Ewrt 1 c class 17 post qhq

EWRT 1C Class 17

AGENDA

Andrew Marvell

“To His Coy Mistress”

Group Activity: Using Feminist Criticism

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678

published a handful of poems in anthologies, a collection of Marvell's

work did not appear until 1681, three years after his death, when his nephew compiled and found a publisher for Miscellaneous Poems. The

circumstances surrounding the publication of the volume aroused

some suspicion: a person named "Mary Marvell," who claimed to be

Marvell's wife, wrote the preface to the book. "Mary Marvell" was, in

fact, Mary Palmer—Marvell's housekeeper—who posed as Marvell's wife, apparently, in order to keep Marvell's small estate from the

creditors of his business partners. Her ruse, of course, merely contributes

to the mystery that surrounds the life of this great poet.

See more at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/304

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), now considered one of

the greatest poets of the seventeenth century,

published very little of his scathing political satire and

complex lyric verse in his lifetime. Although Marvell

“To His Coy Mistress”

Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime.

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

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;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart;

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

In Groups Discuss “To His Coy

Mistress”

What is the poem about?

Use your close reading skills!

QHQ “To His Coy Mistress”

Questions Feminist Critics Ask

about Literary Text

1. What does the work reveal about the operations

(economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of

patriarchy? How are women portrayed? How do these

portrayals relate to the gender issues of the period in which the

novel was written or is set? In other words, does the work

reinforce or undermine patriarchal ideology? (in the first case,

we might say that the text has a patriarchal agenda. In the

second case, we might say that the text has a feminist agenda.

Texts that seem to both reinforce and undermine patriarchal

ideology might be said to be ideologically conflicted.

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and “‘To His Coy Mistress’: A Feminist Reading”

Identify and discuss qualities of Feminist Criticism as it is applied in the essay about “To His Coy Mistress.”

Next, find specific examples from the essay, the poem, or the definition/description of Feminist Criticism that further support a feminist reading of the poem.

HOMEWORK

Read: Definition of Psychoanalytic Criticism Read: Lois Tyson “Psychoanalytic Criticism”

Post #12: What is the purpose of psychoanalytical criticism? OR QHQ on the Tyson reading