Andrew+Marvell

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Andrew Marvell
Background: > ==Works:==
 * He is more known for his political activities then his poetry
 * Recieved a __degree__ from Cambridge University with which he tutored Oliver Cromwell's ward William Dutton.
 * returned to England in 1950 to tutor the daughter of Lord Fairfax.
 * Wrote most of his poetry at the Fairfax Estate.
 * Tutored Oliver Cromwell's ward, William Dutton
 * Wrote many poems about Cromwell
 * 1) [|The Mower's Song]
 * 2) [|The Garden]
 * 3) [|On a Drop of Dew]
 * 4) [|An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland]

__[|To His Coy Mistress]__
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Had we but world enough, 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, refure Til 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 winged chariot hurring 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 honor 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-chapped power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. Discussion Questions: 1) Do you think the speaker's argument about time is convincing? Explain your opinion, using support fromt he poem. 2) In your opinion, is the speaker sincere in his description of the way he would go about loving his mistress if he had more time? 3) How is the speaker trying to deal with life's limitations? page 284