Working in pairs, can you construct arguments that go like this?
If…then….
But…therefore.
Try it out with this set of ideas, just filling in the ‘then’ and ‘therefore’
sections.
1. If my money were unlimited then
But my money is limited therefore
2. If I could spend unlimited time on coursework then
But the deadline is coming soon therefore
3. If we could stop all wars then
But some conflict seems inevitable therefore
4. If oil were unlimited and didn’t cause global warming then
But oil is running out and it heats the planet up therefore
Pre 1900 Poetry Preparation
Objectives
1) To revise basic features of
poetry and gain an
understanding for new
features.
2) To consolidate ideas about
genders in 17th century
England.
3) To infer from key words from
the poem.
Poetic terms – What do they mean?
Using your own knowledge and a dictionary, find
out the definition for the following poetic
features.
• Personification
• Enjambment
• Imagery
• Onomatopoeia
• Hyperbole
• Assonance
• Symbolism
• Metaphor – compare by saying something is
something else
• Semantic field – the range of words used
Attitudes towards women in 17th
century England.
Don’t cake your
face in Make-up.
Make him
wait
Adultery will
bring you a
world of misery
Don’t take
the first
offer you
get
Wear floorlength dresses
that show a
hint of
cleavage
Always look
your best
Chat up lines from 17th Century
Men…
• "Her breasts are the soft Pillows of love"
• "Her breasts are two Ivory balls of
listing pleasure".
• "Her breasts are twins where Lillies
grow".
• "Her breasts are a pair of Maidenunconquered Worlds“.
IS THERE A RECURRING THEME
HERE???
Analysis of key words from the
poem…
• Inferring simply means looking for clues
in a text, in pictures, and in your own
knowledge that will help you to make
sense of the text.
• It is an important skill that you need to
practice and understand prior to your
final exam – it will help you read faster
and think ‘outside the box’.
What can we infer from key
words in the poem?
Empty
Rubies
Fire
Heart
Grave
Rough
Adore
Flood
Homework
• Research the following;
- Andrew Marvell
- Robert Herrick
- Carpe Diem poetry
- Metaphysical poetry
Don’t cut and paste or print reams and
reams off Google – just 4 or 5 basic
facts will be enough.
Lesson 2
Thursday 14th May
To his coy mistress
Starter
Imagine you are observing
somebody you love from a
distance…
Write a short opening
paragraph about what you see
and what you feel.
( NO SMUT)
Mr Marvell –
Seduction King…
Objectives
• To gain a basic understanding of the
themes and meanings in ‘To his Coy
Mistress’
• To identify key words and understand
the meanings.
Carpe Diem
Carpe diem is Latin for ‘seize the day’.
It is an expression that encourages
people to live every day to the full and
don’t waste time putting things off.
‘To His Coy Mistress’ is an example of a
carpe diem poem.
Starter Question
• 1. Do you agree that people should ‘seize
the day’?
• 2. What are the advantages to doing
this?
• 3. What are the disadvantages?
• 4. What is the poet persuading the
woman to do?
• 5. How does he persuade her to do this?
• 6. Do you think the woman in convinced
by his persuasive argument?
Starter Activity
How are you persuaded?
Rank the following from one (being
most important) to 7 (being least
important) in persuasive techniques.
Persuasive technique
Threats
Bribery (incentives)
Flattery
Warning
Pronouns (we/our/you)
List of three
Exaggeration
Rank
Objectives
• To complete the annotation of the poem.
• To gain a deeper understanding of the poem by
answering comprehension questions.
• To self-asses your own understanding of the poem.
Oh no, I’m much
too shy and
nervous.
Come into my bed
sexy lady…
Question Time…
• What persuasive techniques does Marvell use to
seduce the woman?
• Why are the stanzas divided? What does this show?
• What does he offer her?
• Why does he begin to threaten her?
• How is the poem concluded?
Section of the poem
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 is he saying in this bit?
What do unfamiliar words mean?
Section of the poem
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged 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 tryThat
long preserv'd 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 am'rous birds of
prey,Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow chapp'd 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.
What is he saying in this bit?
What do unfamiliar words mean?
More analysis…
Mini-essay question
Due Next week…
• How does the poet use language to
seduce?
Think about;
• How persuasion techniques are used
• Asses the effectiveness of the poem
• How the poem is divided and why
• How language helps his plight
Lesson 3
Directions
• This isn’t interactive in the usual sense; it’s
a series of questions that call for you to
respond before going on to the next slide.
You may even want to write down your
responses so that you will remember
them.
• First step: Read the poem aloud.
Overall Argument
1. What’s the speaker trying to accomplish
here?
2. Is he trying to ask his mistress to marry
him?
3. What is the nature of his argument?
4. How logical is it?
Answer these and move to the next slide.
1. He’s trying to get his mistress to sleep
with him.
2. Not exactly. Is the word “marriage”
mentioned in the poem?
3. He structures his poem as a logical
argument. See the next slide for details.
Carpe Diem
1. Look closely at the beginning of lines 1, 21,
and 33. You can see his argument there:
1. IF we had world enough and time, I could court you
forever.
2. BUT we do not.
3. THEREFORE we should make love now, before it is
too late.
This type of poem is called a “carpe diem” poem.
“Carpe diem” means “seize the day.”
Lines 1-10
1. Why does the speaker mention the
Ganges and the Humber?
2. What is he trying to establish by talking
about “ten years before the flood” and
“the conversion of the Jews”?
3. What do these two ideas have in
common?
Answer these and move to the next slide.
1. The two rivers are far apart
geographically, thus representing a great
or infinite amount of space.
2. The two events are far apart
chronologically, thus representing a great
or infinite amount of time.
3. Both are examples of hyperbole, or
exaggeration for effect.
Lines 11-20
What does the speaker mean by “vegetable love”?
Hint: One possible meaning is suggested by the
concept of the Great Chain of Being. Even into
the Renaissance people believed in a fixed
order of creation, a divinely ordained hierarchy
known as the Great Chain of Being. See the
next slide for the chart.
Great Chain of Being
• God (perfect reason and understanding)
• Angels (reason and understanding)
• Man (reason, emotion, sensation, existence)
– Woman (emotion, limited reason, sensation,
existence)
• Animal kingdom (emotion, sensation, and
existence)
• Vegetable kingdom (sensation and existence)
• Stones and inanimate objects (existence)
•
Picture at http://www.stanford.edu/class/engl174b/chain.html
Vegetable Love
1. Vegetative, fecund, flourishing.
2. Love at the level of sensation rather than
reason and emotion, which should
characterize human love.
Lines 11-20
• 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.
Catalogue of Beauty
• Look carefully at the next few lines:
“An hundred years should go to praise /
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze”
• What are the connotations of eyes and
forehead?
Answer these questions and move to the
next slide.
Catalogue of Beauty
• Eyes = window of the soul
• Forehead = intellect
• In another example of hyperbole, the
speaker tells his mistress how much he
appreciates her intellect.
• But there’s more . . .
Catalogue of Beauty
• “Two hundred to adore each breast, / But thirty
thousand to the rest;”
• Think about this:
– Eyes/forehead/intellect = 100 years
– EACH breast = 200 years
– “The rest” = 30,000 years
Where does his interest in her REALLY lie?
If you guessed “not her brain,” you’re right.
Lines 21-32
•
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged 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 preserv'd 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.
Lines 21-32
• To what classical figure is “time’s winged
chariot” an allusion?
• What is suggested by words like “deserts,”
“marble vault,” “dust,” and “ashes”?
• Why does the speaker say that “worms shall try /
That long-preserved virginity”?
• Why does the poet repeat “no” and “nor”?
• What lines constitute an ironic understatement?
Answer these and move to the next slide.
1.
Phoebus Apollo, god of the sun, drove his chariot
across the heavens each day.
2. The dry, dead imagery of this section contrasts with
that of the sections before and after it.
3. The contrast between his physical possession of her
body and the worms’ physical possession of it should
make his taking of her virginity seem more attractive.
This section focuses on waste and loss, and these
lines focus on the waste of her (dead virginal) body.
In short, he’s asking, “Whom would you rather have
touching your body, me or the worms?”
•
4. “No” and “nor” complete the pattern of
negation of life found in these lines.
• 5. “The grave’s a fine and private place/
But none, I think, do there embrace.”
This is understatement. Does he really
mean he isn’t sure whether people
embrace after death? Do dead people
embrace? Of course not.
Lines 33-46
•
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 am'rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapp'd 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.
Lines 33-46
1. What word is repeated three times in the first
six lines?
2. How is the imagery in these lines different from
that in the previous section?
3. What kinds of birds do you typically associate
with love, and are those the birds evoked
here?
4. What other images does he use to describe
their love?
Answer these and move to the next slide.
1. “Now.” From the infinite time mentioned
in the first section, the poem has moved
on to an insistence on immediate action.
2. Note the words: “morning dew”; “youthful hue”;
“transpires”; “instant fires.” “Transpires”
suggests a kind of breathing through the skin;
the “morning dew” is moist and evanescent,
not lasting until midday; “instant fires” suggests
heat; and “youthful hue” again emphasizes her
skin. The images suggest that youth is warm,
moist—and transitory.
Previous section: dry and cold; death
This section: warm and moist; life
• 3. Most people would say doves or
another such gentle bird. These lovers
are “amorous birds of prey,” tearing at
each other physically and devouring time.
• 4. Other images include the “ball” which
the lovers create, which can penetrate the
“iron gates of life” like a cannonball, a
violent image like the birds of prey.
Last Lines
• The last lines bring the reader back to the
idea of time again: the lovers’ physical
union has the power to change time by
making the sun “run.”