To His Coy Mistress By Andrew Marvell Instructor

To His Coy Mistress By Andrew Marvell Instructor : Doris Members : Cindy Grace Elaine Clara Beryl Joyce

Ø Ø Ø Ø Contents Introduction……………………Clara Read the poem…………………. . All Members Paraphrase………………………. Clara Vocabulary………………………. Clara Speaker ＆ Listener………………Clara Theme…………………………Beryl Structure I……………………. Beryl Structure II……………………Grace Irony……………………………Elaine Symbolic Meaning ＆ Allusion……………Cindy Author…………………………Joyce Conclusion………………………Joyce Reflection………………………Everyone

Introduction There was a man falling in love with his mistress. He wanted to make love to her, but the mistress was shy and turned him down. The speaker wrote the poem to the mistress in order to persuade her to accept him.

Paraphrase If we had enough time and world, lady, your coyness was not something unforgivable. We would sit down, thinking which way to walk, and passed our long lovely day. You should find rubies by the river Indian Ganges’ side, and I would write love poems for you by the side of Humber. I would love you ten years before the Flood (very early in the history) , and if you like, you could refuse me until the conversion of the Jews, shortly before the end of the world. My unconsciously growing love would grow larger and more stable than the empires.

I would spend one hundred years to praise your eyes, and gazed on your forehead. I would adore both of your breasts for four hundred years. But I would adore the rest of your body for thirty thousand years. It would take me at least one age (one hundred years) to every part of your body, and you should show me your affection at the last age. Lady, the reason I did this is you deserve such admiration, and I wouldn’t love you with less deserving manners.

However, I always hear the winged chariot of “time” hurrying near at my back, and all the deserts of vast eternity lies there before us. Neither your beauty shall be found nor you should sound my echoing song in your grave, then worms shall destroy your long preserved virginity. And your attractive and old-fashioned virginity will turn into dust and all my lust will turn into ashes. The grave is a fine and private place, but I think no one would want to embrace there.

Therefore, while the youthful color of your skin is like the morning dew, your willing soul of desirous love transpires at every pore. Now let us make love like amorous birds of prey. I would rather devour time at once than languish the time gradually. Let us gather all our strength and all our sweetness when we are making love, and tear our pleasure with fierce orgasm through the difficulties of life. Although we cannot make our time stand still. We can make the sun melt with our passion.

Vocabulary l l l l 1. Coy - A coy person is shy, or pretends to be shy, about love and sex. (The mistress) Ex: She gave a coy smile when he paid her a compliment. 2. Conversion - Someone changes his religion or beliefs. (Conversion of Jews) Ex: It’s hard to believe his conversion to Christianity. 3. Vast - very large in area, size, quantity or degree; immense (The speaker’s love for the mistress) Ex: A vast expanse of desert. 4. Chariot - fast-moving vehicles with two wheels that are pulled by horses (Time)

5. Eternity - Eternity is time without an end or a state of existence outside time, especially the state which some people believe they will pass into after they have died. l Ex: I have always found the thought of eternity terrifying. l 6. Quaint - Something that is quaint is attractive because it is unusual and rather old-fashioned. (The honor of virginity) l Ex: This may seem a quaint idea in thus age. l 7. Vault- A vault is a room underneath a church where people are buried, usually the members of a single family. l Ex: He ordered Matilda’s body should be buried in the family vault. l

l l l l l 8. Lust - Lust is a feeling of strong sexual desire for someone. Ex: His relationship with Angie was first which combined lust with friendship. 9. Hue - color Ex: The same hue will look different in different light. 10. Dew - Dew is small drops of water that form on the ground and the other surfaces outdoors during the light. (The mistress’s skin) Ex: The dew gathered on the leaves. 11. Transpire - (of plants) give off (water vapor) from the surface of leaves. 12. Pore - Pores are the tiny holes in humans’ skin. Ex: He was sweating at every pore.

l l l l 13. Amorous (am’rous, line 38) - readily showing or feeling love; relating to love, especially sexual love) (wild and passionate love) Ex: He became quite amorous at the office party. 14. Prey - animals or birds hunted and killed by another food Ex: The lion stalked its prey through the long grass. 15. Languish - be or become weak and miserable because of unfulfilled longings Ex: He languishes for love. 16. Strife - violence of making love

Speaker : An adorer of the mistress Listener : The mistress

Theme l Carpe dien ＝seize the day and have fun. l This is a seducing poem. The speaker shows his strong passion for the mistress and tried very hard to persuade her to make love to him. Because time and time wait for no man, he asks her to “seize the day and have fun”, or she will regret when she is dead.

Structure I l 1 st. Stanza: The speaker told the mistress how much he loved her. l Ex: I would love you ten years before the Flood. ( P. 739 Line 7~8) l 1. l→ l It is very early in the history

2. An hundred years should go to praise……Two hundred to adore each breast: But thirty thousand to the rest……(P. 739 Line 13~16) → The speaker uses the words, such as “an hundred years, ” “two hundred years, ” and “thirty thousand years” to describe his deep and lasting love toward the mistress.

2 nd. Stanza: The speaker threatens the mistress if she does not seize the day to have fun, she will regret when she dies because time flies. Ex: 1. But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near…(P. 739 Line 21~22) → Time waits for no men.

2. Thy beauty shall no more be found, nor in thy marble vault shall sound my echoing songs; then worms shall try that long preserved virginity, and your quaint honor turn to dust…… (P. 739 Line 25~29) → The speaker tells the mistress that she should cherish time or once the mistress is dead, there will be only worms to admire her virginity.

3 rd. Stanza: The speaker convinces the mistress to make love to him. Ex: 1. Now let us sport us while we may; and now, like am’rous birds of prey. (P. 740 Line 37~38) → “Sport” is a verb here, which means “make love. ” The speaker convinces the mistress that she should not repress her feeling and should make love to him.

2. Let us roll all our strength, and all our sweetness, up into one ball. (P. 740 Line 41~42) → “Ball” means “making love. ” Let us make love so that our soul and body will combine.

3. ……Thorough the iron gates of life…… (P. 740 Line 44) → If we make love, we are not afraid of “death. ” Here, “iron gates” represents “death. ”

4. Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run. (P. 740 Line 45~46) →This sentence has 2 meanings. One is that our passion toward each other will melt the sun. The other is we can speed up the time, and do something meaningful.

Structure II l A. The poem is combined with “time” and “space”. We can see that from: l The first stanza: l 1. Had we but world enough, and time l l l ↘ space 2. Thou by the Indian Ganges : Of Humber would complain. I would * River Ganges is in India, and Humber is in England. There is a long distance between the speaker (Humber) and the mistress (Indian Ganges), but the long distance doesn’t affect his love toward the mistress.

The second stanza: ＊ But at my back I always hear Times winged chariot hurrying near; ↘ Time : : Deserts of vast eternity. ↘ Space

B. 1. Had we but world enough, and time……… The speaker imagined that they had enough world and time. 2. But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near……… The speaker said that in fact, life is not eternal. 3. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, The speaker persuades the mistress to seize the time and make love with him.

Irony That long preserved virginity/ And your quaint honor turn to dust l Ⅰ. l → To keep her honor, the mistress sticks to her principle to remain her virginity. But after she dies, all she keeps turn out to be dust and nothing meaningful is left. The speaker tries to argue whether virginity is honorable to her.

Ⅱ. The grave’s fine and private place/ But none, I think, do there embrace → The speaker uses ironic tone to threaten the mistress if she doesn’t seize the day to have fun, she will regret once she dies.

Ⅲ. Deserts of eternity/ And your quaint honor turn dust/ And into ashes all my lust. → The speaker said the desert is eternal because it isn’t affected by time. In the later lines, the speaker compares quaint honor to dust, and lust to ashes. Although dust and ashes are eternal, just like the desert, these two things are meaningless. The speaker said because humans are mortal, humans should seize the time to do whatever they would like to do. The speaker persuades the mistress to express the desire and seize the day to enjoy life.

Allusion I would love you before the Flood……(P. 739 Line 8) l 1. happened in the story of Noah ark, which occurs in Genesis some time after creation. It indicates he shall love her early in history. l ◆“Flood”

2. And you should, if you please, refuse…… the conversion of Jews. (P. 739 Line 9, 10) ◆ According to the Bible, “the conversion of Jews” will come before the end of the world, which is judgment day(世界末日). So this sentence means that the speaker would love the mistress shortly before the end of the world.

3. That long preserved virginity, and your quaint honor turn to dust. (P. 739 Line 28 -29) ◆“Quaint honor” represents what the mistress is keeping now, which is her long preserved virginity.

Imagery l 1. Vegetable (P 739 Line 11) l ◆The symbolic meaning of “Vegetable Love” is deep and unconsciously growing love. The root of the vegetable is deep into the soil and the vegetable grows slowly, just like the speaker’s love toward the mistress in an ideal state.

2. But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near. (P. 739 Line 21 -22) ◆Time flies. “Winged” and “Chariot” represent something passing quickly.

3. Thy beauty shall no more……marble vault shall sound my echoing song. (P. 739 Line 25 -27) ◆It means when the mistress “dies”, she won’t be able to enjoy life anymore.

4. Now let us sport us while we May And now, like amorous birds of prey (P. 740 Line 37 -38) ◆“Sport” means “making love”. The speaker convinces the mistress that they should make love passionately and don’t repress their desire for sex just like “amorous birds of prey”.

5. Tear our pleasure with rough strife (P. 740 Line 43) ◆”Strife” originally means “fight. ” But here, “strife” means “orgasm, ” which means “the moment when you have the greatest sexual pleasure during sex. ”

6. Iron gates of life (P. 740 Line 44) ◆ “Iron gates of life” means “death. ” When making love, they are not afraid of death.

7. We cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. (P. 740 Line 45 -46) ◆ In this sentence, using the word “sun” is a kind pun. One is “Sun” represents “heat” but it still can’t affect our love, and even our passion can melt the Sun. The other is that the sun means “time, ” and we have to speed up the time.

Author l Andrew Marvell was born at Winestead. Holderness, Yorkshire, on March 31, 1621 to the Rev. In 1650, Marvell became the tutor of twelve-year-old Mary Fairfax (later Duchess of Buckingham), daughter of “Sir Thomas Fairfax, ” retired Lord General of the parliamentary forces.

At the Yorkshire seats of the Fairfax family, Nun Appleton House, Marvell seems to have written, over a period about three years, most of his non-satiric English poems. The sojourn provided material for Marvell’s most profound poem, “Upon Appleton House, ” a poem crucial to his development both as man and as poet. Here he examines the competing claims of public service and the search of personal insight. To the same period probably belong Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and “The Definition of Love. ”

Work Cited: Andrew Marvell http: //www. luminarium. org/sevenlit/m arvell/marvbio. htm

Conclusion l The theme of this poem is “carpe dien. ” This is a seducing poem. The speaker uses a lot of exaggerated and abstract words to describe his love toward the mistress and he also told the mistress that time flies and asked her to enjoy life quickly. Also, the speaker tells the mistress that humans are mortal so they should do something meaningful in their life, or they will have regret.

Reflection

Thanks For Your Attention