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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.

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

Through the iron gates of life.

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

CONTEXT

telling the woman he loves her, and that she shouldn't play hard to get, and want to be wooed and flattered and given presents as there isn't enough time in the world to give her what she deserves, He is saying they should enjoy each others company and sex whilst they are young and attractive and he uses a syllogistic argument to try and persuade her

FORM

first person narrator - this makes it clear that it is a direct appeal to the woman, it is made of rhyming couplets which make the poem sound witty, and his argument well constructed.

STRUCTURE

the first stanza explains that he would wish forever to woo her and the second is that he can't as they don't live forever and the third is that they should grab their pleasures while they can, this is the syllogistic argument.

HYPERBOLE

he mocks his mistress's romantic ideas of love and his sense of frustration is beginning to show through his irony and exaggeration (stanza two - overstates his love to the point of being comical)

LANGUAGE (death)

he reminds his mistress that time is passing, and one day they will both be dead "then the worms shall try that long preserved virginity" - he tells her that if she is buried a virgin the worms will eat up her virginity - ew!

LANGUAGE (aggression) - as he goes on his need and desire for her increases and he uses violent and passionate imagery "instant fires" "like amourous birds of prey" "rough strife" - getting impatient perhaps

themes ~

impatience

urgancy

reluctance

The Farmer’s Bride

Three Summers since I chose a maid,

Too young maybe – but more’s to do

At harvest-time than bide and woo.

When us was wed she turned afraid

Of love and me and all things human;

Like the shut of a winter’s day

Her smile went out, and ’twasn’t a woman –

More like a little frightened fay.

One night, in the Fall, she runned away.

‘Out ’mong the sheep, her be,’ they said,

Should properly have been abed;

But sure enough she wasn’t there

Lying awake with her wide brown stare.

So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down

We chased her, flying like a hare

Before our lanterns. To Church-Town

All in a shiver and a scare

We caught her, fetched her home at last

And turned the key upon her, fast.

She does the work about the house

As well as most, but like a mouse:

Happy enough to chat and play

With birds and rabbits and such as they,

So long as men-folk keep away.

‘Not near, not near!’ her eyes beseech

When one of us comes within reach.

The women say that beasts in stall

Look round like children at her call.

I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.

Shy as a leveret, swift as he,

Straight and slight as a young larch tree,

Sweet as the first wild violets, she,

To her wild self. But what to me?

The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,

The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,

One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,

A magpie’s spotted feathers lie

On the black earth spread white with rime,

The berries redden up to Christmas-time.

What’s Christmas-time without there be

Some other in the house than we!

She sleeps up in the attic there

Alone, poor maid. ’Tis but a stair

Betwixt us. Oh! my God! the down,

The soft young down of her, the brown,

The brown of her – her eyes, her hair, her hair!

CHARLOTTE MEW

CONTEXT

married for 3 years but she is still frightened of men, he thinks about telling the story of how the relationship went wrong, but he doesn't blame himself as he desires his wife. Her rejection is almost unbearable for the man, as he expresses his thoughts in a matter-of-fact way, by the end his is seen to be losing control of his patience and desire for his wife

FORM

it is a dramatic monologue, mostly in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme that varies throughout the poem, this helps the poem a strong rhythmic drive that drives the narrative forward without becoming predictable.

STRUCTURE

farmer tells the story of the marriage through the first two stanzas then discusses his wife now, how he feels towards her, his sadness mixed in with his desire.

LANGUAGE (about nature)

the farmer uses imagery mainly taken from the natural world s it reflects who the farmer is, and in his description of his wife he describes her as images of nature and wilderness, yet she is hunted like a hare.

DIALECT

the poem contains many dialect words which help give a strong sense of the farmers character, this is in his voice and language and grammar - gives a sense of the people involved which adds to the drama "'Tis but a stair, betwixt us"

Sister Maude

Who told my mother of my shame,

Who told my father of my dear?

Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,

Who lurked to spy and peer.

Cold he lies, as cold as stone,

With his clotted curls about his face:

The comeliest corpse in all the world

And worthy of a queen’s embrace.

You might have spared his soul, sister,

Have spared my soul, your own soul too:

Though I had not been born at all,

He’d never have looked at you.

My father may sleep in Paradise,

My mother at Heaven-gate:

But sister Maude shall get no sleep

Either early or late.

My father may wear a golden gown,

My mother a crown may win;

If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gate

Perhaps they’d let us in:

But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,

Bide you with death and sin.

CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

CONTEXT

the poem is written through the eyes of somebody whom was having a love affair, the narrator kept the affair secret from her parents but her sister betrayed her and told the parents. The writer is abusive and harsh to her sister as she is so hurt by the way her sister has behaved and the death of her lover (or the relationship) that she wishes her sister death and to remain in hell.

FORM

dramatic monologue in the form of a ballad, this is a very old traditional form, used for telling stories. the End stopped lines help make the poem more rhythmic and so more intense on the expression of anger.

STRUCTURE

starts out ambiguously with details of what has occurred slowly introduced, ideas are repeated building up the impression of anger.

AMBIGUITY

there is a link between the discovery of the narrators love and the lover's death and we are given very few details of how it has happened which leaves an air of mystery to the poem.

ANGER

poet uses sibilance to emphasise the spitting of the words, also repetition of "c" gives a hard tone, "cold he lies, as cold as stone, with his clotted curls" "spared his soul sister"

RELIGION

poem deals with questions of guilt and redemption and he idea that some sins are forgiveable (her affair) and others aren't (betrayal) last two stanzas.

themes -

betrayal

jealousy

spitefulness

cold anger

Nettles

My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.

‘Bed’ seemed a curious name for those green spears,

That regiment of spite behind the shed:

It was no place for rest. With sobs and tears

The boy came seeking comfort and I saw

White blisters beaded on his tender skin.

We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.

At last he offered us a watery grin,

And then I took my hook and honed the blade

And went outside and slashed in fury with it

Till not a nettle in that fierce parade

Stood upright any more. Next task: I lit

A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead.

But in two weeks the busy sun and rain

Had called up tall recruits behind the shed:

My son would often feel sharp wounds again.

VERNON SCANNELL

CONTEXT

3 year old falls into a bed of nettles and is badly injured. His father and mother comfort him whilst he cries and then goes and burns the nettles down, but within two weeks the nettles have grown back, the simple event is used to explore suffering and the powerlessness of parents to stop their children getting hurt in life, the physical pain of the nettles have a deeper meaning of emotional suffering. His father cannot protect him from the emotional pains of living (metaphors)

FORM

narrative poem, the narrator emphasises that it is a personal experience, the usage of enjambment makes it sound more like a story being told to the reader. S

STRUCTURE

the poem goes through the story in a straight forward, chronological manner.

MILITARY LANGUAGE

the imagery of war is used throughout the poem with the nettles being personified as soldiers, who attack the boy whom are defeated but then rise again, "called up tall recruits"

PAINFUL LANGUAGE

the narrator gives very precise images of the boys pain but also links it to the general pains of growing up. "not so raw" - not taken away entirely

themes -

anger

revenge

frustration

tenderness

Born Yesterday

for Sally Amis

Tightly-folded bud,

I have wished you something

None of the others would:

Not the usual stuff

About being beautiful,

Or running off a spring

Of innocence and love –

They will all wish you that,

And should it prove possible,

Well, you’re a lucky girl.

But if it shouldn’t, then

May you be ordinary;

Have, like other women,

An average of talents:

Not ugly, not good-looking,

Nothing uncustomary

To pull you off your balance,

That, unworkable itself,

Stops all the rest from working.

In fact, may you be dull –

If that is what a skilled,

Vigilant, flexible,

Unemphasised, enthralled

Catching of happiness is called.

PHILIP LARKIN

CONTEXT

larkin wrote the poem for the birth of his friends daughter, he takes the fairy tale idea of giving her wishes but wishes her more practical useful talents instead of great beauty and exciting things, he wishes for her to be ordinary.

FORM

the lack of rhymes make the most of the poem seem like normal spoken english, emphasising the normality, but also puts an emphasis on the rhyming couplet at the end about how all he wants is for her to be happy.

STRUCTURE

the poet starts off with a conversational and ironic tone talking about so-called gifts and virtue that most people wish for, then he goes on to be more direct and emphatic towards the real virtue being happiness.

CYNICAL LANGUAGE

the poet uses sceptical and dismissive language to describe extra ordinary gifts - "usual stuff/running off on a spring" - wishes her to be normal

ORDINARY LANGUAGE

unexciting description of his hopes, but surprises us with a statement of how important and special that kind of ordinariness is. "you may be dull if that is what a skilled, vigilant, flexible, unemphasised, enthralled catching of happiness is called."

themes ~

tenderness

scorn

realism

To His Coy Mistress

Farmers Bride

Sister Maude

Nettles

Born Yesterday