Love Vs. Lust
(An Analysis on Views of Love in A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, To His Coy Mistress, and To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time) Upon the dawning Renaissance, art and literature defined love in an entirely new way than it had been before. As strength of the church waned, individuality and romanticism took hold in its place. Of the arts, literature and poetry evolved more than most arts when it came to romance. In the Renaissance, poets generally told of love in the metaphysical sense, or a more crude, physical sense. However, hardly ever were both viewpoints encouraged within the same poem. Through the texts, A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, To His Coy Mistress, and To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Donne, Marvell, and …show more content…
As a whole, this poem tells of a man attempting to convince his mistress to engage in physical pleasures. It opens rather reserved, with the man expressing the beauty of her in many aspects. However, at the second stanza, it takes a turn when it is made clear that he thinks there is not enough time to be “coy” and wait. They must in a sense, “seize the day”. “But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near: And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity,” (Marvell, 21-24). As his pleas progress, the man presents a solution in which they should embrace their sexuality now while there is time. Samuel Johnson emphasizes, “They should embrace each other now, while they have the time, be together now when they are young and beautiful, and not think about the future,” (Johnson). The man even makes the comparison that they should mate as the birds of prey do, and tear through their pleasures voraciously. “By God, this man wants this woman, this central focus point of his sexual passion. He cannot wait, he begs her not to put off sexual union,” (Burnett). Of course, the poem does not return the reply of the mistress, but this poem defines the more physical aspect of Renaissance
(An Analysis on Views of Love in A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, To His Coy Mistress, and To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time) Upon the dawning Renaissance, art and literature defined love in an entirely new way than it had been before. As strength of the church waned, individuality and romanticism took hold in its place. Of the arts, literature and poetry evolved more than most arts when it came to romance. In the Renaissance, poets generally told of love in the metaphysical sense, or a more crude, physical sense. However, hardly ever were both viewpoints encouraged within the same poem. Through the texts, A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning, To His Coy Mistress, and To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Donne, Marvell, and …show more content…
As a whole, this poem tells of a man attempting to convince his mistress to engage in physical pleasures. It opens rather reserved, with the man expressing the beauty of her in many aspects. However, at the second stanza, it takes a turn when it is made clear that he thinks there is not enough time to be “coy” and wait. They must in a sense, “seize the day”. “But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near: And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity,” (Marvell, 21-24). As his pleas progress, the man presents a solution in which they should embrace their sexuality now while there is time. Samuel Johnson emphasizes, “They should embrace each other now, while they have the time, be together now when they are young and beautiful, and not think about the future,” (Johnson). The man even makes the comparison that they should mate as the birds of prey do, and tear through their pleasures voraciously. “By God, this man wants this woman, this central focus point of his sexual passion. He cannot wait, he begs her not to put off sexual union,” (Burnett). Of course, the poem does not return the reply of the mistress, but this poem defines the more physical aspect of Renaissance