Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing

1. The motif that life is short and that we should seize the day (Latin: Vita brevis carpe diem) is old. Marvell’s poem, in fact, probably has its ultimate source in a classical text called The Greek Anthology, a collection of about six thousand short Greek poems composed between the first century B.C. and the tenth century A.D. One poem goes thus, in a fairly literal translation:

   You spare your maidenhead, and to what profit? For when you come to Hades you will not find your lover, girl. Among the living are the delights of Venus, but, maiden, we shall lie in the underworld mere bones and dust.

   If you find Marvell’s poem more impressive, offer reasons for your belief.

2. A student, working from the translation just given, produced this rhyming version:

   You keep your virginity, but to what end?

   Below, in Hades, you won’t find your friend.

   On earth we enjoy Venus’ sighs and moans;

   Buried below, we are senseless bones.

   What do you think of this version? Why? Prepare your own version — your instructor may divide the class into groups of four, and each group can come up with a collaborative version — and then compare it with other versions, giving reasons for your preferences.

3. Marvell’s poem takes the form of a syllogism (Some Procedures in Argument). It can be divided into three parts:

   1. “Had we” (i.e., “If we had”) (line 1), a supposition, or suppositional premise;

   2. “But at my back” (line 21), a refutation;

   3. “Now therefore” (line 33), a deduction.

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   Look closely at the poem and develop the argument using these three parts, devoting a few sentences to each part.

4. A student wrote of this poem:

   As a Christian I can’t accept the lover’s statement that “yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity” (lines 23–24). The poem may contain beautiful lines, and it may offer clever reasoning, but the reasoning is based on what my religion tells me is wrong. I not only cannot accept the idea of the poem, but I also cannot enjoy the poem, since it presents a false view of reality.

   What assumptions is this student making about a reader’s response to a work of literature? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

5. Here are three additional comments by students. For each, list the writer’s assumptions, and then evaluate each comment. You may agree or disagree, in whole or in part, with any comment, but give your reasons.

   1. The poem is definitely clever, and that is part of what is wrong with it. It is a blatant attempt at seduction. The man seems to think he is smarter than the woman he is speaking to, and he “proves” that she should go to bed with him. Since we don’t hear her side of the argument, Marvell implies that she has nothing to say and that his argument is sound. What the poet doesn’t seem to understand is that there is such a thing as virtue, and a woman need not sacrifice virtue just because death is inevitable.

   2. On the surface, “To His Coy Mistress” is an attempt to persuade a woman to go to bed with the speaker, but the poem is really less about sex than it is about the terrifying shortness of life.

   3. This is not a love poem. The speaker admits that his impulse is “lust” (line 30), and he makes fun of the girl’s conception of honor and virginity. If we enjoy this poem at all, our enjoyment must be in the hope that this would-be date-rapist is unsuccessful.

6. Read the poem several times slowly, perhaps even aloud. Do certain lines seem especially moving, especially memorable? If so, which ones? Give reasons for your belief.

7. In On Deconstruction (1982), a study of contemporary literary theory, Jonathan Culler remarks that feminist criticism has often stressed “reading as a woman.” This concept, Culler says, affirms the “continuity between women’s experience of social and familial structures and their experiences as readers.” Do you agree with his suggestion that men and women often interpret literary works differently? Consider Marvell’s poem in particular: Identify and discuss phrases and images in it to which men and women readers might (or might not) respond very differently.

8. A small point, but perhaps one of some interest. In the original text, line 34 ends with glew, not with dew. Most editors assume that the printer made an error, and — looking for a word to rhyme with hue — they replace glew with dew. Another possible emendation is lew, an archaic word meaning “warmth.” But the original reading has been defended, as a variant of the word glow. Your preference? Your reasons?