Sieze The Day :: essays research papers

Sieze the daylightAndrew Marvell wrote his short poe look for To His CoyMistress in a convincing bank bill to allow the speaker toconvince his mistress, the listener, to succumb to his want. Marvell physical exercises meter, imagery, and tone to warp his ladyto further commit in their relationship. This poem has a very strong carpe diem or seize the day theme which Marvellconveys throughout the poem.In general, the meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. Marvell uses pauses as well as enjambement to break up theneat pattern that the verse line scheme of the poem imposes. Thefirst two lines, for example, contain internal pauses thatbreak the tetrameter into shorter units Had we but domainenough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. Thethird line contains no pauses and runs directly into thefourth, so that the rhyme runs opposite the rhythm of thecouplet. Near the end of the poem, the lines seem to beclimax out faster than at the beginning, creating a sense ofurgency a s the speaker dialogue. These last few lines are thelines in which the speaker talks about how the two shouldseize the day and live life to the fullest. The use of imagery throughout the poem is also aneffective means of transportation his message to the lady. Hisreferences to the Great Flood and the conversion of the Jewsare both examples of biblical imagery. The timelessness ofthe Bible backs up his eternal love towards his lady. Thereferences of the tomb are perhaps the greatest images ofall, the images of death. Nothing depicts the urgency andshortness of life damp than the expectation of death. Images implied in the last stanza are those of a raceagainst time. The destination is to try to beat time, and althoughtime will eventually win, the runners must try to keep upwith time for as coherent as possible, and truly beat it forawhile with the moment of love. And because no way existsto beat time, Marvell suggests that they must live with lifethey have to the fullest.Mar vells excellent use of tone also helps to conjure up hisargument with his mistress. In the first section, the poemtakes a loving, romantic tone We would sit down, andthink which way to walk, and pass our long loves day. Marvells romantic style of writing helps to prove hisallegation that he loves his mistress more than anything inthe world. The tone undergoes a drastic change in thesecond stanza, however I invariably hear times wingedchariot hurrying near.