To his Coy Mistress ( Use of carpe diem in love) by Andrew Marvell

[anahita]

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”

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.

[Nossa]

I think that To His Coy Mistress is just a typical cavalier poem. Seeking only physical pleasures and adressing the beloved out of a lustful desire, is just what cavalier poets were famous for. Personally, I 'hate' cavalier poetry, I never enjoyed studying them, and never attempted reading them on my own. For someone like John Donne for instance, some people interpreted his poem "The Flea" as being written just to encourage his beloved to have a sexual intercourse with him. But looking at Donne's poetry makes you think beyond even what the poet may have intended...but any cavalier works, they make it crystal clear that they only care about "carpe diem" and physical pleasures. I agree that they use the idea or image of a ravished woman as some sort of a poetic material, which is something I don't think I understand, since this image is supposed to be something painful and bad.
Finally, I believe that cavalier poets were superficial...they couldn't see beyond thier earthly desires, and thier poetry, in my opinion, didn't contribute much in the English poetry.

[Logos]

anahita, did you write this? If not, the article is copyright of Margaret Wald/Bedford St. Martins.

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_exercises_coy/mistress_femin.html
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/Virtualit/poetry/critical_define/feminessay.pdf