The Sun Rising by John Donne and To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
John Donne and Andrew Marvell were two of the most outstanding of the
English Metaphysical poets of their era. In both of the poems to which
this piece of extended writing refers, highly intellectual and complex
imagery is used to make us discover the hidden meanings behind their
unconventional love poetry. Both poems were written at a similar
period, and though both authors were similar in ways, there are also
points of diversity.
John Donne was a renowned clergyman, loved and respected greatly for
his ingenious fusion of wit and humour he injected into both his
sermons and his poetry. Donne's work was widely published during his
life and though shunned by his family for renouncing the Roman
Catholic tradition, attending both Oxford and Cambridge and receiving
no degrees and a shocking secret marriage to Anne More, Donne managed
to make a healthy living and laugh at his mishaps. The poet, in
characteristic pun later summed up the latter experience as, 'John
Donne, Anne Donne, undone.'
By way of contrast, Andrew Marvell was the son of a working vicar. He
attended college but after the death of his father, he decided to
travel from country to country in an unsettled manner. Not much is
known about Marvell as prior to his death, very few of his works had
been published. From what is recorded though, we believe that during
these 5 years in which he spent travelling between Holland, Italy,
France and Spain, he wrote all of his poetry that has now become well
known. After his travels he applied for a job as assistant secretary
to the council of state and after 4...
... middle of paper ...
...eader enjoys
the image of the dominating sun being told to change because someone
is in love and wants more time to live.
In conclusion, both poems are well written in different aspects with
similar boasting and condescending personification of the sun. I think
the more successful of the two is 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew
Marvell because of its flowing techniques and winning structured
argument in comparison to the more confusing and muddled, 'The Sun
Rising' by John Donne. I believe that Marvell would be more likely to
succeed in getting his mistress to sleep with him (as long as she is
intelligent enough to see past the intense imagery but somehow blinded
to the obvious fact that the sole reason for this literary exercise is
in fact, that) than Donne is to have the sun obey him and the world in
his bedroom.
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough traces the early life of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. McCullough examines Theodore's love of the outdoors, his health problems, and his family relations. He also discusses Theodore's time at Harvard University, his first marriage, and his entrance into politics. These experiences helped shape and influence Roosevelt's later years, as President of the United States and other political positions.
People who are unaware of their situations and don’t question anything are easily lured in by their foes who use their weaknesses to cause their downfall. The main character in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, is drawn in from her need to rebel against her family, only to find herself in an unfortunate situation she could not control. In Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado”, the main character lures his foe in for revenge, choosing to murder him in secret instead using legal channels and giving no evidence to the outside world that his foe is dead. Arnold Friend and Montresor lure their victims to them in a similar way: by pretending to be friendly and succeeding in leading to their down fall by using their weaknesses (men for Connie and wine for Fortunato) against them.
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
In the stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both women suffer through expectations brought on by society and the ideas of marriage. Emily loses her sanity trying to obtain love and live up to the expectations of society. Emily kills the man she loved so that he would never leave, and so that she could maintain her reputation. She was put on a pedestal, and that pedestal would end up being her destruction. Louise is a woman afflicted by heart problems, which could relate her unhappiness. After losing her husband she starts to feel free; however when her husband walks through the door she dies. Louise was a prisoner of societies making, she was never given a voice. She could never explain her unhappiness because women were expected to love and obey their husband’s without complaints. Marriage to these women meant different things, although the idea of marriage damaged both women. Louise and Emily were women damaged by the pressures of who they are expected to be.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
The time and way people are brought up in society makes a huge difference on how they will climb up the social scale in life. In the classic novel House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton and Call it Sleep, by Henry Roth the main characters experience totally different upbringings into society. While Lily Bart is brought up into a high class society, David is born into an immigrant family in a part of the city, which has similar people as his own country. The two characters in the novels both have different and some similar views on how to climb up on the social scale. Although they would give different advice to each other on how to climb the social scale, and have different views on life, one thing that would be common would be to have money.
“The Love of My Life,” by T.C. Boyle, tells a love story about a teen couple who has to go on separate ways to attend college. Earlier, they go on a camping trip and have unprotected sex. China finds out she is pregnant and tells Jeremy about it. Jeremy tells China to terminate her pregnancy, but China refuses to see a doctor and lets her pregnancy advance. She ends having her baby in a motel room without any medical assistance; just with Jeremy’s help she delivers her baby. The couple decides to dump the baby in a dumpster, and later they get arrested for their crime.
In order to climb up the ladder of society, people oppress those characteristics that lead them to failure. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, homosexuality was seeing as a mental disease of the human race. Homosexuals did not fit in the schema of the American family. Tennessee Williams, in his play “The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof”, shows the effects of society´s views on homosexuals through the main character Brick. In addition to Williams´ play, the theatrical work, “Doubt” by John Shanley, also depicts the struggles that an African American kid undergoes in order to suppress his sexuality. Both plays show two characters in different social classes and from different races trying to survive the denial of society towards their sexual orientation. Through their oppression by male hegemony and with the help of the maternal figure in each play, both Brick and Donald struggle to overcome their fear of acceptance.
The Signalman by Charles Dickens, The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The two stories I chose are A&P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce. Both stories tell a tale of social and philosophical differences of middle class adolescent boys, when compared to the adults in the stories.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
In the short stories "The Story of an Hour," by Chopin and "A Rose for
Bliss and Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield and Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
A Comparison of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress and John Donne's The Sunne Rising
suffered her entire life and what she did; she did for love of one man