To His Coy Virgins

Paper Summary:

The author compares and contrasts two poems, Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" and Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." According to the author youth and time are two common threads in these poems, although each poet has a slightly different take on the role it plays in influencing people's lives. The poets also differ on their opinions of importance of growing old, and what lessons we can learn as we age.

From the Paper:

"Marvell looks at the aspects of death more than the aspects of living life because he feels that he needs to be rejuvenated back to life by a lady who will not give him what he wants. He is facing the fact of his own death, not anyone else's. "But at my back I always hear / Time's winged chariot hurrying near; / And yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity. / They beauty shall no more be found." It doesn't't seem like Marvell cares about how his "Lady" feels. He just thinks that she will regret not being one with him after she dies because "her quaint honor" would be turned to dust and his "lust" would be converted to "ashes.""

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