Comparison of To His Coy Mistress and The Ruined Maid
'To His Coy Mistress' is written by Andrew Marvell in the 17th
Century. Marvell was one of the so-called metaphysical poets - a term
of mild literary abuse coined by Dr. Johnson. 'The Ruined Maid' was
written by Thomas Hardy in 1866. It is important to analyse the theme,
language, tone, characters and style of both poems in order to compare
and contrast them.
'To His Coy Mistress' is a lyric of seduction. It is about a young man
who tries to persuade a young girl to have sex with him. It seems that
he has made an attempt but fails, because the girl is unwilling to
yield her virginity.
The poem is an example of a carpe diem poem - 'carpe diem' is Latin
for 'seize the day'. The man expresses his sadness at the thought of
swiftly passing time and the shortness of life. He wants to persuade
the girl to grab the time that they have.
The poem splits up into three sections with different moods. The first
section contains lots of flatteries. Marvell has already expressed the
main point of this poem at the first two lines, 'Had we but world
enough and time, this coyness, Lady, were no crime.' He is saying that
if there is time, he can wait. He understands the young girl's modesty
and she wants to keep her virginity. The poem is lustful as the man
keeps on flattering the girl; he says that he could operate within the
confines of conventional courtship and devote appropriate time to
worship of her. 'Two hundred to adore each breast'. He assured her
that she deserves the most elaborate courtship imaginable - 'For lady,
you deserve this state'. He will spend lots of time waiting for her;
if there is 'time'.
However, the second section begins with a huge ...
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...coy mistress. However, the mistress might be
a rich woman and she might be happy with her present life while she
keeps her virginity. In general, the man is the one who is
disappointed if he cannot have sex with her.
In the ruined maid, Hardy is quite successful in teasing society's
hypocrisy in condemning prostitution. One may have a better life and
better position as a prostitute. However, in my opinion, I think
reputation is an important thing for women. I would tease the ruined
maid as well. I would rather be a poor country girl than a prostitute.
Even if she has a better life and is rich, she is totally shameful and
condemned by the public. Losing her virginity is an indignity, as is
being as 'ruined'. Not only should the prostitutes be blamed, but also
the men who pay them for sex should be humiliated. The men's
reputation should also be ruined.
much money as they do. They treat her like she is in a lower class. Just because she doesn't have money does not give people the right to
The perception of beauty has changed these past few centuries, but warping stereotypes does not eliminate them. Current media shows such through films like Frankenstein and The Village, which show how monsters are portrayed. Cosmetics allow consumers to conceal unwanted facial or body features. Although viewpoints and tones are different in "Lusus Naturae" and "My mistress’ eyes", they both show humanity’s perspectives on beauty.
The. Maybe it is a genuine love poem to his mistress, sort of. offer of a way of life. Both concepts, though, underline the point. simplistic romanticism of the poem.
unlikable character that one finds it hard to believe that she would marry him for anything
meaning as long as the poem will exist and be read, the girl (who the
In the Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates the different perspective between men and women on the concept of marriage and love. In The Wife of Bath’s tale, it is shown the woman appreciating marriage and wanting to be able to love a man unconditionally as where in The Miller’s Tale, love isn’t anything, but sex with the man in the story. In accordance with Chaucer, the complication with marriage is that men are consumed by sexual desire and are easily abused by women like The Wife of Bath. As noticed, The Miller’s Tale is all about adultery. “Just like men, the wives have secrets, as does God”, says the Miller. Both have information that the other do not know about that are sacred and better left unsaid.
In the poem “To His Coy Mistress”, the speaker is trying to seduce his wife. In the assumption the mistress is his wife; she is being bashful towards losing her virginity. The speaker, which is the mistress’s husband, develops a carefully constructed argument where the speaker seeks to persuade his lady to surrender her virginity to him.
My first vacation out of the United States was to a resort in Cancun, Mexico. My family had just landed from a grueling connecting flight and we were all in foul moods. My brother, sister, and I were complaining about our legs being sore. While, my mom and dad were arguing about where to go. After the heated discussion, we found a bus that was going to the resort. My family and I gathered our luggage and packed it on the crowded charter. Unexpectedly, the most profound part of my trip was the short twenty minute ride to the resort. As soon as we left the airport, I was struck by the immediate poverty. The airport had shielded us from the most evident displays of impoverishment. One of the most striking instances was a naked woman bathing in a filthy river with an infant. I saw this no more than five minutes away from our resort which seemed unbelievable. Just looking out the window of the charter made my siblings and I quickly stop complaining about our legs. The short bus ride showed me the unfairness of the world. Why had I seemingly been given everything and this infant given nothing? This experience taught me gratitude at a young age. Just how I
The 16th century marks the end of the Middle Ages and opens the world to a different point of view. While the focus of the Middle Ages was mainly religion, the Renaissance centers on new ideas concerning the human life. More and more people learn to read and enjoy the stories of the Antiquity, allowing them to base their ideas and stories in the old stories, while also expanding them and relating it to the man of the 16th century. One of the great writes of the Antiquity was Horace, whose theme of Carpe Diem or seize the day, has been taken on by many Renaissance writers, including Pierre de Ronsard. In many of his poems, for instance in the “Ode to Cassandre” and “Quand vous serez bien vieille…”, Ronsard uses the theme of Carpe Diem in order to illustrate to his muses the shortness of life and beauty, urging them to accept his love without wait.
The Flea and To His Coy Mistress are two poems written by poets living during the Renaissance Period. To His Coy Mistress was written by Andrew Marvell and The Flea was written by John Donne. Both of these poets were well-educated 'metaphysical poets', and these poems illustrate metaphysical concerns, highly abstract and theoretical ideas, that the poets would have been interested in. Both poems are based around the same idea of trying to reason with a 'mistress' as to why they should give up their virginity to the poet.
The overall gist of "To His Coy Mistress" is established in the opening stanza of the poem. It describes a sceneario where a girl has the option to either give in to the young persuaders sexua...
At the start, the first stanza of the poem is full of flattery. This is the appeal to pathos. The speaker is using the mistress's emotions and vanity to gain her attention. By complimenting her on her beauty and the kind of love she deserves, he's getting her attention. In this first stanza, the speaker claims to agree with the mistress - he says he knows waiting for love provides the best relationships. It feels quasi-Rogerian, as the man is giving credit to the woman's claim, he's trying to see her point of view, he's seemingly compliant. He appears to know what she wants and how she should be loved. This is the appeal to ethos. The speaker seems to understand how relationships work, how much time they can take, and the effort that should be put forth. The woman, if only reading stanza one, would think her and the speaker are in total agreement.
This is a long one-stanza narrative poem. All the lines have five stresses and are written in iambic pentameter or blank verse, which was also Shakespeare's chosen meter in his plays.
The title of the poem is a reference to the work of Shakespeare, in particular Macbeth. The title is the opening two words from the start of Macbeth’s monologue after the death of his
Structure, a major tool stressed in this poem, tends to rearrange the text in a large-scale way. In "To His Coy Mistress", the reader should focus on the most significant types of structure: stanza and temporal. In other words, time and chronological order assemble the whole meaning of the text throughout the poem. Although the story contains seduction and intimacy, which is portrayed in the title alone, it is merely a cry for two lovers to be together before time runs out. Temporally, the man first explains to the woman how he would love her if he only had the time. The man's sincerity is truly expressed when Marvell writes, "Had we but world enough, and time...I would love you ten years before the flood...nor would I love at lower rate," (373: 1, 7-8, 20). It seems that the man genuinely cares for the lady, or is he secretly seducing her into bed? Taking a look at the second stanza...