Metaphysical poetry and the Concept of 'Carpe Diem'- Donne's "To His Mistress Going to Bed" and Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress"
THE METAPHYSICAL POETS BELIEVED IN SEIZING THE DAY. DISCUSS WITH REFERENCE TO TWO POEMS
In defiance of, and in gesture of confrontation to, a conservative, paternalistic, and religious world, the metaphysical poets John Donne and Andrew Marvell present a new mode of thinking; one not governed by the hope of heaven, but by faith in the flesh. The poetry highlights and reinforces the spontaneity of lust while underscoring the fact of human mortality. Challenge conventions and conservative ideology are common preoccupations of artists and just as Donne champions the libertine ideal in "To His Mistress Going to Bed", so Marvell 's "To His Coy Mistress" celebrates the metaphysical belief of "Carpe diem" or grasping the day. Both poets see man as a spontaneous and pragmatic being, destined to live one life only and needing to make the most of it. This need to satisfy one 's earthly urgings is most clearly expressed by Marvell.
In To his Coy Mistress Marvell presents to his lover an argument for lowering her defenses and to give free reign to her desires, while at the same time allowing him to satisfy his own. The poet argues that "coyness" is, in fact, criminal since we are not alive long. The long, drawn-out vowel sounds of the opening stanza - "our long love 's day;" - mimics the painful process of his "mistresses" refusal and a series of ironic references underscores his frustration. An allusion to the "conversion of the Jews" foregrounds that her preciousness will go on forever, and among other biblical references becomes a surprising mechanism to persuade her to yield up to him her virginity. In the seventeenth century, we might have expected the opposite! A further technique used to this end is that of the traditional blazon, but again the convention takes on an unconventional twist. Instead of a discreet head-to-toe description, Marvell focuses his attention on his women 's breast and nether regions:
"An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy
In defiance of, and in gesture of confrontation to, a conservative, paternalistic, and religious world, the metaphysical poets John Donne and Andrew Marvell present a new mode of thinking; one not governed by the hope of heaven, but by faith in the flesh. The poetry highlights and reinforces the spontaneity of lust while underscoring the fact of human mortality. Challenge conventions and conservative ideology are common preoccupations of artists and just as Donne champions the libertine ideal in "To His Mistress Going to Bed", so Marvell 's "To His Coy Mistress" celebrates the metaphysical belief of "Carpe diem" or grasping the day. Both poets see man as a spontaneous and pragmatic being, destined to live one life only and needing to make the most of it. This need to satisfy one 's earthly urgings is most clearly expressed by Marvell.
In To his Coy Mistress Marvell presents to his lover an argument for lowering her defenses and to give free reign to her desires, while at the same time allowing him to satisfy his own. The poet argues that "coyness" is, in fact, criminal since we are not alive long. The long, drawn-out vowel sounds of the opening stanza - "our long love 's day;" - mimics the painful process of his "mistresses" refusal and a series of ironic references underscores his frustration. An allusion to the "conversion of the Jews" foregrounds that her preciousness will go on forever, and among other biblical references becomes a surprising mechanism to persuade her to yield up to him her virginity. In the seventeenth century, we might have expected the opposite! A further technique used to this end is that of the traditional blazon, but again the convention takes on an unconventional twist. Instead of a discreet head-to-toe description, Marvell focuses his attention on his women 's breast and nether regions:
"An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy
References: to "America" and a "Newfoundland" are used to instill the image of a great discovery that has yet to be made; underlining desires yet to be satisfied. The end of the extended metaphor is proposed by the use of an exclamation mark, emphasizing the lust that has consumed Donne. Reflecting the social perspectives of the time, Donne also suggests that a woman 's beauty is profound; like a guilt book cover, but the subtle suggestion is that it is a book that should be open! For Donne, beauty is not an end in itself: "Like pictures, or like books ' gay coverings made For laymen, are all women thus array 'd… What needst then have more covering than a man." Always, with Donne 's love poetry, the emphasis is on the use of rhetorical devices that point to the unleashing of repressed desire. So it is with Andrew Marvell who uses a similar range of techniques to express his lust and to highlight the importance of the here and now. The metaphysical poets certainly believed in seizing the day! As the foregoing analysis of To His Coy Mistress and To His Mistress Going to Bed illustrate, Marvell and Donne, two of the greatest exponents of metaphysical endeavor, offer a new perspective on living. They posit no religious promise of a hereafter, but suggest that heaven may be found on earth; that our faith, if we have any, is much more profitably placed in the temple of the body.