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Essay / The logic of metaphor in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”
Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" was written when Cromwell's Calvinism limited freedom and free will, and the poem illustrates an unconventional assertion of love and sexual propositions, while validating the demand to give in to the sexual activity with three “arguments”, structured in stanzas. These segments of the poem consider what would happen if the speaker and his beloved had eternity, the reality of life's brevity, and the potential joy of sexual union. Marvell employs a range of linguistic and stylistic devices to support his central method of sexual imagery. The poem's enhancement brought about by its use of enigmatic metaphors in rhyming couplets in iambic tetrameter leads us to wonder whether Marvell is condemning deceptive male chauvinism or female timidity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The Petrarchan language used by Marvell fundamentally determines the structure of "To His Timid Mistress," as the speaker begins the poem by suggesting the consequences of acquiring eternity to continue their courtship: "If we had had enough world and time, this timidity, madame, would not be a crime.” By applying hyperbole, metaphor and conditional to this devious speculation, he implies that the speaker does not have unlimited time to wait for sexual union, but he achieves such a trait of persuasion, through metaphor, which opens the emotional barrier of doubt in the "mistress". Marvell recognizes that “metaphor is omnipresent in language”[1] because “the listener is plunged into a state of momentary uncertainty”[2] which creates an alternative dimension to his vision of reality. He suggests that this woman's "shyness" is almost criminal through the imagery fabricated by the use of the word "crime." This implies that rejection of sex automatically makes her a lawbreaker, alluding to the religious and moral expectations of 17th century society, where fornication was considered a crime while the morality of the Church dominated the social behavior. The tone of the poem is rather didactic as presented by the speaker. the “lady” as “shy,” which suggests reticence with an underlying need to be mischievous; it implies a lack of sincerity. The title of the poem then suggests that the mistress is simply pretending not to want to have sex with him, and the poem goes on to explain why he calls "shyness" a "crime." The poet's concerns simply transcend the narrator's view of the personal or everyday moral constraints of the 17th century, and explain how all readers should grasp life with both hands and live each moment fully without having to think about every detail, presenting thus “a very modern vision”. of chastity.” On the other hand, as the first stanza progresses, Marvell depicts the "crime" of wasting immeasurable time by implicitly criticizing the seducer through "the rich brew of symbolic suggestion"[3] (24c) as he states the oxymoron “My vegetable love should grow, larger than empires and slower. " This could be interpreted as associating his "love" with a surprisingly erotic and extremely suggestive "vegetable" that may have shocked 17th-century readers, but it could also suggest how inert and lifeless he is. their love would be dull if they postponed physical desire indefinitely. The overall effect of the first stanza is that the victim feels like he is condescending to her and over-spoiling her with each other's desire for true love.woman and that the speaker could be a potential lover, however, as the second stanza progresses he describes scenarios that easily reveal that he is selfish and manipulative and questions whether his actions are right. In the second stanza the movement of the verse is smooth and unhindered as it begins with the connector "But" as if to imply a reluctance towards any word other than "yes", so there is a clear contrast between the first section and the second to show that the speaker is eager to continue his speech.desires at a time Marvell uses the signaling metaphor "And yonder before us lie deserts of vast eternity" to. juxtaposing "time" with the immensity of a "desert", suggesting that their future is represented by a desert in the sense that deserts symbolize desolation and emptiness if they postpone sex for too long. speaker attempts to persuade the mistress to have sex with him, but graphically and unusually suggests that "the worms will try, this long-preserved virginity. This powerful image is apparently a shock tactic intended to present an unattractive alternative." to his proposal because “it is typical for metaphors to use concrete images to convey something abstract, helping to communicate what is difficult to explain”[4] (14d). The reader sees this as Marvell criticizing the seducer because the comment is so counterproductive that it is likely to turn off the potential lover with its cynical, almost gruesome image, but the speaker manipulates her into thinking that a terrible event will happen to him. would happen if she didn't succumb. to his will. Therefore, the response of representative hyperbole (that if she rejects his offer, she will remain a virgin forever) will be disgusting to her because her virginity would be taken away from her by the worms in the grave anyway. Marvell continues this interesting and elaborate notion of time by criticizing the mistress by stating that her "picturesque honor" will "turn to dust" and all her "ashes" will see her "lust"; this mockery of his possession of his "quaint honor" means that when she died she would have regretted not experiencing such a vital part of life with him, so it is important that the experience be captured now. The rhyme between "dust" and "lust" draws an absurd comparison between death and love, suggesting that love (or in this case – making love) is an essential part of life and that the relationship between death and love is a relationship of antagonism which makes the seducer want to participate in sexual relations with him and thus avoid death. Marvel also personifies time as a “winged chariot rushing towards it” “This model of concretization”, where one attempts to capture the essence of an abstraction by recasting it in terms of something more palpable…… »[5] (16a) To help us feel a moving vehicle rushing towards us, it is an echo of Apollo's chariot – a reference to classical mythology. The idea of a journey appeals to the reader's kinetic senses, as the stimulating imagery that time moves and travels would have been common since the invention of the first clock occurred in 1656, so contemporary readers would have had an immediate understanding of the events described. . “If we make love the way I want, it will be momentous” is the message the speaker wishes to convey to the mistress in the final stanza, which is evident in his repetition of the imperative “now.” This demonstration of his unwillingness to wait is also depicted in the simile "Now let us play each other while we can, and now, like loving birds of prey", comparing their companionship to the ».