ENGL 200 Week 8 Andrew Marvell

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)

Biography

• Born to an Anglican clergyman in Yorkshire.

• Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.

• Worked as a tutor in rural Yorkshire between 1650-52, during which he wrote most of his love lyrics and pastorals.

• Elected as a Member of Parliament for Hull, Yorkshire, in 1659, serving until his death.

• Many of his poems published posthumously in 1681 by someone claiming to be his widow.

"To His Coy Mistress" (1681)

Rhetorical Structure

1. Part 1 (Lines 1-20): "If…"

   • Introduces a hypothetical scenario about love.

   • uses the conditional mood to advance a hypothesis about love

   • employs hyperbole to satirize sonneteers’ propensity to idealize their lovers

2. Part 2 (Lines 21-32): "But…"

   • Shifts tone and addresses the reality of time.

   • manifests the tempus fugit motif to respond to hypothesis in Part 1

   • uses a pun on “quaint” to emphasize the sexual nature of the speaker’s desire

3. Part 3 (Lines 33-46): "So…"

   • Concludes with a call to action based on earlier points.

   • manifests the carpe diem motif to encourage his lover to have sex

   • manifests the memento mori motif to remind his lover of their morality

Literary Techniques

• Conditional Mood: Used to discuss possibilities in love.

• Hyperbole: Exaggerates feelings to satirize idealized portrayals of love.

  • Example: Overly dramatic expressions reflecting genuine desire.

• Motifs:

  • Tempus Fugit: Acknowledges the swift passage of time—"time flies."

  • Carpe Diem: Encourages immediate action, advocating for living in the moment—"seize the day."

  • Memento Mori: Reminds of mortality and the inevitable end—"remember you must die."

• Pun: Plays on the word "quaint," linking to sexual desire in a clever manner.

Motif and Meaning in Literature

Definitions and Examples

• Motif: Repeated elements that underscore central themes. Often a symbol, phrase, or idea within a literary work, sometimes called leitmotif in German literature.

  • Example: "Carpe Diem" (seize the day), from Horace's Odes.

• Pun: A play on words that creates humor or emphasis through ambiguity.

  • Example in Shakespeare: "A grave man" spoken by Mercutio indicating he will be dead.

Specific Language and Terms

• Queynte: An archaic term for female genitalia, linked to the word 'quaint.'

  • Usage in Chaucer's works: Represents both literal and metaphorical meanings.

• Oblique: Describes lines that intersect at one point, suggesting complexity or deviousness.

• Parallel: Describes lines that remain equidistant without crossing, suggesting harmony.

Side Notes

• the mistress is being coy about her virginity

To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love’s day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side

Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

       But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found;

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song; then worms shall try

That long-preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust;

The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

       Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapped power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Through the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.