A Comparative Study of Andrew Marvell's “To His Coy Mistress” and “The Garden”

Mahmood 1 Md. Shahrear Mahmood Associate Professor G M Javed Arif Eng 2107 21 June 2009 A Comparative Study of Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and “The Garden” Andrew Marvell (1621 – 1678) is one of the most famous metaphysical poets of all time. The poetry he produced is considered to be great treasures in English literature. Although Marvell didn’t publish his poem in his life time and preferred to be known as a politician rather than a poet, posthumously published his poem shows the intensity of his poetic artistry and the mastery in poetic devices which categorized his poems to be metaphysical. Marvell’s poem first appeared in 1681 over two years after his death when the poet’s house keeper, Mary Palmer, claimed herself as his widow and published them. Marvell’s poem was republished in Cook’s edition in 1726 and in Thompson’s edition in 1776. Although Marvell is called a metaphysical poet, not all of his poems were written on the basis of the conventional metaphysical aspects such as: the love toward god and his creation, rather Marvell wrote his poem worshipping the nature and upholding the passionate love between lovers. Two of Marvell’s such poems are To His Coy Mistress and The Garden . To His Coy Mistress presents a very familiar theme in literature – carpe diem, which means seize the day. Andrew Marvell has written this poem in first-person point of view, he presents the poem as the plea of a lover who is declaring his love to his beloved. But lady is very shy and doesn’t let him to love her. So the lover tries to persuade her through his long monologue presenting different logic to convince the

Mahmood 2 lady and come out from her shell of coyness. “In To His Coy Mistress Marvell writes a dramatic poem, and achieves one of the supreme lyrics on the recurrent theme ‘gather the rosebud while ye may’. He builds his poem in three phases, each representing a step in the argument: first the supposition, the necessity to reject it, and lastly the consequence of rejecting it.” (Bennett) To His Coy Mistress contains 46 lines and is divided into three verse-paragraphs. “The apparent structure of To his Coy Mistress is an argumentative syllogism, explicitly stated” (Cunningham). Marvell here presents a rhetorical situation with a speaker addressing his coy mistress. In part one, the speaker explicitly states in hypothetical assumption that if they had enough space and time, they could spend it in whatever way they choose. In part two, the tone abruptly shifts as the rapid movement of time rushes past, threatening to waste the speaker’s passion and the mistress’s glorious physical beauty and eventually they would grow old and so consequently die. In part three, the speaker urges in a forceful language that they should seize the moment and enjoy each other’s company and defeat Time itself while they still have the chance. As J.V. Cunningham has stated, “Marvell’s poem, only the general structure is syllogistic; the detail and development are of another order, and critics have been diligent in assigning the poetic quality of the whole to the non-syllogistic elements.” (Cunningham) To His Coy Mistress is a sophisticated, suggestive, and emotionally moving, undoubtedly among the best of Andrew Marvell’s poems in which he most excellently implemented the carpe diem theory. In this poems the poet has incorporated several metaphysical conceits and powerful imagery and occasionally some hyperboles and allusions. This makes this poem even more

Mahmood 3 appealing. For example: “My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow.” (lines 12-13). Here the speaker is comparing his love with Vegetable. Vegetables grow abundantly. So like vegetables his love will grow abundantly and it will cover an area which will be vaster than an empire. “Time's wingéd chariot hurrying near;” (line 22). Here to express how much little they have left the speaker compares “Time” with a “wingéd” chariot. “Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound / My echoing song; then worms shall try / That long preserv'd virginity,” (lines 26-28). This is a rather shocking conceit because here “marble vault” has been compared with “grave” where speaker’s echoing song or plea to make love with him will never be heard again and the worms has been depicted as capable of attacking the long preserved virginity of speaker’s dead beloved. “And your quaint honour turn to dust, / And into ashes all my lust.” (lines 29-30). Here “honour turn to dust” and “ashes all my lust” both constitutes metaphysical conceits. Because here Mistress’s quaint honour and the speaker’s lust has been depicted of transforming into dust and ashes. “The grave's a fine and private place, / But none I think do there embrace.” (lines 3132). Here “grave” has been compared with “a fine and private place” where speaker thinks no one embraces with anyone. “And while thy willing soul transpires / At every pore with instant fires,” (lines 3536). Here the Mistress’s willing soul has been depicted as emitting fire from every pore which can be compared with the Mistress’s fiery passion; as she finally give in to the speaker’s request to make love with him. Now let us sport us while we may;

Mahmood 4 And now, like am'rous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power. (lines 37-40) Here the two speakers’ have been compared with “amorous birds of prey”. The speaker’s are not like two doves who like only cooing each other. They are like birds of prey that swoop down from above and devour their prey with one swift strike. Like that the passionate speaker’s will reap their fair share of love from the other rather than languish in slow-jawed power. Let us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball; And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life. (lines 41-44) Here the speaker’s are imagined to roll all their strength and sweetness in one ball. And they are tearing pleasure with rough strife with iron gates of life. Here Ball is compared with a cannon ball made of iron and loaded with rough strife in the cannon that tears pleasure. This conceit is employed to describe the culmination of their love making. “Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run.” (lines 45-46). Here the Sun has been compared with time. The speaker’s think that they do not have the power to freeze time but they could make the best use of their time such a way that the passing of time is imperceptible. “The images invoked by the narrator are no means ordinary in their description. They rouse feelings of urgency and longing. From the grave where "none do there embrace" to oneness "roll our strength into one ball" all conjure a vast array of emotion that the narrator feels. This poem is indeed persuasive in nature. The speaker here makes his argument with valid facts to support that argument. They will grow old and gray; while they watch their

Mahmood 5 youth slip slowly away. There is no denying this. In his final appeal he makes his young mistress a promise "though we cannot make our sun/ Stand still, yet we will make him run". This persuasiveness would not be as affective without Marvel's superb use of imagery.” (Marvell's To His Coy Mistress Essays: Powerful Imagery) The Garden is another famous poem by Marvell. It is an argument in praise of gardens. And show sign of being deeply influenced by John Milton. “Andrew Marvell seeks a sort of spiritual hermitage in his poem “The Garden.” He embraces nature in its pure form, as he creates his own Garden of Eden. Weaving together allusions to both love and sacred poetry.” (Balancing Spirituality With Humanity in Andrew Marvell's; "The Garden") Here the poet came to the trees in search of solitude where through intense meditation he will be able to purify his soul. “The Garden is the most sustained and complex of Marvell’s nature poems and it illustrates his distinctive characteristics” (Bennett) In The Garden the poet has first presented the futility of working busily around the clock just to earn fame, glory and power while they could enjoy the solitude of the garden. Here the poet wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of the rude society and enjoy the serene beauty of nature. Because he thinks that the trees in the garden possess more beauty than any human mistress. He finds his Garden of Eden in this earthly garden where he could meditate and could achieve the ultimate purification of his soul. In The Garden Andrew Marvell presents his point of view that being at one with nature and away from rude society is the best way to live. Because the only the solitude of the garden can bring the salvation of one’s soul. Central to the entire poem is the idea of pure nature, of a world without the invasion of mankind: Marvell's own Garden Eden. In his poetry, he takes every opportunity to praise the advantages of being at peace with oneself and the nature as a whole; this can also be seen as central themes in poems such as this he express in as:

Mahmood 6 “Society is all but rude, / To this delicious Solitude.” (lines 15-16) Marvell prefers a life of isolation to the chaotic society of human. Marvell describes the Garden to be a place where lovers can retreat when they have spent all their passion: “When we have run our passion's heat, / Love hither makes his best retreat” (lines 25-26) Marvell also utilizes classical and biblical references in The Garden. Because the paradise described by Marvell is very similar to the Garden of Eden. Marvell worships the Garden for its beauty, yet, also uses it as a place from which he drives himself towards the heavens. He creates distinctions between wholesome purity, and the love of man and the demigods Apollo and Pan, which he mentions within the text: Apollo hunted Daphne so, Only that She might Laurel grow. And Pan did after Syrinx speed, Not as a Nymph, but for a Reed. (lines 29-32) Marvell also included a somewhat funny remark in this poem to show how the charm of the garden can ensnare someone so easily: “Stumbling on melons as I pass, / Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass.” (lines 39-40) To show how can men’s mind can be absorbed so innately in the garden thinking about the happiness they could find and they can find their inner self staring back at them: Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness: The mind, that ocean where each kind Does straight its own resemblance find; Yet it creates, transcending these, Far other worlds, and other seas; (lines 41-46)

Mahmood 7 The Garden Marvell uses another set of arguments why there shouldn’t be any women in the garden taking in consideration the misogynistic theme. The garden and its contents come to represent paradise before the fall of Adam, and Marvell turns away from man’s consequential world, “annihilating all that’s made” (line 47) since the corruption of humanity. He seeks the solitude with which he believes he can erase the mark of man, and reduce himself to “a green thought in a green shade,” (line 48) and begin to realize the garden’s innocence. Yet, he struggles to balance his own humanity with his spirituality. Because Marvell knows, he can never achieve his desires in this world because he is in fact mortal, and innately embodies everything he despises in man. Such was that happy garden-state, While man there walked without a mate: After a place so pure and sweet, What other help could yet be meet! But 'twas beyond a mortal's share To wander solitary there: Two paradises 'twere in one To live in Paradise alone. (lines 57-64) “The Garden is truly one of the best of Marvell’s creations where he describes his own Garden of Eden. In his 1952 essay The Argument of ‘The Garden’ Frank Kermode has stated, “The Garden is a rich emblem, and this is not the place to explore it in any detail; indeed I shall nothing of the symbolic gardens of the Middle Ages which were still alive in the consciousness of the seventeenth century. The gardens to which Marvell most directly alludes in this poem are the Garden of Eden.” (Kermode) A very conspicuous fact in these aforementioned poems is that they present a contradictory statement about women. In To His Coy Mistress the speaker is a long for the

Mahmood 8 company of his mistress on the other hand in The Garden the speaker abhors the company of women in the garden. Were in To His Coy Mistress the speaker tries different logical arguments why he and the lady should stay together, in The Garden the speaker tries another set of logical arguments showing how the garden is more beautiful without women and why it should remain that way. Marvell produced some of the most memorable poems in the history of English literature. For all the subtle variety and varied perfection of his accomplishments he was essentially one the best among the metaphysical poets. And To His Coy Mistress and The Garden certainly are among his best works of poetry.

Woks Cited "Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress." 123HelpMe.com. 16 May 2009 . "Balancing Spirituality With Humanity in Andrew Marvell's; The Garden." Associated Content. 16 May 2009 . Bennett, Joan. Five Metaphysical Poets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964. Cunningham, J. V. "Logic and Lyric: 'To His Coy Mistress'." Andrew Marvell Poems. Ed. Arthur Pollard. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1980. Kermode, Frank. "The Agument of 'The Garden'." Andrew Marvell poems. Ed. Arthur Pollard. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1980. "Marvell's To His Coy Mistress Essays: Powerful Imagery." 123MelpMe.com. 16 May 2009 .

Mahmood 9 Maurer, Nancy. "The Garden in Milton, Marvell and Vaughan." 08 December 2002. The College of New Jersy. 16 May 2009 . "To His coy Mistress." Studying English Literature. 16 May 2009 . "To His Coy Mistress." Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia. 16 May 2009 .