Metaphysical poetry

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

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.

What would the poet do if
he and his girl had enough time?

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.

Can you summarise the poet's argument? ONE (short) sentence

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-chapped 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.

.......while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,...

What is the poet saying to his girl?

1. You are sweating
2. Girl, I'm on fire!
3. Hey girl, you want it too!
4. You're so d*mn hot!

Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapped power.

What is he saying here?

1. I'm hungry.
2. I have a powerful friend
3. You are such a slow-poke!
4. I want it all, and I want it NOW

The "iron gates of life"
is a metaphor.
What for?

Make an
"If.........., but........., so........."
Sentence that describes this poem.

Question 1
What is coyness?

Question 2
What is the lady coy about?

Question 3
Why does the writer refer to the Ganges?

4. What is the conversion of the Jews?

1. Holocaust
2. That the Jews become Christians
3. Judgement day

5. What will take thousands of years?

1. The conversion of the Jews
2. Their love.
3. Him admiring her body
4. A millenium

Question 6:
What is Time's winged messenger?

Question 7:
What does the poet say about the girl's virginity?

Q8. What does he mean by: and youthful hue sits on thy skin?

Question 9

Let's roll our strength in one ball means?

Let’s make love!

Q 10
Explain the last two lines.

Why a renaissance poem?