Analysis of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and Sonnet by Elizabeth B. Browning
This assignment will examine two poems that were written before 1914.
The two poems I will be focussing on are 'To His Coy Mistress' by
Andrew Marvell and 'Sonnet' by Elizabeth B. Browning. In the essay I
will be looking at how both poems emphasise love but yet have very
different approaches as in the coy mistress the persona is trapping
his mistress into falling in love with him and uses tactics to try and
have a sexual relationship with her. However in the sonnet the persona
has a stronger love for her lover as the poem is more spiritual and
her idea of love is on a higher level - she does not refer to the
physical but she simply likes the idea of loving. I will be discussing
how the period of time that the poets lived in is reflected in their
attitudes to life - the tradition affecting the way they think or
possibly makes them rebellious towards tradition and to run away with
themselves i.e. existentialist views.
'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell is an intriguing poem that
captures the stereotypical view of men's attitude to women. The
persona is obsessed with a young female who is evidently very
beautiful and seductive but seems unwilling to let herself show or act
upon her feelings for him. He has tried so hard to show her that he
has the attitude and love that will make her happy. The poet is
basically saying that the persona is in love with this 'coy mistress'
and he will try anything for her to fall in love with him. The poet
talks about there being not enough time to think about the proposal
but to take a risk and run with the feelin...
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... end of the poem by its intensity. Marvell is clearly in control - of
himself and of the reader, Browning is at the mercy of her emotions.
The Coy Mistress is undoubtedly an amazing poem and it seems like
whatever you think or feel you can still agree with his way of
thinking and his constructive way of using wit, amusement and passion
shows how strong he felt about his mistress. However the Sonnet also
is a very endearing poem that entraps you into reading and makes you
feel quite optimistic about life and it is something that you read and
then afterwards you think 'wow'. The strength of feeling is so
passionate and the way she gets herself into a state of ecstasy is
amazing to think that someone could really become bewildered by the
power of love and it makes you think that it could possibly happen to
you one day.
the love he holds for her at the start of the play in his letter to
Stolen from their own homeland and thrown into a sailing ship towards a country of awaiting white masters, hundreds of black folks were to expect cruel hardships and withstand torturous situations, such as rape, starvation, and working without rest or pay. Being treated as something less than a human, instead, more as a tool, was considered normal far back in the year of 1761, when the revolution for freedom had not yet taken place. Considering this, June Jordan tells the tale of the first female black poet in her article, “The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America or Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley.” After describing the life of a slave, Jordan explains how Phillis came to be a Wheatley. Taken in by a white ‘nice’ couple, Suzannah and John Wheatley, decided to bid for a challenge in Phillis, a young seven year old girl. Then, Jordan
The imposition of the British aggressor is even made apparent through the structure of the work, the two sonnet form stanzas not only highlight the inadequacy of the loveless union, but with their Shakespearean rhyme scheme also imply the cultural dominance of English tradition. The use of half rhymes, such as ‘pulse’ and ‘burst’ or ‘pain’ and ‘within’ leaves the stanzas feel...
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
her and has been for a long time. He'd do anything for her, but he doesn't
is for Shakespeare to write this poem for a girl or woman he likes, to
He compares his love to a "vegetable," which means that it would not stray, but would grow "vaster than empires," and would do so more slowly (ll. 11-12). He claims that he would happily spend a hundred years praising her eyes, and gazing at her forehead. When that is over, he would spend two hundred years on each breast, and spend "thirty thousand to the rest" (l. 16). He then crowns this romantic hyperbole with the statement, "[f]or, lady, you deserve this state, /Nor would I love at a lower rate" (ll. 19-20). These statements serve to support one of the major themes of the poem:
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
Bender, Robert M., and Charles L. Squier, eds. The Sonnet: An Anthology. New York: Washington Square P, 1987.
Wood, Jane. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning And Shakespeare's Sonnet 130." Notes & Queries 52.1 (2005): 77-79. Humanities International Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Will's beloved is "more lovely and more temperate (18.2)" than a summer's day; "the tenth Muse (38.9);" "'Fair,' 'kind,' and 'true' (105.9);" the sun that shines "with all triumphant splendor (33.10)." We've heard all this before. This idealization of the loved one is perhaps the most common, traditional feature of love poetry. Taken to its logical conclusion, however, idealized love has some surprising implications.
In the poem "Sonnet 43" Elizabeth Browning uses the theme of of love to express her feelings about her husband, Robert Browning. One way she shows love to her husband is when she says "I love thee depth and breadth and height." The tone of her poem is happy and expresses her love to her husband. The style of her poem Sonnet 43 is an old English because she says "I love thee".
Shakespeare's sonnet collection runs the gamut of a host of playful tweaks of the usual, routine sonnet; each break from convention serves not only to emphasise his particular point of the moment, but enrich the reading experience for those familiar with the genre as it stood before Shakespeare's diversification. Sonnet 130 belongs to the 'dark mistress' group of the Sonnets, and is well-known and often selected for anthologies. This may possibly be because it conveys two opinions particularly beloved of Shakespeare — the purpose of this sonnet (indeed a number of the pieces of Shakespeare's sonnet arc cover this issue) is to challenge the conventional image of beauty of the era, which held pale skin and golden, wiry tresses to be the desirable zenith of female beauty. It is also, perhaps more importantly, seeking to challenge the almost wilfully insincere flattery demonstrated in the largely derivative sonnets in circulation in the author's time; Shakespeare replaces this with a genuine regard and affection as strong as any poet ever claimed in exaggeration.... ...
At the time of its writing, Shakespeare's one hundred thirtieth sonnet, a highly candid, simple work, introduced a new era of poems. Shakespeare's expression of love was far different from traditional sonnets in the early 1600s, in which poets highly praised their loved ones with sweet words. Instead, Shakespeare satirizes the tradition of comparing one's beloved to the beauties of the sun. From its opening phrase "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun", shocks the audience because it does not portray a soft, beautiful woman. Despite the negative connotations of his mistress, Shakespeare speaks a true woman and true love. The sonnet is a "how-to" guide to love.
In Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, the speaker ponders the beauty, or the lack thereof, of his lover. Throughout the sonnet, the speaker presents his lover as an unattractive mistress with displeasing features, but in fact, the speaker is ridiculing, through the use of vivid imagery, the conventions of love poems and the way woman are portrayed through the use of false comparisons. In the end, the speaker argues that his mistress may not be perfect, but in his eyes, her beauty is equal to any woman who is abundantly admired and put through the untrue comparison.