It’s no secret to the world that Marvell was a celibate clergyman. Why then would he write love poetry? The answer is that Marvell is writing for the sole purpose of displaying his writing skill. In his three stanza approach to convincing a woman to take advantage of time, Marvell can be seen from two perspectives: one claiming that he is a literary romantic; the other claiming that he is shallow and lewd. Despite Marvell’s obvious praise of the mistress’ figure and person, his intentions are to insult her slyly. These insults are aimed at lowering the woman’s self-esteem, which Marvell hopes will then drive her back into his arms, craving approval.
Marvell’s poem is inherently misogynistic and attempts to assert that if youth isn’t taken advantage of then there will be no hope for love or passion in the future. Marvell’s most effective use of imagery is in the second stanza where he claims that once time has passed, nothing will exist to love or comfort the mistress. As seen on line 32, “But none, I think, do there embrace,” Marvell is trying to will the mistress to believe that there is no opportunity to embrace passion other than the opportunity that exists in that moment. This is simply an attempt to mislead and manipulate the woman’s outlook on the situation. If Marvell’s first stanza were written without the condition in the first line “Had we but world enough, and time” then the poem would be a genuine expression of love but since that condition exists, Marvell’s love is also conditional, and conditional love is not admirable in any sense. Finally the last stanza is another urging to take advantage of the moment with raw, animalistic passion as seen in line 38 where Marvell refers to the himself and the mistress as “amorous birds of prey.” This poem not only betrays the idea of love and patience, but objectifies sex as the ultimate goal of a woman’s youth, making this an incredibly chauvinistic poem.
Excellent analysis of misogyny!
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