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To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

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Born in Hull in 1621. At the age of 12, he began his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. His studies were brought to an abrupt end when he was 20 with his father’s death.

He spent much of the 1640s travelling round Europe and managed to miss fighting in the English civil war…but did return to become first a tutor and then an MP and used satire to great effect to attack his political enemies, especially the rich and landowning loyalists.

His death, in 1678, was supposedly of a fever, but a religious group, the Jesuits, whom he had attacked, were suspected of poisoning him.

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The Metaphysical poets

A group of poets from the early 1600s who were concerned with the subject of what it is to be human and tended to concentrate on those aspects that seem to set us aside from other animals.

They dealt with serious topics such as love and the relationship between man and God. The structure of the poetry reflects the content and they are often structured as arguments.

Metaphysical poems are characterised by the use of wit, irony and wordplay and although often comic on the surface, deal with serious topics underneath.

To read more about the Metaphysicals click here (this is an

external link)



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Had we but world enough, andtime



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Had we but world enough, andtime

The poem opens straight away with the theme – that of time. It examines the brevity of life with an argument to ‘seize the day.’ – Carpe Diem.

How does the use of the personal pronoun help to persuade?

Had we but world enough, and time

Makes it sound like they are united against time.



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Had we but world enough, and time,This coyness, Lady, were no crime.We would sit down and think which wayTo walk and pass our long love's day.

As in any argument, we begin with the problem. What is the problem that needs resolving?

The opening problem can also be referred to as the thesis, or statement. It is the issue that needs to be discussed and resolved.

An attempt to escape from time to an idyllic life where they may pass each ‘long’ day together.

The thesis



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A Lyric poem deals with a single theme with a goal of evoking emotion. It presents a single speaker who presents his / her thoughts.

The regular rhythm and rhyme helps to give the poem an almost comic feel which contrasts strongly with the underlying theme of life and death.

Had we but world enough, and time,This coyness, Lady, were no crime.We would sit down and think which wayTo walk and pass our long love's day.

This is a lyric poem.

The poem has octosyllabic lines (eight syllables per line) and contains rhyming couplets.

Structure and form

Click here for more about lyric poems

Click here for more information



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I by the tideOf Humber would complain.

Flattery

Her: by the side of the River Ganges in India with

rubies

Him: by the side of the River Humber in Hull

What effect does this comparison have?

Thou by the Indian Ganges' sideShould’st rubies find;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cirque-du-pablo/2215467828/http://www.flickr.com/photos/falsepositives/2879202638/



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I wouldLove you ten years before the Flood,

Why does he say he would have loved her ten years before Noah’s Ark (meant to have happened over 4000 years ago)?

And he will love her until the Jews become Christian. This event is recorded in Christian texts as taking place just before the end of the world… So, how long will he love her?

What is the effect of this hyperbole (exaggeration)?

And you should, if you please, refuseTill the conversion of the Jews.



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My vegetable love should growVaster than empires, and more slow;

Why does he compare his love to a slow-growing vegetable?

Why does he use the phrase ‘vaster than empires’?

How do you know he will not fall out of love with her quickly?



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A hundred years should go to praiseThine 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.

How is time used to praise and flatter her?



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For, Lady, you deserve this state,Nor would I love at lower rate.

He called her ‘Mistress’ before. Why does he now call her ‘Lady’?

How does this statement tally with what follows in the poem?



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But at my back I always hearTime's wingèd chariot hurrying near;And yonder all before us lieDeserts of vast eternity.

Rejection of afterlife. A reflection of the times with rising religious scepticism. Click HERE for more information on religious influence (internal link)

Start of antithesis: We’ve been given the opening statement; now for the reason why he can’t do as he’d like – the ‘but’. What reason does he give?

Time is again present here, but rather than an idyllic life, it is now a negative lifeless eternity.

Helios was a Greek god who would ride across the sky in his fiery chariot chasing away the stars.



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The grave's a fine and private place,But none, I think, do there embrace

What threats is he making?

Thy beauty shall no more be found,Nor, in thy marble vault, shall soundMy echoing song; then worms shall tryThat long preserved virginity,And your quaint honour turn to dust,And into ashes all my lust:http://www.flickr.com/

photos/jaqian/148765120/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jylcat/133930052/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-

imago/3161934616/



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Now therefore, while the youthful hueSits on thy skin like morning dew,And while thy willing soul transpiresAt every pore with instant fires,

Synthesis – the solution: Now for the final part of the poem. The threats disappear but how does he now talk to her? How has his speech become more positive?

Introducing the idea of passion



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Now let us sport us while we may,And now, like amorous birds of prey,Rather at once our time devourThan languish in his slow-chapp’d power.

Time again. Hoping to gain eternity though togetherness. Need to devour it rather than let it devour them.

More passionate images and words

Slow devouring jaws



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Let us roll all our strength and allOur sweetness, up into one ball,And tear our pleasures with rough strifeThorough the iron gates of life.

Return of togetherness Lots of positive strong images.

Strong image of breaking through the ‘iron gates’ of time.



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Thus, though we cannot make our sunStand still, yet we will make him run.

Return of the image of the sun and time. What is the final point made?

On the surface, this is a poem about the attempted seduction of a woman… what is the message underneath about how we should live our lives?

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