Wednesday, October 6, 2010
To His Coy Mistress
While Marvell uses many stylistic tools throughout his poem, the lines that spoke most to me were, "My vegetable love should grow; Vaster than empires, and more slow" Using this delayed sense of rhyme Marvell helps this line really communicate with what it is trying to do and what it really means to the reader. As someone goes over this line, time seems to literally slow down and emulate what he is describing in the poem giving emphasis to what Marvell actually writes. His allusion of love as vegetable helps the reader to visualize this love he speaks of, to show the growing nature of his love and while it may be slow, it is still growing, more complex and deeper as time flys by.
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I really like your analysis of this particular "one-liner". I also agree that Marvell stresses the importance of this line, not just by using a vegetable to desrcibe "the growing nature of his love" but also by his syntax, writing style, and distinct use of rhyme. I notice, too, how reading over the slower paced line, connects me literally to the concept of time, and further confirms the point that Marvell is trying to make. In addition to your analysis, I also think that, since this line comes from the first stanza, it reflects the slower pace and the more soothing part of the poem; whereas, stanzas two and 3 have a much faster pace and address the issue more bluntly. The issue that the speaker conveys is that there is not enough time in the world to adore his "mistress"; therefore, like in stanzas two and three the concepts of death and carpe diem are introduced in order to persuade and court his "mistress" to take advantage of the present moment while she is still youthful and able.
ReplyDeletegreat analysis of 'vegetable.'
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