To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and One Flesh by Elizabeth Jennings Essay Example

than about love itself" [Alvarez]. Marvell's structure is based in a syllogistic logic: -(If A is true.

..)(...

then B is true)(But, A is not true ...)(..

.therefore, B is not true).E.g. Had we but world enough, and time,This coyness, Lady, were no crime.But at my back I always hearTime's winged chariot hurrying near;The first stanza is based on Marvell flattering his love.

He starts off the poem by saying 'Had we but world enough, or time, This coyness lady were no crime' - this means that if Marvell had enough time then it would not matter that his girlfriend is reluctant as he could spend forever convincing her to love him. In the end, time doesn't matter.'Thou by the Indian Ganges side, Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide' - this uses the typical clich� that you can be very far apart but the love you have for reach other keeps them together. It also means that nature is beautiful.

On the sixth line it says 'I by the tide, Of Humber would complain'. That is a medieval allusion and a term for 'a love song' and Marvell is being sarcastic about it. Also, Humber is a contrast with 'Indian Ganges' which he mentions a few lines before. Indian Ganges is the mighty, splendid, sacred Indian River.

Humber, by comparison is a dreary, unspectacular river passing through Hull. So here Marvell uses contrast and flatters her by giving her the more colourful and exotic river.'And you should, if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews' - this means that he would not complain about waiting to reveal his love and would even wait till the

conversion of the Jews, but at the same time he is pointing out that this would not happen.When he says 'My vegetable love should grow, Vaster than Empires, and more slow' he is saying that is love for her will go on forever and it is not concrete - his love is alive and living. He starts flattering his love by saying "An hundred years should go to praise thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred years to adore each Breast: But thirty thousand to the rest".

That is another medieval allusion to old fashioned poetry. People believe that by saying 'Thine eyes' it is a key to a woman's soul. Traditionally, in the 1640s, all men found women's breasts beautiful. At the end of that medieval allusion, the ting that Marvell wants to capture is his love's heart; 'An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart.' Right after the medieval allusion Marvell shows that he does not want just a cheap relationship because he says "For lady you deserve this state".In the second section Marvell starts to change the argument.

He starts frightening his love by talking about death. First he uses Apollo's saying - "Times winged Chariot". This refers to when Apollo is driving up the sun in his chariot. He mentions death first and says: "Deserts of vast eternity".

This is an avid image and means that there will be no more bodies for them to love once they die. Then Marvell criticises her by telling her that she will not be beautiful when she dies, and that he will not be writing

any more poems for her once she is dead: "Thy Beauty shall no more be found; Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound my echoing song".In this poem Marvell likes to include nearly every detail of his love's body - "And your quaint Honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust". In this line 'quaint' has two meanings to it. The first meaning is 'vagina'.

He is saying that the worms will have her body, not him. The second meaning to 'quaint' is prim or old-fashioned.The sentence "And into ashes all my lust" is a reference to Christian burial service. Marvell then starts being ironic and says "The Grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace". He is being ironic as privacy is hard for young people in his day but the 1640s tombs were like marble rooms - though the people in them are dead.In the final section the word "therefore" is used to make the act of love seem logical and right.

The first two lines state that: - "Now therefore, while the youthful hue, Sits on thy skin like morning dew". He is referring to her beautiful, youthful skin. This is shown more when he says "And while thy willing soul transpires, At every pore with instant fires", saying that her soul is burning for her to lose her virginity.In the next line it says "Now let us sport us while we may". Marvell is saying that they should not wait to make love, but instead go for it.The line "Our sweetness up into one ball", defines the ball as a perfect shape showing the

perfection of love.

Also, "up into one ball" is a metaphor comparing their need for love to a 'cannon ball' which was the new weapon in the civil war which broke down the old castles.The last but one line "And tear our pleasures with rough strife, Through the Iron gates of Life" expresses that he will break through any social barrier to get to what he wants. And on the final line "Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run", states that they cannot stop time passing but they can and should make the most if it and live.Now I am going to compare 'To His Coy Mistress' with the poem 'One Flesh'.

One Flesh is written by Elizabeth Jennings. Elizabeth Jennings prefers to write in traditional forms. The opening words of this poem immediately suggests the situation to the reader - 'Lying apart now, each in a separate bed'. This immediately undermines the idea of 'One flesh'. But the word 'now' tells us that it is not always like this."He with a book, keeping the light on late, She like a girl dreaming of childhood, All men elsewhere".

The poet suggests that the two parents live different lives too - he 'with a book' and she 'with childhood dreams' where men do not exist. This is a very important line because it shows that the mother has no interest in physical love. And so this links to the poem 'To His Coy Mistress' because Marvell's girlfriend too wasn't intending on having sex with him and that is why he is persuading her to. A further link to

'To His Coy Mistress' is where the child, who is observing her parents' separation, mentions that they are too waiting for their death - "it is as if they wait some new event". But we are not sure that this is what they are waiting for as we only have Jennings point of view. This link has two sides to it because it also means that the parents have lived a long life so death is the only 'new' experience they have left.

This is opposite to 'His Coy Mistress' where death is used to frighten the lady into experiencing what life has to offer. The poems are at opposite ends of life.When we read that the father's book is 'unread', we realize that the mention of his book in line two did not mean that he was actually reading it.She looks at the 'shadows overhead'. All this adds to the fact that they are both preoccupied with private thoughts, unlike Marvell's poem. Every line in this stanza is emphasising their separation from each other.

Marvell has shown that his girlfriend and he are attracted to, and love, each other. This is also shown in 'One Flesh' because it says "Silence between them like a thread to hold and not wind in". This means that they have no need to pull the thread together anymore because they know that they love each other. In this poem there does not seem to be much attraction between them at all as the daughter sees them.

"...it is like a confession of having little feeling - or too much".

This could mean that they have nothing to say to each

other or communicate about either because they are no longer in love, or they have had a loving relationship for so long they do not need to express their love any further.In the third stanza the speaker uses the word 'strangely' twice in the same line. This indicates that the child cannot explain her parents' state. That might suggest that their bodies are far apart, but their souls are close together.The metaphors on lines fifteen to sixteen - "And time itself's a feather Touching them gently" means that they are not worried that they are going to die.

"Do they know they're old," - this shows that they are both peaceful about their life.This is opposite to 'To His Coy Mistress' as Marvell is telling his girlfriend not to waste time, as they have so little, so they might as well spend what little time they have loving each other. The couple in 'One Flesh' haven't really thought about it that way. It is as if they haven't realized that time is passing by.The speaker in 'One Flesh' also adds the thought of herself and her own conception by saying: -"Do they know they're old,These two who are my father and motherWhose fire from which I came from, has now grown cold?"Here the speaker is wondering at the silence and separation of her parents and pondering on the fact that she was conceived from their 'former passion'.

The use of rhyme in 'old' and 'cold' links to the concept of old age (old) and lack of passion (the fire of passion is cold). This is the opposite of 'To His Coy Mistress' as Marvell shows in

his poem that there is a lot of passion between him and his girlfriend - "...And into ashes all my lust".Overall, I preferred the poem 'One Flesh' as it is much easier to understand and I also really like the way that Elizabeth Jennings uses words to describe the situation to the reader right at the start of the poem - "Lying apart now, each in a separate bed...".I liked the poem 'To His Coy Mistress' because Marvell is not just begging his lover throughout the whole poem but he also talks about death.