Andrew Marvell, the author of the poem “To His Coy Mistress”, wrote the poem with the intention of it conveying the idea of carpe diem. Depending on the type of person and the sex of that person this could be considered as a carpe diem or just an offensive pick up line. A male might agree with Marvell’s concept of better to lose your virginity earlier rather than later because there is no reason in waiting, while a female would certainty disagree with this line of thinking. Rather they would find it disgusting and inappropriate. One of the critics of the poem, Bernard Duyfhuizen, took the females point of view in order to give a different reading of the poem. In his criticism Duyfhuizen might fall victim to some “political correctness”, but for the most part his idea of the poem being offensive to woman and something they most likely would have heard before is correct.
In my opinion I think that many male critics have over looked the disturbing and offensive images and just looked at the meaning behind the poem. If all the disturbing images are put aside many of the male critics and even readers might agree that this is an example of carpe diem, while many women would strongly disagree. However, this poem might be considered an example of carpe diem for some because this is part of there personal definition. I don’t think that Duyfhuizen is ignoring the carpe diem theme, rather he is trying to show how not everyone would agree with that theme due to the fact that not everyone has the same definition of carpe diem. I have a very different understanding for carpe diem than say the person sitting next to me in class. Classifying something as carpe diem is very hard simply because not everyone has the same concept and this is wher...
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...ng the poem I think that he presents a very convincing argument. He is accurate when he says “she has heard this kind of line before.” Many women have it has just been presented in a very different manner, one much less rude and crude than Marvell’s way and much more like Robert Herrick’s poem. By saying that the poem is offensive because of it’s disgusting images many people think that Duyfhuizen is taking away the theme of carpe diem that Marvell presented in the poem, however, he isn’t. He is just presenting the idea that not everyone will think that this is an example of carpe diem, which he is right. Many women would not think that this embodies the idea of carpe diem, but rather serves as a crude attempt to meet up with a girl. No matter what century we are in disturbing images like these will never be found attractive enough by a woman to make her interested.
The speaker is supposed to be writing a love poem to his wife, but the unmistakable criticism he places on her makes one wonder if this is really love he speaks of. It may not be a "traditional" love story, but he does not need to degrade his wife in this manner. Reading through this poem the first time made us feel defensive and almost angry at the speaker for criticizing his wife so badly. Although it is flattering to be the subject of a poem, we do not think many women would like to be written about in this way.
than love, the poem is in fact a parody of Carpe Diem love poetry and
She tells the girl to “walk like a lady” (320), “hem a dress when you see the hem coming down”, and “behave in front of boys you don’t know very well” (321), so as not to “become the slut you are so bent on becoming” (320). The repetition of the word “slut” and the multitude of rules that must be obeyed so as not to be perceived as such, indicates that the suppression of sexual desire is a particularly important aspect of being a proper woman in a patriarchal society. The young girl in this poem must deny her sexual desires, a quality intrinsic to human nature, or she will be reprimanded for being a loose woman. These restrictions do not allow her to experience the freedom that her male counterparts
Through his writing, Andrew Marvell uses several strategies to get a woman to sleep with him. In his seduction poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” Marvell first presents a problem and then offers his solution to the problem. Marvell sets up a situation in which he and his lover are on opposite sides of the world: “Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side/ Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide/ Of Humber would complain….” (5-7). He has set up a circumstance in which his lover is in India and he is in England; however, this situation can be interpreted as a metaphor for sexual distance. Marvell then goes on to profess his love for this woman, telling her that he will always love her, saying “...I would/ Love you ten years before the flood” (7-8) and saying that his “vegetable love should grow/ Vaster than empires and more slow” (11). This suggests that he is promising permanence in their relationship. In doing so, Marvell is also trying to pacify his lady’s fears of sexual relations. He wants his lover to feel secure and confident about having intercourse with him.
Throughout the entire poem, coyness is not regarded as an attractive behavior in the long term view of objective reality. Time is always of the essence, and death puts an end to all physical and emotional interactions between people. This is expressed in the line “that long-preserved virginity, and your quaint honor turn to dust, and into ashes all my lust” (Marvell). As time progresses, so does the process of decay, and this is what leads to the cycle of life and death. Marvell conveys both the biological and emotional need to propagate the concept of carpe diem, seizing the day and taking initiative in the face of time’s constant war against mortality.
The time that began the poem is completely shattered and served as a jolt of reality to the reader. Yet that raises a pertinent question: why is, in line 4, she is weaving a garland for “your living head”? In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women faced. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise. He encapsulates the societal mindset that men were dominant and women were there to benefit them. In all the allusions to the Greek myths, Zeus disguises himself in order to trick the women of his desires. The entitlement men felt towards women and their bodies was easily guised as the “social norm”. Embracing a wider meaning to “you” than just as a reference to a single person adds complexity to the poem; it creates a sense of universality. Not all women can identify with an act of violence
Lady Chudleighs’s “To the Ladies” exhibits a remorseful stance on the concept of joining holy matrimony. Chudleigh’s usage of metaphoric context and condescending tone discloses her negative attitude towards the roles of a wife once she is married. It is evident that Mary Chudleigh represents the speaker of the poem and her writing serves a purpose to warn single women not go get married and a regretful choice to women who are.
“Satire is a literary genre that has irony, sarcasm, ridicule or the like in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice.” The issue at hand is that women compared to men did not have the same fundamental rights and freedoms. Therefore, they could not have the same jobs or be completely independent. During the 18th century when the poem was written, sexism was common and a satirical poem became hard to comprehend due to the many biased views. Women thought of this as an attack against them further establishing that they were superior to men and men thought of this as a reason to keep status quo.
There is a similar theme running through both of the poems, in which both mistresses are refusing to partake in sexual intercourse with both of the poets. The way in which both poets present their argument is quite different as Marvell is writing from a perspective from which he is depicting his mistress as being 'coy', and essentially, mean, in refusing him sex, and Donne is comparing the blood lost by a flea bite to the blood that would be united during sex. Marvell immediately makes clear his thoughts in the poem when he says, "Had we but world enough, and time/ This coyness, Lady were no crime", he is conveying the 'carpe diem' idea that there is not enough time for her to be 'coy' and refuse him sexual intercourse and he justifies this thought when he suggests when she is dead, in ?thy marble vault?, and ?worms shall try that long preserved virginity?. He is using the idea of worms crawling all over and in her corpse as a way of saying that the worms are going to take her virginity if she waits until death. Donne justifies his bid for her virginity in a much longer and more methodical way, he uses the idea of the flea taking her blood and mixing it with his, ?It suck?d me first, and now sucks thee?, and then...
Response to His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is the charming depiction of a man who has seemingly been working very hard at seducing his mistress. Owing to Marvell's use of the word "coy," we have a clear picture of the kind of woman his mistress is. She has been encouraging his advances to a certain point, but then when he gets too close, she backs off, and resists those same advances. Evidently, this has been going on for quite some time, as Marvell now feels it necessary to broach the topic in this poem. He begins in the first stanza by gently explaining that his mistress's coyness would not be a "crime" if there were "world enough, and time…" (l.2).
In the case of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvall, a not-so-gentle gentleman is trying to woo a “coy” young lady with claims of love. This poem is strewn with hyperbole to the point that it becomes exactly the opposite of love. When there is such over exaggerated praise, it starts to lose the real meaning of the message. If you take a look at lines 13-18, you can see the obvious amplification:
After rereading several times, the poem reveals more than just a message, it reveals the author’s true nature as feminism. Feminist is about equality between men and women. Yet, in the poem, there is very little information about the men she mentioned. The poem is vastly about her or her own body, because she desperately focuses on her image. While she has no argument for men, what she said is a completely one-sided opinion.
In "To His Coy Mistress," Marvell makes use of allusion, metaphor, and grand imagery in order to convey a mood of majestic endurance and innovatively implicates the carpe diem motif. & nbsp; Previous carpe diem poems (such as those written by Robert Herrick at the same time period) often took an apostrophic form and style which stressed the temporality of youth. The logical extension was to urge the recipient of the poem to take advantage of that youth to further her relationship with the narrator. They were often dark and melancholy in theme, underneath a light exterior of euphony and springtime images (perhaps to urge consideration of the winter to come). & nbsp ; Marvell chooses not to employ many of these techniques in the opening of "To His Coy Mistress."
It is guaranteed To thumb shut your eyes at the end And dissolve of sorrow.” ” and it seems to be metaphorically saying that women are there for men to marry and they will be there to mourn their husband’s deaths. Women are supposed to be there for their men all the time, even after death. To add to this thought, line four in the fourth stanza to the last line in the fifth stanza says, “I notice you are stark naked. How about this suit-- Black and stiff, but not a bad fir. Will you marry it? It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof Against fire and bombs through the roof. Believe me, they’ll bury you in it.” In this section, the speaker offers the applicant a suit, which i’m assuming adds on to the marriage topic. Metaphorically saying that a man is naked until marriage and the suit represents the marriage. The speaker seems to be selling the idea of marriage as if it 's a cell phone, saying that it is waterproof, shatterproof, etc, even the line “Believe me, they’ll bury you in it” seems like it 's a lifetime
...l pleasure that matters over the woman’s. “So mi fuck her out hard when she position from back, worse de gul skin clean, yes and de pum pum fat.” Yet again this supports that idea that a woman is supposed to attract a man with her looks but also goes further to state that the power available to women is determined by her sexual nature in order to gain the achievement of being the women he wants. “Gi mi straight up pussy cause she know say gangsta no saps, it’s a fucking affair gal siddung pon mi cocky like chair,” this brings out the motion of objectification of women. In the last lines, “Wan mek a run but mi cab inna de air, Fling her pon de ground and put she foot inna de air” the action of taking control mentined clearly above eliminates the notion of respect of men towards women in this dyadic relation, which highlights women subordinate and inferior position.