Herrick And Marvell
"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Rober
Herrick and Andrew
Marvell’s "To His Coy Mistress" have many similarities
and differences.
The tone of the speakers, the audience each poem is
directed to, and the theme
make up some of the literary elements that help
fit this description. 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.
Both poems are directed to two different
audiences. In "To the Virgins, to
Make Much of Time" Herrick is speaking
to all virgins. He never addresses
anybody personally. In "To His Coy
Mistress" Marvell is addressing his
mistress personally. He wrote the poem
for his mistress to convince her to
become intimate with him. The difference
makes a change because now Herrick’s
poem affects the reader (depending on if
she is female) since it refers to all
virgins. However, Marvell’s poem does
not since he is referring to one
particular individual. The them of "To the
Virgins, to Make Much of Time"
and "To His Coy Mistress" is carpe diem. The
carpe diem them states, "life
is brief, so let us seize the day." In "To the
Virgins, to Make Much of
Time" Herrick simply states: Then be not coy,
but use your time, And, while ye
may, go marry; For, having lost but once
your prime, You may forever tarry.
Herrick is telling all of the your
virgins to go out and have sex in their prime
because if they do not, they
will regret not having sex when they had the chance
to. In "To His Coy
Mistress" the theme of carpe diem is apparent. "Now
therefore, while the
youthful hew/.../Now let us sport us while we may."
Marvell is telling
his mistress that they need to have sex while they can
because if she waits
any longer, they will not be able to be intimate. Both
Herrick and
Marvell use the theme of carpe diem in their poetry. By using
different
literary techniques, a poet can give his/her piece an edge.
Robert
Herrick and Andrew Marvel use different techniques to make their
poems unique.
Tone, audience, and theme are some literary elements used
in "To the Virgins,
to Make Much of Time" and "To His Coy Mistress." The
differences and
similarities between the two poems point out that the poet’s
have their own
unique style, however, sometimes they can be similar as
well.