To His Coy Mistress

588 Words2 Pages

Seduction has been the game most played through out the centuries, as males attempt to convince and invite females into their beds. In Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and Donne's "The Flea", the speakers, propose a peccadilloes offer, which is so cunningly backed up by a liberalistic argument and is presented to each female when the generous request has been declined. These arguments are designed to induce thoughts of a carnal nature. The persuasions used by each are completely different but are structured entirely for one purpose. To corner or trick the maiden into saying "Yes". Though both arguements are supurb, Marvell's has a nicer, refined style to it. In "To His Coy Mistress" and "The Flea", there is an exemplification of just how crafty men can be during the hunt. The speakers, in both poems, makes a "modest" but declinable offer for sex to their maiden of choice. And, upon rejection, each male begins a fluent yet rhetoric arguments on why the maiden should accept his simple offer of passion. For Marvell, the argument was that there wasn't enough time left in the world, and that the maiden should partake in indulgence before it is too late." But at my back I always hear/ Times winged Charriot hurrying near"(lines 21-22). He also states the unpleasuarble thought of the worms enjoying her verginity instead of him. Suggesting that if she continues to waste time she will die a virgin. "then Worms shall try/ that long preserv'd Virginity:"(lines 27-28). Whereas Donne's argument revolves around a metaphorical flea. Which as claimed by the speaker, represents his union with the maiden in matrimony, since the flea has taken blood from them both."It suck'd me first and now sucks thee/And in this flea our two bloods mingled be"(lines 3-4). And, since their bloods have already mingled together, intercourse with him wouldn't be a sin and no honor would be lost if she yields to him."Though know'st that this cannot be said/A sin nor shame nor loss of maidenhood:" (lines 5-6) Though however similar the gist of the poems might be, the art of seduction used by each speaker is quite different. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" seems to change his tone of persuasion rapidly from stanza to stanza. At first he is sweet, comming across as a gentleman and overstating how many ages he would spent on a single part of her anatomy "A hundred years should go to praise/Thine Eyes.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Tone in To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time and To His Coy Mistress

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and “To His Coy Mistress” are different. In Herrick’s poem, his tone is relaxed. For instance when he writes, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, /Old times is still a-flying,” his word choice has a very relaxed and casual tone. His attitude reflects the relaxed tone in his poem. In Marvell’s poem, his tone is serious. Marvell’s purpose is to persuade his mistress to have sex with him. He tries to lure her in when saying, “Had we but World enough, and Time.” He starts out very seriously, in attempt to convince his mistress. The relaxed tone of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and serious tone of “To His Coy Mistress” point out the difference in the way the writers feel about their characters.

    Read More

  • Explication of John Donne's The Flea

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his significant other.  However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests seem insignificant.  John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and rhyme scheme.  In the beginning, Donne uses the flea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other.  For instance, in the first stanza a flea bites the speaker and woman.  He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this flea our bloods mingled be."

    Read More

  • Courtly Love in Meg Bogin’s "The Women Troubadours"

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tone of the poem is conversational and pert written in a plain, informal style. Neither voice uses a lot of poetic imagery in any of the verses and the language is considerably colloquial not employing metaphor and ambiguity in terms of the meaning. A question is posed as the introduction and the address is clear; Lady Maria implores Gui D’ussel to engage with her in this dialogue and confronts him with questions regarding the dynamic of lovers. The taunting tone of the dialogue is suggestive of a courting between the two, however, it is not explicit about the nature of the relationship as they do not, on any occasion specify the lady and man in question. The ambiguity that does exist revolves around the authors’ position in the text and whether or not they are debating about courtly love in particular or whether the generality of the “lady” and “man” in question are their potential selves.

    Read More

  • Comparison of how The Flea and To His Coy Mistress Present and Develop the Poets' Arguments

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is a similar theme running through both of the poems, in which both mistresses are refusing to partake in sexual intercourse with both of the poets. The way in which both poets present their argument is quite different as Marvell is writing from a perspective from which he is depicting his mistress as being 'coy', and essentially, mean, in refusing him sex, and Donne is comparing the blood lost by a flea bite to the blood that would be united during sex. Marvell immediately makes clear his thoughts in the poem when he says, "Had we but world enough, and time/ This coyness, Lady were no crime", he is conveying the 'carpe diem' idea that there is not enough time for her to be 'coy' and refuse him sexual intercourse and he justifies this thought when he suggests when she is dead, in ?thy marble vault?, and ?worms shall try that long preserved virginity?. He is using the idea of worms crawling all over and in her corpse as a way of saying that the worms are going to take her virginity if she waits until death. Donne justifies his bid for her virginity in a much longer and more methodical way, he uses the idea of the flea taking her blood and mixing it with his, ?It suck?d me first, and now sucks thee?, and then...

    Read More

  • Ruined Maid and To His Coy Mistress

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ruined Maid and To His Coy Mistress Both the “Ruined Maid” and “To His Coy Mistress” provide us with disturbing images / pictures of love, sex and relationships as I am about to explain. The “Ruined Maid” was written by Thomas Hardy in 1866, during the time when women didn’t have sex before marriage and they were thrown out of their village for being “ruined”. The public at that point in history had a very strict view of sex and marriage. They thought that women in particular should never have sex before marriage and they should have everything taken off them for being “ruined”.

    Read More

  • Response to His Coy Mistress

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    flattery with an aim toward seduction. He uses such grandiose statements to help his mistress understand that he truly cares for her enough to spend hundreds of years simply gazing at her. However, this leads to a problem, as there is simply not the time available. This causes Marvell in the second stanza to remind his mistress that always her hears at his back "[t]ime's wing'ed chariot hurrying near" (ll. 21-22). This lets her know gently, but in ... ...

    Read More

  • Comparing The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Marvel to His Mistress: Carpe Diem!

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress," he's arguing for affection. The object of the speaker's desire wants to wait and take the relationship slow, while the speaker pushes for instant gratification. This persuasive poem makes the point that time waits for no one and it's foolish for two lovers to postpone a physical relationship.

    Read More

  • Love in To His Coy Mistress and Remember

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love in To His Coy Mistress and Remember On first outlook it would be to His Coy Mistress and remember both. share the topic of love. They seem to be of direct relevance to each. other, whereas upon closer inspection, To His Coy Mistress does not.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    And in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks." (Lines 7-8) expresses his mistress' dire need for a breath mint. These comparisons give one a vivid description of his mistress' lacking beauty, and sets one up for the couplet at the end of... ... middle of paper ... ... manner, making them focus primarily on the lacking, yet lustful, physical attributes of his mistress.

    Read More

  • Explication of John Donne's The Flea

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the surface, John Donne’s poem “The Flea” dramatizes the conflict between two people on the issue of premarital sex, however, under the surface, the poem uses religious imagery to seduce the woman into having sex. The speaker in this poem is a man, who is strategically trying to convince a woman to have premarital sex with him through the conceit based on a flea, however, the coy lady has thus far yielded to his lustful desires. The speaker’s argument has the form of logic, which contradicts to its outrageous content.

    Read More

  • To His Coy Mistress

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Flea By John Donne Analysis

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first stanza, Donne uses extended metaphors to get his point across about the flea. The first stanza speaks of how the writer and the woman become one after being bitten by the flea. This stanza begins with “Mark but this flea, and mark in this,” punish the flea, and punish only the flea. “How little that which thou deniest me is,” she denies his sexual advances which means little to her. “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be,” the flea bites them both causing their blood to mix together inside the flea. The mixing of the blood cannot be a sin, or shame, or lose of virginity therefore; neither should it be for their other bodily to mix together, “A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead.”

    Read More

  • Use of Conceit in The Flea, by John Donne

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Donne, an English poet and clergyman, was one of the greatest metaphysical poets. His poetry was marked by conceits and lush imagery. The Flea is an excellent example of how he was able to establish a parallel between two very different things. In this poem, the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing the consequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant fleabite. He uses the flea as an argument to illustrate that the physical relationship he desires is not in itself a significant event, because a similar union has already taken place within the flea. However, if we look beneath the surface level of the poem, Donne uses the presence of the flea as a comparison to the presence of a baby, thus making the sub textual plot about aborting the baby.

    Read More

  • Formalistic Approach To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about To His Coy Mistress

Open Document