EWRT 1C Class 17

AGENDAFeminist Criticism

Andrew Marvell

“To His Coy Mistress”

Group Activity: Using Feminist Criticism

Questions Feminist Critics Ask about Literary Text

1. What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy? How are women portrayed? How do these portrayals relate to the gender issues of the period in which the novel was written or is set? In other words, does the work reinforce or undermine patriarchal ideology? (in the first case, we might say that the text has a patriarchal agenda. In the second case, we might say that the text has a feminist agenda. Texts that seem to both reinforce and undermine patriarchal ideology might be said to be ideologically conflicted.

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678

published a handful of poems in anthologies, a collection of Marvell's work did not appear until 1681, three years after his death, when his nephew compiled and found a publisher for Miscellaneous Poems. The circumstances surrounding the publication of the volume aroused some suspicion: a person named "Mary Marvell," who claimed to be Marvell's wife, wrote the preface to the book. "Mary Marvell" was, in fact, Mary Palmer—Marvell's housekeeper—who posed as Marvell's wife, apparently, in order to keep Marvell's small estate from the creditors of his business partners. Her ruse, of course, merely contributes to the mystery that surrounds the life of this great poet.

See more at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/304

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), now considered one of the greatest poets of the seventeenth century, published very little of his scathing political satire and complex lyric verse in his lifetime. Although Marvell

“To His Coy Mistress”Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime. We would sit down and think which way To walk and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on 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; For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song: then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust: The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapt power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.

In Groups Discuss “To His Coy Mistress”What is the poem about?Use your close reading skills!

QHQ “To His Coy Mistress”1. Q: What elements of Andrew Marvell’s “To His

Coy Mistress,” suggest a hyperbolic nature of the narrator’s affection and does this exaggeration indicate an alternative impression of the speaker and the object of his desire?

2. Q: What does the speaker think about the woman he describes?

3. Q: How would the woman feel once she sees this poem?4. What’s Marvell suggesting in his use of the image of “the

iron gates of life?”1. Is the poet expressing admiration for the lady, or a thinly

veiled contempt for any individual or institution or even law of nature that denies him what he desires?

1. Q: Why does the speaker have such an obsession with his mistress, and why does it intensify as the poem goes on?

2. Q: Is there any possible way that one could speculate if the intentions of the speaker to this woman are true or just disguised as a potential lustful encounter to be with her temporarily, at least until he finds another pure mistress?

3. Q: To what extent is Marvell’s poem an expression of love than an ironic lament about the fragility and brevity of human life?

4. Q: Was this poem written to appreciate the love he has towards his mistress, or was it an attempt at fulfilling his lustful desires?

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and “‘To His Coy Mistress’: A Feminist Reading”

Identify and discuss qualities of Feminist Criticism as it is applied in the essay about “To His Coy Mistress.”

Next, find specific examples from the essay, the poem, or the definition/description of Feminist Criticism that further support a feminist reading of the poem.

QHQ Essay on “To His Coy Mistress”

Q: How does this criticism of “To His Coy Mistress” demonstrate a feministic criticism?

HOMEWORK

Read: Definition of Psychoanalytic CriticismRead: Lois Tyson “Psychoanalytic Criticism”

Post #12: What is the purpose of psychoanalytical criticism? OR QHQ on the Tyson reading