Analysis of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and Sonnet by Elizabeth B. Browning

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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...

... middle of paper ...

... 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.

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