun and the stars. The monosyllabic words show the strength of the nothingness that Auden now feels, not even nature can revive him from his misery anymore. While Marvell has learnt to seize the moment, Auden is left with a feeling of regret because he didn’t seize it.
The last lines in each poem are both very powerful. Marvell concludes with the words, “Thus though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run,” proving to us that he has learnt that he cannot stop time but instead will appreciate it. However, Auden finishes with the words, “Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good,” he is now completely lost in self-pity and misery and nothing will probably help him now. Marvell started by questioning, ‘if this was the case?’ then proceeded to think, ‘but this is not the case’ now he has concluded with the thought, ‘in view of this not being the case, this is what we should do…’ And so he is saying that we should make use of the present. Honour and appreciate because death is on our shoulders and we don’t have time to wait.
Although Auden’s perspective on life slightly changes throughout the poem also, his has simply gone from bad to worse. It began with Auden grieving over the death of his friend and ended with him completely groveled in misery and distress that he did not appreciate the time he had with his friend. Marvell however began by trying to place man and time on earth in the context of eternity and eternal happiness, but ended up with learning that time would catch up on everybody and so he changed his attitude and started to appreciate time. Unfortunately, Auden did not learn this. Marvell was concerned with present life and life after death but through his passion and pursuit of intimate love for his coy mistress, and after worrying about time, he successfully learned how brief happiness could be by not honoring the time he had, which was what Auden has shown, to make the most of the present time. Auden’s poem is simply a poem of the loneliness and loss one man feels in losing his loved one, in this case his friend, after not honoring the time he had with him.
Both poems express different aspects of poetry. Marvell’s being characterized by wit, irony and word play. On the surface it sounds witty and superficial but is explicitly of passion and his quest for intimate love. By expressing his fear of time running out, he subtly expresses his need for time and love with his mistress. Auden, on the other hand expresses his sadness of the death of his friend, at the same time showing how angry and regretful he is that he did not take the time to honor time. Now he will forever be miserable.
Although both poets have taken separate approaches in their poems, in the use of their chosen words, their rhythm schemes, repetition schemes, imagery and their own personal techniques, they have both successfully achieved their intended objectives and expressed their thoughts and feelings on the themes of love and loss through their poems effectively.
