Robert Herricks And To Coy His Mistress By Andrew Marvell
1173 Words5 Pages
Adriana Medina Enl 318
October 7, 2014 Prof. Feola
Make The Most of One’s Time Make the most of the current time and don’t think too much about the future. This is the initial message in Carpe diem poems. The attitude in these poems makes us aware that we don’t have all the time in the world, time is passing quickly, life is short and soon enough decay and death will come, so take advantage of the time we are given and live life to the fullest. Robert Herricks, “ To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” and Andrew Marvell’s, “ To Coy His Mistress,” both express the idea of Carpe Diem. In Herrick’s poem he is addressing all the young women who are virgins to get married before it is too late. Marvell on the other hand is addressing…show more content… In the first stanza Herrick emphasizes the idea that time quickly running out, and that these young virgin women should experience life, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a flying.” He emphasizes the fact that time is running out quickly and is making a big deal of it because after life comes death. So do all you can before death approaches. Herrick expresses this with the use of personification, And this flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying. He gives a flower the human quality of smiling. In the first stanza the flowers life span is being compared to the shortness of a humans life. In the second stanza, more personification is being used. “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he’s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting.’’ He the lamp of heaven is a metaphor for the sun. The sun is running a race in the sky. As the sun goes farther through the sky the closer the sun will be to setting. This is translated to a human’s life. The older a person gets the closer they are to dying. In the third stanza, Herrick emphasizes one’s age with warmth. He suggests that the best age is when you’re young when “youth and blood are warmer.” Youth is the best time of life verses when you’re old and closer to death; when you’re dead you’re body is cold and when you’re alive it is warmer. The…show more content… We get that sense from the opening of the poem, “Had we but world enough, and time.” Like Herrick’s poem, Marvell’s poem is broken up into stanzas but Marvell’s poem only consists of three stanzas and Herrick’s poem consists of four. With Marvell’s poem he is speaking of one woman rather than women like Herrick’s poem. Marvell compliments and woos his beloved and tells her that there isn’t much time and everything that he wants to do for her cannot be done with the amount of time he is given. “Times winged chariot hurrying near.” The speaker acts, as a hero throughout the poem and time is the enemy that he must beat. For him to win he must have sex which is the superpower in defeating time. He uses words like “Devour” to express how he feels about time and how he could conquer. Breaking down each stanza Marvell begins with telling his beloved her shyness would be no crime if they had all the time in the world. He also expresses everything he would do for his beloved if he had all the time in the world. He would adore parts of her body and give them long lasting
today. “YOLO” or you only live once was most popular when Drake, a rapper, released his song in 2011. ““Stop and smell the roses” was a song that was donated to Start