Herrick And Marvell Essay, Research Paper

?To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time? by Rober Herrick and Andrew

Marvell?s ?To His Coy Mistress? have many similarities and differences.

The tone of the speakers, the audience each poem is directed to, and the theme

make up some of the literary elements that help fit this description. The tone

of ?To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time? and ?To His Coy Mistress? are

different. In Herrick?s poem, his tone is relaxed. For instance when he

writes, ?Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, /Old times is still a-flying,? his

word choice has a very relaxed and casual tone. His attitude reflects the

relaxed tone in his poem. In Marvell?s poem, his tone is serious. Marvell?s

purpose is to persuade his mistress to have sex with him. He tries to lure her

in when saying, ?Had we but World enough, and Time.? He starts out very

seriously, in attempt to convince his mistress. The relaxed tone of ?To the

Virgins, to Make Much of Time? and serious tone of ?To His Coy Mistress?

point out the difference in the way the writers feel about their characters.

Both poems are directed to two different audiences. In ?To the Virgins, to

Make Much of Time? Herrick is speaking to all virgins. He never addresses

anybody personally. In ?To His Coy Mistress? Marvell is addressing his

mistress personally. He wrote the poem for his mistress to convince her to

become intimate with him. The difference makes a change because now Herrick?s

poem affects the reader (depending on if she is female) since it refers to all

virgins. However, Marvell?s poem does not since he is referring to one

particular individual. The them of ?To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time?

and ?To His Coy Mistress? is carpe diem. The carpe diem them states, ?life

is brief, so let us seize the day.? In ?To the Virgins, to Make Much of

Time? Herrick simply states: Then be not coy, but use your time, And, while ye

may, go marry; For, having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.

Herrick is telling all of the your virgins to go out and have sex in their prime

because if they do not, they will regret not having sex when they had the chance

to. In ?To His Coy Mistress? the theme of carpe diem is apparent. ?Now

therefore, while the youthful hew/?/Now let us sport us while we may.?

Marvell is telling his mistress that they need to have sex while they can

because if she waits any longer, they will not be able to be intimate. Both

Herrick and Marvell use the theme of carpe diem in their poetry. By using

different literary techniques, a poet can give his/her piece an edge. Robert

Herrick and Andrew Marvel use different techniques to make their poems unique.

Tone, audience, and theme are some literary elements used in ?To the Virgins,

to Make Much of Time? and ?To His Coy Mistress.? The differences and

similarities between the two poems point out that the poet?s have their own

unique style, however, sometimes they can be similar as well.