Ap English Poetry Essay

1346 Words6 Pages
English Poetry Essay Choose a poem which appealed to you because it was striking – show which techniques the poet has used to capture your interest and engage your feelings “To His Coy Mistress” is a piece of metaphysical poetry written by Andrew Marvell. This poem, like most metaphysical poetry, makes use of original images and has a very profound meaning behind it. “To His Coy Mistress” is particularly striking because of the deeper themes that it deals with, such as mortality and the idea of “carpe diem”, as well as the unique imagery used throughout and the interesting structure and progression of the poem. The use of the image “vegetable love” is very effective in capturing the reader’s interest. “Vegetable” is not usually the…show more content…
The rhyming in this poem is very well structured and continues in the same fashion throughout the poem, e.g. “time...crime”, “way...day.” The fact that the rhyme scheme lasts throughout the entire poem is a parallel to the way that the speaker’s love for “his coy mistress” endures. This engages the reader’s feelings because since the rhyme scheme is so dependable and trustworthy, there is sincerity in his expression of his pure love for her, even though the poem is mostly about his lust and desire. This reminds us that behind all of the lust and fantasy, there is an enduring love for the…show more content…
The poem’s theme appears to be about unrequited love and a man wooing his “coy mistress” to sleep with him, but this poem does has a deeper meaning, which is really impressive and therefore is striking. The theme of mortality is highlighted in this poem through word choice and by using imagery which reinforces the idea of death. Words relating to death such as “ ashes” and “grave” are used to emphasise the lack of time that we have and the stark contrast between the slow, idyllic first stanza and the sped up, heavier second stanza shows the difference between the idealistic eternity and the reality that we are all mortal and have to die at some point. Another deeper theme introduced is the idea of “carpe diem” which is shown through the lustier language in the poem, word choice such as “time devour”, and also through the quickened pace of the second stanza. The speaker is not simply asking the “coy mistress” to sleep with him, what he is saying is if there was all the time in the world then life would be ideal but there is not so they have to live for the moment. He loves her, but there is not time for her coyness and

More about Ap English Poetry Essay

Open Document