Topic > Poetry Analyst - 550

Everyone gets old, right? The poems To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick, and To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell both contain messages about life, time, and how they interact. Through their differences in tone, imagery, and exquisite choice of words, the two authors basically get at the same idea in two different ways. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time is aimed at a group of younger males who are not yet married. “Age is best, but first” shows that Herrick is not talking to a bunch of old people. He knows they still have time in their lives to do something. Herrick urges young people not to be “shy” and to make use of the time they have. A “flower that smiles today, dies tomorrow” is one of the images Herrick uses to prove his point. The image of the "glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, the higher it rises,... and the nearer it sets" is used in the same way, to show that everything dies sooner or later and may not be too far away. and they need to move in their life. To His Coy Mistress is aimed at the woman of Marvell's dreams. The spec...