In Andrew Marvell's Poem "to His Coy Mistress", The Speaker... Essay - 760 words

In Andrew Marvell's poem "To his Coy Mistress", the speaker meditates on how cold, worm-ridden, and empty the grave is. While this decision might seem a poor choice for someone who is trying to convince his conquest to acquiesce, it does emphasize the importance of "seizing the day": We will all age then die. Our days, our youths, are short, and we do not have "word enough, and time" (line 1) to dawdle or wallow in indecision. The speaker pretends not to pay an attention to the fact that he and his lover not will not live forever. He tells her how they would linger in their lovemaking and parades her by vast an ancient scenes instead. The speakers tone shifts in the final section.


Although the poem has a strictly regulated meter, the speaker picks up his pace in the final twelve lines, trying almost desperately to convince the listener that they have some control over time: "though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run" (45-46). In this final section, the speaker's reveals the emotion that has been under the surface of the poem all along: passion. The speaker's flattery in the first section and his apparent fear in the second were really just covering up his almost uncontrollable lust, and his rhetoric in the final section involves imagery that reflects his true feelings: "At every pore with instant fires" (36), "Amorous birds of prey" (38), and "tear our pleasures with rough strife" (43) The speaker of the "To his Coy Misstress" is not being morbid so much realistic. An A Late Aubade" by Richard Wilbur is a musical composition, such as a love song, usually sung at or around dawn. Students will also need to look up the word screed: a long, monotonous harangue or piece of writing. The first-person speaker in the poem lists all the things he "should" be doing, and the title underscores this by being sung at noon rather than at dawn.


The whole point of the poem is that the speaker is unconcerned with everyday realities because he is doing what he most wants to do: spending his time in bed kissing his beloved. The poem also ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: to his coy mistress, andrew marvell, speaker, robert herrick, virgin

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