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What is the imagery in To His Coy Mistress?

What is the imagery in To His Coy Mistress?

Imagery Examples in To His Coy Mistress: The poem shifts away from leisurely, romantic visual imagery, like rubies and rivers, and begins to reference death and the process of bodily decay.

What are the rivers mentioned in the poem To His Coy Mistress?

He selects two rivers, India’s Ganges, which is sacred to the Hindu religion and thought of as the earthly embodiment of a goddess, and England’s Humber, which flows past Marvell’s hometown of Hull.

What is the Flood In To His Coy Mistress?

“I would/ Love you ten years before the flood”- The speaker refers to the flood in the famous biblical story Noah’s Ark. “For lady, you deserve this state/Nor would I love at lower rate”- He goes on to say that she is worthy of all of this praise, and would labor just as thoroughly over his love for her.

What does Marvell marble vault in line 26 mean?

in thy marble vault (line 26) The graveyard imagery is one thing that makes this more than just a love poem or a pick-up line. The marble vault represents what the speaker thinks his mistress has: a closed, limited way of thinking about the world. He thinks that she is trapped by her “old-fashioned” views on sex.

What does two hundred to adore each breast mean?

Lines 13-17 Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part, Anyhow, he says that, if he had time, he would give her compliments about each of her individual body parts, and he would spend a bazillion years doing it.

What does Thou by the Indian Ganges side mean?

Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side. She could hang out on the bank of the “Indian Ganges” finding “rubies.” The Ganges River is considered sacred and holy by many people all over the world. In Marvell’s time, the Ganges is pure and pristine. Now, many parts of it are incredibly polluted.

What does slow chapped mean?

According to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, “slow-chapped power” means “slowly devouring jaws.” In short, he feels like he’s dying in Time’s mouth, and that time is slowly eating him up.

What is meant by vegetable love?

We think “vegetable love” is “organic love” – love without the pressure of anything but nature, a natural process resulting in something nourishing – vegetables.

What does deserts of vast eternity mean?

Religion. The poem challenges religious ideas. He speaks of making the most of life because “yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity”. He is suggesting that there is nothing after life – so waiting and resisting urges in life is pointless.

Why does the speaker mention the Ganges and the Humber?

Why does the speaker mention the Ganges and the Humber? The two rivers are far apart geographically, thus representing a great or infinite amount of space.

Why does Marvell use hyperbole?

To show how overwhelming the narrator’s feelings are, Marvell uses hyperbolic constructions such as “my vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires.” The main character is experiencing such strong infatuation, that he feels like he will never run out of compliments to make: “An hundred years should go to praise / …

What does we had the world but enough and time mean?

The poet tells a woman whom he loves that if they had endless time and space at their disposal, then he could accept her unwillingness to go to bed with him. Life is short, however, and opportunities must be seized.

What is time’s winged chariot?

This metaphorical expression refers to the relentless an inevitable march of time.

What does marble vault mean?

In the lines “Thy beauty shall no more be found, / Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound / My echoing Song. . . .,” the “marble vault” is a reference to. A) the grave and the Mistress’s body.

What is the imagery in the poem?

About Imagery Imagery is the name given to the elements in a poem that spark off the senses. Despite “image” being a synonym for “picture”, images need not be only visual; any of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) can respond to what a poet writes.

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