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Have you ever found yourself standing three feet away from the boy or girl of your dreams and suffering from a sudden loss for words? Finding the right thing to say in this type of situation is seldom an easy thing to do. Such dramatic moments may call for poetic inspiration. Two well- known writers of dramatic monologue in poetic form of the 16 th and 18 th centuries, respectively, are Andrew Marvell and Robert Browning.
To His Coy Mistress by Marvell and My Last Duchess by Browning are examples of two men searching for the right words to express their emotions towards a woman. Composed in different stylistic periods, these two poems reflect the thoughts and ideas of a classic love poem. Written in two different centuries, both pieces have remarkable similarities as well as some of the usual expected differences. Regardless of what century they live in, men desire attractive women; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest. -Coy Mistress Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half flush that dies along her throat -Last Duchess Another parallelism is that the men in the two poems were not receiving what they wanted from the women; one being sexual desires in To His Coy Mistress while the other being faithfulness and appreciation in My Last Duchess. Marvell s poem begins with flattery and compliments which then turns to insults; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest.
then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turn to dust As does Browning s in My Last Duchess; I call that piece a wonder, now Just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss Or there exceed the mark While both poems share many similarities, they also reflect differences as well. Marvell s poem is much more on the sensual side than Browning s. Unlike Browning s Duke, the Courtier is very taken with the woman, almost to the point of worshipping her. This trait is reflected in his extreme flattery. On the other hand, the Duke considers himself superior to the woman and would only go to the mere level of mentioning her beauty, but would then surpass the comment with a rather rude remark. She thanked men, - good!
But thanked Somehow I know not how His final condescending remark suggests that she may be guilty of flirtatious, or even loose behavior. An additional variance of the poems is the period of time through which they are told. Coy Mistress remains in one moment of time limited to a day or so, while in the Last Duchess the woman s entire marriage from the beginning until she is killed, possibly years, is explained in the poem. Whereas the coy mistress remains a virgin, the last duchess is described as being practically a harlot.
In the last four centuries, the role of women has changed remarkably. In one century, women were believed to be evil and were used merely as child producers, slaves or whores, while in another century women were highly respected and a woman s purity was considered her greatest asset. In contrast with To His Coy Mistress, the woman in Browning s poem is killed at the end, due to her husbands building anger. After comparing and contrasting the two writing s, it is evident that To His Coy Mistress definitely has the greater moral quality of the two. Drawing on the Duke for poetic inspiration might leave you three hundred feet away from your goal, whereas using the Courtiers polite manners and positive attitude could move you two steps closer to that boy or girl of your dreams!
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Research essay sample on Coy Mistress Marvell Poem
