Lustful Advances
Lustful Advances
What are the seven deadly sins? They are the seven basic human vices that, when taken in excess, can be perceived as evil, and potentially injure or kill the person or people around them while indulging in said vices. Delving further into that topic I am focusing on lust. I doubt that there is a better example than that of the poem “To his Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell. Written between 1650 and 1652 it was first published in 1681 (by his housekeeper!) several years after his death it was then and still is a shocking and controversial piece of literature. This poem is so farfetched and so laden with sexual advances the speaker is in my opinion pathetic. The speaker’s attempts to satisfy his lust are varied, ranging from admiration of his subject to outright manipulation.
With his lust filled eyes he tries to verbally seduce his subject with false admiration, and ridiculous attempts at wooing her by vowing to adore each body part for hundreds of years. “An age to each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.” He tries to come off as “prince charming” promising their love would grow “vaster then empires”. He tells her that she deserves the best, all the praise in the world, and that his love for her would never dull. Backtrack to the start of the poem where he refers to her being coy, to summarize he says basically that if they had all the time in the world then this act of being coy wouldn’t be an issue. However, because they do have such a short time, she should fall into his arms and essentially go to bed with him.
As we move into the second stanza we see the speaker become almost frustrated. He seems to transition from adoration to a since of being almost manipulative. As the stanza grows, so does his apparent manipulation. Things take a dark turn when the speaker begins stating that: “But at my back I always hear Times winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.”. My take on this is that he is
What are the seven deadly sins? They are the seven basic human vices that, when taken in excess, can be perceived as evil, and potentially injure or kill the person or people around them while indulging in said vices. Delving further into that topic I am focusing on lust. I doubt that there is a better example than that of the poem “To his Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell. Written between 1650 and 1652 it was first published in 1681 (by his housekeeper!) several years after his death it was then and still is a shocking and controversial piece of literature. This poem is so farfetched and so laden with sexual advances the speaker is in my opinion pathetic. The speaker’s attempts to satisfy his lust are varied, ranging from admiration of his subject to outright manipulation.
With his lust filled eyes he tries to verbally seduce his subject with false admiration, and ridiculous attempts at wooing her by vowing to adore each body part for hundreds of years. “An age to each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.” He tries to come off as “prince charming” promising their love would grow “vaster then empires”. He tells her that she deserves the best, all the praise in the world, and that his love for her would never dull. Backtrack to the start of the poem where he refers to her being coy, to summarize he says basically that if they had all the time in the world then this act of being coy wouldn’t be an issue. However, because they do have such a short time, she should fall into his arms and essentially go to bed with him.
As we move into the second stanza we see the speaker become almost frustrated. He seems to transition from adoration to a since of being almost manipulative. As the stanza grows, so does his apparent manipulation. Things take a dark turn when the speaker begins stating that: “But at my back I always hear Times winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.”. My take on this is that he is