Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”, is a beautiful composition about natural beauty by William Wordsworth. It was first published in 1807, in his collection titled Poems, In Two Volumes. It was a period when London and the whole of England were going through the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. In the early morning, the poet stands on Westminster Bridge, which connects the poor and the rich areas of London and reminisces on the beauty of London in the early morning. The poem illustrates the need for small discontinuations from the busy hustle, and bustle of city life. The transformation from agrarian and rural societies to industrialized urban centers had a profound impact on the environment and human experience. Wordsworth, in his poetry, often lamented the loss of nature and the simple, pre-industrial way of life. However, this poem is pretty optimistic. Wordsworth picked the city of London in this poem, very spectacularly while depicting how nature plays a pivotal role in leading a go stress-free no matter how much people and the city progresses.

Structure of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

The poem comprises 14 lines divided into an octave (eight lines, or two quatrains) and a sestet (six lines, or two tercets). It is written as a Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet written in iambic pentameter with ten syllables per line. However, the poem doesn’t follow the traditional manner of a Petrarchan sonnet. Traditionally, Octave is used to raise a proposition or a point of contention while the Sestet is used to address the proposition or to resolve the issue of contention. Wordsworth used the Octave to describe the beauty of the city of London and then he used the Sestet to describe how this natural beauty can have an emotional effect on the viewer.

In addition, Wordsworth didn’t strictly use Iambic pentameter, rather, the meter is irregular. The rhyming scheme is ABBAABBA CDCDCD.

The poet used Hyperbole, Personification, Simile, Alliteration, Anaphora, Apostrophe, Enjambment, and Inversion in the poem.

The speaker of the poem remains unidentified and unnamed, though we may assume that Wordsworth himself is the speaker.

Summary of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

The Octave Lines 1-8

“Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”

The first stanza is actually a single sentence designed in the form of an octave. The speaker begins with a hyperbolic assertion "Earth has not anything to show more fair." This statement is surprising because Wordsworth is not speaking of nature but of the city. It appears more shocking because the speaker isn’t actually describing the natural beauty, rather he mentions the artificial, man-made monuments and machines. He mentions 'Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples' in the 7^th line and till now, the natural beauty of the city hasn’t been discussed.

The eighth line clarifies the idea as the speaker mentions that all those man-made marvels are appearing “bright and glittering in the smokeless air.” This suggests that the city is not in conflict with nature, it appears pollution-free.

A harmonizing effect is then portrayed between the natural and man-made world, with the buildings in the city, with the great feats of engineering lying all within one portion of the city, that is ‘open unto the field, and to the sky’. As the morning sun peeps into the city, everything in the city lies ‘bright’ and keeps ‘glittering’. The air is now divine, fresh, and smokeless, unlike the ugly smoked-choked air of the day.

In the second line, the poet used Inversion (changing of proper grammatical order) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.’ In the third line, Alliteration has been used. ‘A sight so touching in its majesty’ makes use of the repetition of ‘s’ sound. In the fourth line, Simile has been used.

The Sestet

“Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!”

The next stanza also begins with Hyperbole as the speaker asserts that the sun has never shone more beautifully, even on natural things (valley, rock, or hill). Wordsworth says never ever in his life he has seen such a scene, nor has he felt such calmness that he has gained from viewing the scene. The speaker connects with the calm of the country’s capital before the business day begins.

In the 12^th line, Wordsworth begins using Personification as he offers the river the ability to glide at his own sweet will.’ He personifies the whole scene, giving life to the sun, the river, the houses, and finally the whole city, which has a symbolic heart.  The view is reaching out and touching his soul. The final line of the poem gives the sense that London is the heart of England and it is lying still deprived of any hustle and bustle of the city life in the day.

Themes of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

Nature and the City: William Wordsworth is known as a nature poet. However, in this poem, he avoided bringing up the theme of Nature vs Artificial. Rather, he demonstrates an appreciation for the beauty of the cityscape in this poem. The poem suggests that the city when observed in a particular state and at a particular time, can rival the sublimity of nature.

The poem explores the contrast and duality between the stillness of the early morning and the bustling life that will later characterize the city. The poem captures a fleeting moment of peace before the city awakens, highlighting the transitory nature of beauty and calmness.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Howl by Allen Ginsberg | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "Howl" is a seminal ‘free verse’ poem by Allen Ginsberg, published in 1956. It is considered one of the most important works in American literature and a defining piece of the Beat Generation. The poem consists of three sections, each addressing different themes and subjects. Overall, the poem is an outcry against society and its treatment of non-conformists.

As the title suggests, it is not a regular poem, rather it is an expression of grief, rage, and sometimes exultation. The free-verse structure allows the poet to describe the characters and their experiences he wishes to talk about. The poem begins with the line “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,” which suggests that it is largely an elegy or lament. The poet describes the sufferings of his friends and colleagues (members of the Beat Generation) and tries to make the reader understand their pain and sympathize with them.

Structure of Howl:

The poem is written in free verse, and it has no finite structure. Ginsberg wrote 112 lines set in three sections. The lines are long and look more like paragraphs than stanzas. 

The first section contains 78 long lines often written without punctuation and with a repetitive refrain: "who" which introduces various characters and their experiences. This section depicts the lives of individuals marginalized by society while exploring the themes of themes of madness, addiction, and societal rejection. This section is set in New York City as the poet mentions the geography and features of the city extensively. The speaker also mentions other cities including Birmingham, Baltimore, and Chicago, and he also mentions Canada, Mexico, and Africa, especially Tangier, where Ginsberg’s friend William S. Burroughs spent some time.

The second section contains lines from 79 to 93. These are again long free-verse lines with no strict meter or rhyming scheme. This section has a more analytical tone, critiquing societal norms. In this section, the speaker focuses on the detrimental effects of capitalism and conformity while highlighting the struggles of artists and intellectuals against societal pressures.

The third section is from lines 94-112. It is set in Rockland and mentions Rockland Psychiatric Center, a mental hospital. It is a shorter section and presents a more lyrical quality. The speaker employs a direct and personal tone, reflecting Ginsberg's experiences. He specifically addresses Carl Solomon, a minor poet and friend of Ginsberg, who was hospitalized in Rockland. In this section, the speaker celebrates spiritual awakening and the quest for truth while emphasizing love, connection, and the transformative power of art.

The poet used Anaphora, Alliteration, Repetition, Hyperbole, Symbolism, Imagery, and Enjambment in the poem. The speaker of the poem is Ginsberg himself and he makes it clear in the third part. Ginsberg explains his experiences in this poem but many of the incidents are fictionalized. Ginsberg was never hospitalized in the Rockland Mental Hospital nor was his friend Carl Solomon whom he addresses in the third section. Solomon was admitted to New York State Psychiatric Institute where Ginsberg first met him in a waiting room.

Summary of Howl:

Section 1 Lines 1-78

The poet asserts that the “best minds of [his] generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.” The speaker makes a reference to his friend Carl Solomon and his other friends of the Beat Generation and how they suffered. The poet criticizes the militaristic, dominant culture of America during that time which "destroyed" this generation, drove them into "madness," and left them vulnerable and "hysterical." (1-2)

Often they succumbed to addiction, poverty, and madness. In the third line, he refers to his friends as “angelheaded hipsters.” Most of the poets of the Beat Generation were interested in jazz, African-American culture, and drug use. Ginsberg mentions William Blake, one of his favorite poets as his friend and informs him that his friends are studying in their small-town schools. He complains about how his friends were kicked out of schools and universities for not conforming to the rules and writing things that were considered ‘obscene.’ He alludes to his own expulsion from Colombia University for writing a negative message about the university president on his dorm room window. He returned to the University and graduated in 1948. The speaker says that such expulsion has scared his friends of the authority that has abused them and left them as outcasts.  This is both a physical hardship that has left them poor and unable to honestly earn a living because of their political beliefs and artistic calling, and it is a mental hardship. These people are angry and hysterical because of the culture that suppresses them. However, he mentions them as ‘angelheaded hipsters’ suggesting that these people represent a certain kind of salvation and a struggle for freedom against oppression for the rest of America. He mentions how these ‘best minds’ attended the best universities in America but faced conflict with the established literary norms and intellectual culture, and thus were often ridiculed. He mentions that due to the rise of corporate and industrial culture, many people are living in cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. This urban culture has provided materialistic success to the American middle class but this urban culture also acts like a prison that can entrap the mind and ultimately destroy the individual. The city allows the poet to contemplate things like jazz, poetry, and art with a community of people who see the world in the same way.  Yet, the city is also a destructive force full of injustice.  Ginsberg and his friends repeatedly saw instances of such injustice as police and authorities kept close watch on their activities and used any instance possible to make arrests or charge them with crimes.

Since these Beat artists were unfairly targeted and oppressed, most of them had to go underground, in the world of drugs, violence, and sex. These oppressed young men lived in "waking nightmares" of "drugs...alcohol and cock and endless balls, / incomparable blind streets of shuddering cloud..." (22-24). The speaker asserts that these young men and poets were not destroyed by their licentious use of drugs and homosexuality, but they were destroyed because they were forced to hide and suppress these acts, and when they were caught, they were persecuted in a destructive and unjustified manner. Many of them were sent to an asylum where his friends talked for hours, discussing philosophy and nonsense. They scream they vomit, they whisper, and they return to important memories of the “shocks” experienced in hospitals. This alludes to electric shock treatment, which is discussed more clearly in the third section. The speaker asserts that his friends are smart people who studied history, literature, religion, and a lot more who are now considered mad. He says that these people were interested in exploring different people and cultures and thus they often traveled. He contemplated

Many of the figures described in this section suffer from mental illness, reflecting the broader theme of the chaos and fragmentation of contemporary life. Ginsberg portrays their struggles as emblematic of a society that fails to understand or support them. The poet critiques the materialism, conformity, and hypocrisy of American society during the 1950s. He highlights how society stifles creativity and individuality. Ginsberg employs vivid imagery and symbolic language to illustrate the experiences of those he writes about, including references to drug use, sexual liberation, and the search for meaning. The section is rich with cultural references, including nods to jazz, literature, and the Beat Generation, emphasizing the interconnectedness of art and the human experience.  The tone is both mournful and defiant, as Ginsberg expresses empathy for the suffering of his peers while also challenging the status quo.

Section 2 Lines 79-93

The speaker begins the 2^nd section by mentioning the death of Ginsberg’s friend Bill Cannastra. He was a friend of Ginsberg’s from his New York days. One evening, while riding the subway train, Bill, attempting a humorous stunt, accidentally fell out of the window of the train they were on. He was dragged behind the train and killed. The speaker says that Bill’s death signifies the increasing power of the evil Moloch - the power to destroy and drive one to insane acts. This part is set in San Francisco. Ginsberg describes Moloch as the monster that preys on The Lambs (referring to the poem The Lamb by William Blake in Songs of Innocence.) The Lambs here refer to the “best minds” and “angel-headed hipsters” who were Ginsberg’s friends.

The speaker describes the economic hardships of those who do not have the luxuries and lives of wealthier people. Moloch, representing the values of materialism, and capitalism, has the power to give to certain persons and to take away from others. Moloch becomes a “heavy judger of men!” Ginsberg describes such values to be abhorrent and destructive to society. The speaker describes Moloch as “the crossbone soulless jail- / house and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judg- / ment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned govern- / ments!” He criticizes the authoritative government which destroys individuality in favor of collectivism. The speaker suggests that the United States government, a body ultimately “of the people” and “by the people” does not collect the people’s hopes and ambitions as much as it collects their sorrows and inability to advance. He also describes Moloch as the soulless dominance of industry and corporate power. The poet also touches on themes of war, violence, and their impact on the human psyche. He mourns the loss of innocence and the devastation caused by conflict.

The speaker describes the struggles of the ‘best minds’ with government policies, society’s hostility to sex, specifically homosexuality, capitalism, and the political structure of the country. Capitalism, violence, and the unaccepting nature of American society broke their backs. The speaker claims that Industry and capitalism are not just symbols of American values. They are the deities of American culture. The attainment of wealth is a religious pursuit. It is a devotion of the American people. Moloch’s soul is “electricity and banks,” two of the cornerstones of industry and business. Ginsberg writes that Moloch’s “poverty is the specter of genius!” Capitalist society forces the innocent brilliance of the best minds to cease to exist.

Instead of succumbing to societal pressure and accepting defeat, the best minds chose to leave but that choice drove them to insanity.

Section 3 Lines 94-112

The third section begins with a direct address to Carl Solomon, a friend of Ginsberg. Ginsberg wants Solomon to know that he is “with you in Rockland!” This was the literal case for a time when Ginsberg was voluntarily admitted to the institution where Solomon lived, but it is meant here as more of a symbolic gesture. The speaker says that it is not just him who is standing with Solomon, but all of those who have been unfairly and unjustly destroyed and driven mad by the strictures and conformity of society and government concerned with nothing but its own survival and profit. It should be noted that neither Carl Solomon nor Ginsberg were ever admitted to the Rockland Psychiatric Institute. They met in the New York Psychiatric Institute.

The speaker describes how brilliant and creative Solomon was but admits that Solomon has been truly driven from a normal life. His “faculties of the skull no longer admit the worms of the senses”. He laughs at “invisible humor” and he cries to the nurses and doctors that he is “losing the game of / the actual pingpong of the abyss.” 

He then criticizes the unjust treatment of patients in the mental institutions of America. Referring to Carl Solomon, the speaker says that “the soul is innocent and / immortal it should never die ungodly in an armed madhouse.” The speaker describes insanity as actually genius and a system that seeks to lock up such genius is inhuman. To let Solomon’s “soul” die in an “armed madhouse” is to lose one of the world’s “best minds.” He criticizes the inhuman treatment of insane people in these hospitals and describes how they are forced to suffer shock therapy. The speaker says that it is torture and it did more to drive Solomon insane than it did to cure him.

The speaker mentions that Solomon also suffered hallucinations and paranoia. He tells Solomon that he’s with him in Rockland, where together they wake up electrified “out of the coma” by our “souls’ airplanes.” It’s in these lines that Ginsberg imagines a future in which the oppressed have the power to stand up against the society that has imposed this horrifying confinement upon them. In the future, in which the hospital becomes a war zone, the patients or the “skinny legions” are set free and can fight back. In the final lines, the speaker mentions that “I’m with you in Rockland” is meant as a symbolic cry. Ginsberg is actually in his “cottage in the Western / night” and Carl Solomon’s appearance in the poem has been a part of his dreams. Ginsberg leaves the reader to decide if the poem is a real description of events or if it is really just Ginsberg’s literary dream of a generation broken by a society that refuses to accept its deviance.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

The Only American from Our Village by Arun Joshi | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Only American from Our Village is a poignant and heart-wrenching short story by Arun Joshi, published in his short story collection The Survivor and Other Stories in 1975. It is a story about a father who sacrifices his own comforts to provide his son with the best education and career. The son becomes successful in America but forgets his cultural roots and responsibilities to his father. The story critiques materialism and delves into themes of pride, arrogance, identity, isolation, and belonging. The story is narrated by an unnamed narrator in the third person from the omniscient point of view.

Characters of The Only American from Our Village:

Doctor Khanna is an Indian-born physicist in America working at the University of Wisconsin. He is a brilliant physicist and scientist who is known for his ground-breaking result-oriented research. He is the son of a poor middle-class Indian man who worked hard to provide good education and better opportunities to his son. After leaving India, Dr. Khanna completely devotes himself to his materialistic pursuit of money making and achieving higher and higher success. He has a strong desire to put his past behind him and focus on what he considers to be a world of opportunity, He prefers life in America, a place where he is recognized for his achievements and gets the merit that he thinks is owed to him. He marries an American girl Joanne against his father’s wishes with whom he has two sons.

Kundan Lal is Doctor Khanna’s father who is very proud of his son’s achievements. He was a brilliant student but couldn’t get enough opportunities and to fulfill his responsibilities towards his family, he compromised with his own career and aspirations. His wife died years ago and after his son left for America, he remained alone and isolated in his village. He wishes that his son would return to India and work for his nation but when he decides to stay and settle in America, he accepts his decision and rejoices that his son is the only American from his village. Radhey Mohan is an elderly man a childhood friend of Kundan Lal. He meets Dr. Khanna during his visit to India and informs him how close he was to his late father Kundan Lal. Radhey Shyam has a fatherly feeling towards Dr. Khanna and he talks to him without any malice or harshness. However, ridden by his own guilt of not attending to his ill father during his ending days, Dr. Khanna feels uneasy when Rahdey Mohan approaches him.

Summary of The Only American from Our Village:

 Dr. Khanna is the most outstanding immigrant physicist at the University of Wisconsin, America. He is a very intelligent and fine physicist, who pursued his dreams of money and achievements. He left his father on his own in India and settled in America where he married an American girl Joanne against his father’s wish. He enjoys a happy and successful life with his wife with whom he has two sons. As time passes by, he forgets his father and motherland. But now, he is invited to a physics meeting in Delhi, India. He left India fifteen years ago and never thought of returning back. But he realizes that he will get too many accolades and praise and thus, he decides to make a week-long trip to India along with his wife and sons. Dr. Khanna’s tour is a success by all accounts. He is welcomed by an official of the Council of Scientific Research. He delivers some lectures at various seminars and conferences, meets the President and the Prime Minister of India, and is offered great respect. His wife and children are “worshipped” by his relatives for whom they have brought “Gillette razors, pop records, and a mass of one-dollar neckties.” Though advanced, these gifts are of little use to his relatives due to their cultural differences. His middle-class relatives still strive for the things necessary for their lives while Doctor Khanna is leading a lavish materialistic lifestyle, chasing his American dream.

At the fag end of his successful visit after his “final talk, at a college in his former hometown”, he meets an old man, Mr. Radhey Mohan, who sells court papers in front of the District Courts and who out of the fraternity and old relations comes shuffling along and insists on “shaking Dr. Khanna’s hands.”  Mr. Radhey Mohan introduces himself to Dr. Khanna as a childhood friend of his late father Kundan Lal. Dr Khanna, due to the lack of human values, looks “puzzled” at the meeting. Mr. Radhey Mohan is a simple villager but has sharp eyes on the matters of life and society. He tells Dr. Khanna: “Your father and I were very close to each other, like brothers”. His way of talking, “slant of the lips”, “glint in the eye” and his father’s “accent” makes Dr. Khanna “uncomfortable”. Dr. Khanna tries to avoid him but Mr. Radhey Mohan does not let him go.

Mr. Radhey Mohan further tells about his friendship with his father. He tells him that his father and he have gone to the same school. They sat at the same desk. He says that when he was a schoolboy, he had carved the two names on the two sides of the school bench where he and Dr. Khanna’s father Kundan Lal used to sit. He informs that before his death, Kundan Lal and he went and looked for the desk and they found the desk was still there and so were their names. He informs that he could not pass matriculation while Dr Khanna’s father, a brilliant and studious student, stood third in the state, had his name on the Honours Board, and won a scholarship for his further education. Being poor, Dr. Khanna’s father had to get an education by winning scholarships. But, he made a mark as a brilliant student not only in school but also in college, and “if he had made a mark he did not let it get to his head” and he was “always the same” with the old man. He says that despite being a brilliant student, Kundan Lal was humble. It reveals his human values. He was also a man of high morals as he was unaware of “the dancing girls of Lahore” and “such things” despite getting an education in the same city. He loved his mother very much: “When his mother died, he cried a lot” Soon after his graduation, he took a job. Over time, he retired. He looked old, older than his years, but he was happy and very proud of his only son, who had settled in America.

Radhey Mohan informs that his father longed for his return. He used to say that his son would be a big government man when he returned to India. He would say his son was coming back in one year, in two years, any time. Then he got information about his son’s marriage to an American girl and he was quiet for many months. But he started talking again. He said his son was the only American from his village. He continually talked about his son and what he has achieved for those who live in the village. Kundan Lal was so proud of his son’s achievement that he ignored the fact that his son had lost moral and cultural values by shattering his father’s hopes. He lived in his native place and hoped to see his son on his homecoming, but the selfish, materialistic, and unresponsive son did return neither during his father’s lifetime nor at the hour of his pathetic death. Despite all this, Kundan Lal never showed any disappointment. Even when he was severely ill, he accepted that his son was unable to visit him.

Radhey Mohan tells Dr. Khanna that once he asked Kundan Lal why he is so proud of his son? “We had a foot in the grave, all of us what did we care for your achievements; what you did, and what you did not do?” He further informs that Kundan Lal got livid at this question. Radhey Mohan further says Kundan Lal wished to visit his son and see his grandsons once. Dr. Khanna promised him to send a return ticket to America. Kundan Lal kept hoping to visit Dr Khanna in America but the ticket never arrived.

Suddenly, Radhey Mohan takes out a bidi from his pocket and begins smoking. Dr. Khanna feels nauseated by the smoke while he remains indifferent to his father’s sad story. Dr. Khanna says that he tried to visit his father when he was ill but couldn’t get time. Radhey Mohan says nothing to it and continues to talk about the old days.  He tells Dr. Khanna that his father belonged to a poor family. His father’s economic condition was always bad. When he was a student he had no money to pay his fees. He had only “two pyjamas and two kurtas and he had no shoes”. While going to school, he had to cross half a mile of boiling sand in which one can “roast corn” in May. So, he would have to stop at this end of the sand, take a handful of dhak leaves, tie them on his naked feet with a string, and then cross the sand. That is how the shoeless father used to cross the hot sand for ten years of his educational life. Radhey Mohan tells all this without any harshness but Dr. Khanna feels a bit disturbed. Radhey Mohan informs him that when Kundan Lal fell ill, he sent a telegram to Dr. Khanna who was in America. But he got a reply in a letter informing him about his inability to visit his ill father due to “some conference.” Radhey Mohan says that the letter shattered all hopes of Kundan Lal and never mentioned his son again.

At last, Radhey Mohan tells Dr. Khanna how his father got terminally ill and died. He says that after receiving the letter, Kundan Lal insisted on visiting their school again. While returning, they crossed the boiling sand of cho with dhak leaves on his naked feet, as he used to do in his school days due to the lack of money to purchase shoes. He stepped into the sand with dhak leaves tied on his foot while Radhey Mohan carried his shoes, trying to stop him. But Kundan Lal didn’t stop and while walking on the hot sand he lost the dhak leaves that were loosely tied to his feet. By the time he crossed the sand, he had a high fever. He was already ill and died the very next day. After telling this, Radhey Mohan goes away. Doctor Khanna too returns to America with his family but he feels a change in himself. He begins to feel guilty. He would often look at his feet as though it reminded him of his father and how he may have not served him well. Dr Khanna’s work output decreases dramatically and he begins feeling mentally disturbed. When he meets a psychiatrist, and confides that often feels a disturbing burning sensation in his feet. Dr. Khanna begins feeling as if he is cursed. On the other hand, his father’s sacrifices and sufferings went in vain as he failed to teach his son the significance of healthy values for a happy and peaceful life.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is a metaphysical poem by Andrew Marvell written around the end of the English Interregnum (1649-1660). Due to political controversy and the popular tradition of manuscript circulation, most of Andrew Marvell’s poetry was not published during his lifetime. ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was first published posthumously in 1681.

Andrew Marvell is often associated with the 17th-century school of English metaphysical poets, including John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Robert Southwell, and Richard Crashaw. Metaphysical poetry is known for using elaborate figurative language, original conceits, paradoxes, and philosophical topics. Metaphysical poetry is like a puzzle, where the poet challenges the reader to think deeply about life’s big questions—love, death, and the divine—using clever metaphors and surprising comparisons to reveal new perspectives.

‘To His Coy Mistress’ is a beautiful love poem based on a gentleman wooing his mistress to make love with him. It is a carpe diem poem in which the speaker attempts to convince his beloved to seize the day and act on her passion.

Structure of ‘To His Coy Mistress’: The poem consists of 46 lines in rhyming iambic tetrameter couplets. Though metaphysical poets often preferred iambic pentameter or the Heroic couplet, Marvell used iambic tetrameter in this poem which offers a lighter, faster, and playful pace to the poem. There are a few metrical deviations in the poem. Using iambic tetrameter in place of Heroic couplets suggests that the poem is not quite as serious as a poem on a heroic subject should be.

The poem is organized in rhyming couplets and each couplet has its own rhyme, that is, the poem is composed in closed couplet form, and hence, each first line of the couplets rhymes with the next line and hence the rhyming scheme is (AABBCCDD….)

The poet used Metaphor, Hyperbole, Alliteration, Personification, Symbolism, Enjambment, Apostrophe, Caesura, and Allusion in the poem. The speaker is an anonymous lover trying to seduce his love. The speaker may be the poet’s mask trying to convince his "mistress" that she should make love with him. The poet uses many Metaphysical conceits such as comparing coyness and crime, vegetables and love, and time and chariot.

While the poem appears to be a simple seductive piece, it does have a spiritual aspect of its own. It was probably written at the beginning of the Age of Restoration, and it suggests the poet's break-free enthusiasm against the shackles of Puritanism during the interregnum. The poem also indicates the British mindset of colonialism and expansion during that era, as the poet mentions the ‘Indian Ganges’ in the first stanza.

Summary of To His Coy Mistress:

The poem is written in closed couplet form, it can be divided into three parts or stanzas. The first stanza contains 20 lines or ten couplets in which the speaker cajoles his lady to give in to his sexual advances. In the next 12 lines or the second stanza, the speaker shows his urgency and tries to instill fear of death in his lover’s heart. In the last stanza, the speaker again changes his tone to a lighter mood and says that he has a solution against the ephemeral nature of life, and they should embrace each other while they are young and living, without worrying about the future.

Stanza 1 Lines 1-20

“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.”

The speaker begins by creating various metaphysical conceits to suggest how he would love his lady love if the two lovers indeed had enough time. He suggests that if the two of them had ample time, if they were immortals, then his lover’s shyness and hesitation might have been acceptable. But since they are mortals, her coyness is comparable to a crime.
He then playfully imagines that the two have enough time, then they could have walked past the ‘Indian Ganges’ collecting rubies on its bank. The speaker then alludes to the Biblical flood narrated in the Book of Genesis (Allegory) and says that he could have loved his lady from ten years before the flood and she could refuse his advances up until the “conversion of the Jews,” which again is a Biblical reference to the end of time.

The speaker then uses a Metaphysical conceit ‘vegetable love’ suggesting that if they had enough time, his love could have grown slowly, but to a vast proportion (‘Vaster than empires’). The speaker indicates the phallic expansion. This slower rate of expansion would have allowed him to love and appreciate each and every part of his lover’s body, eyes, forehead, breasts, and heart for hundreds of years. He then says that his lady is indeed beautiful enough to deserve such a timeless appreciation and he would certainly have loved her at the same rate, he would never value her at a “lower rate” than she deserves, at least in an ideal world where time is unlimited.

Stanza 2 Lines 21-32

“But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd 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-preserved 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.”
In this stanza, the speaker abruptly exclaims that they are not living in the idealized timeless world. He pleads to the lady that there is not enough time, and whatever time they have, is passing by swiftly as he hears ‘time’s winged chariot hurrying near,’ he alludes to Greek mythology. He says that though her lover deserves all the praise and love till eternity, he doesn’t have enough time to worship her as he sees fit; time is always hurrying closer and closer. ‘Deserts of vast eternity’ await them, and her beauty will fade, her virginity will ‘turn to dust’ along with her honor, and all the waiting will be worthless. He continues to praise the lady's virtues but suggests that her limitless virtues are nothing against the radical limits of the time of their life. Once dead, he assures the Lady, that her virtues and beauty will lie in the grave along with her body as it turns to dust. He also mentions that his own lust for her will also turn into ashes with no chance for the two lovers to embrace each other.

Stanza 3 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 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

Through the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.”

After offering insights about the time limits, the speaker changes the tone and seduces the lady again. The poet uses another Metaphysical conceit, comparing the Lady’s skin to a vibrant layer of morning dew that is animated by the fires of her soul and encourages her to “sport” with him “while we may.” He then compares the two lovers with ‘amorous birds of prey,’ suggesting the intensity of their natural passion for each other. He again encourages the lady to embrace him and ‘roll all our strength’ into ‘one ball.’ He offers his lady to make such a rough love that may tear their pleasurable passion “through the iron gates of life.’ Or, raising their passion above human life and time constraints.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ is a poem by Christopher Marlowe in the early 1590s. The poem's speaker urges his beloved, who presumably dwells in an urban environment, to join him in a life in the countryside. The poem was published posthumously in around 1600. is a lyric poem that draws on the Classical tradition of pastoral poetry, which is used to create an idealized vision of rural life within the context of personal emotion. The Greek poet Theocritis, in the third century B.C.E. is considered to be the first pastoralist poet.

To seduce his lover, the speaker of Marlowe’s poem describes a rural life full of intense sensual pleasure—but unpolluted by sin or sorrow. The poem was published around 1600 and soon got the attention of many other poets and literary critics. The poem doesn’t provide any information about the gender of the speaker’s “love.” It can be assumed that like Marlowe’s other homoerotic works, including Edward II, and Hero and Leander, which also contain long homoerotic passages, this poem may also have a similar undercurrent of homoeroticism. However, most of Marlowe’s readers assume the shepherd’s “love” is female. Sir Walter Raleigh replied to Marlowe's shepherd with the poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (1600) with romantic realism countering romantic idealism; his Nymph reminds the shepherd that time will wither all the material gifts he offers, and his pastoral ideal will not last.

Structure of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love:

Marlowe wrote this poem with six four-line stanzas of rhyming couplets written in an iambic tetrameter rhythm (four feet of two syllables with the stress on the second syllable). The poem is written in rhyming couplets, with two couplets to a stanza. Its rhymes are serial. In general, each couplet introduces a new rhyme, so the poem is rhymed AABB, CCDD, EEFF, GGHH, IIJJ, and KKAA. The tone of the poem appears to be seductive.

Marlowe made good use of Imagery in the poem. The speaker creates in the readers' mind a picture of a delightful and varied landscape, filled with rivers and the song of numerous birds; of thousands of flowers that can be used in a variety of ways to adorn the beloved – a cap, embroidered petticoats, a belt.

Apart from that, the poet used Symbolism, Personification, Apostrophe, Alliteration, Hyperbole, Enjambment, Repetition, and Allusion. The speaker of the poem is a shepherd but like most other pastoral poems, the speaker doesn’t discuss the hardship of a shepherd’s real life, he spends much of the poem articulating erotic desire, using euphemism and metaphor to disguise it. It can be said that the speaker isn’t really a shepherd, rather, he is a lover who takes on a shepherd’s disguise to create some distance between himself and his ‘love’.

Summary of A Passionate Shepherd to His Love:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.”

The speaker begins by inviting his love to come with him and "pleasures prove." It can be suggested as a mild sexual tone, however, the tone is naive and innocent. The speaker suggests that the entire geography of the countryside of England "Valleys, groves, hills and fields/Woods or steepy mountains" will prove to contain pleasures of all kinds for the lovers. The speaker passionately calls his lover to come and live with him, assuming that his lover, upon hearing his request, will leave whatever life she is living behind, and come and “be [his] love” in the countryside. Thus, the speaker continues to describe to her what her life will be if she agrees. He says that the entire beautiful world will yield passion and love for them, the two lovers.

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.”

In the second stanza, the speaker contrasts the urban entertainment with the pastoral ones. He describes how their life will be if his lover leaves her urban life to be with him in the countryside. They will have their entertainment not in a theater or a banquet but they will sit upon the rocks by the river. They will watch shepherds feeding their flocks, or listening to waterfalls and the songs of birds. The speaker himself is a shepherd as he suggests, but it appears he will have enough leisure time to entertain his lover while other shepherds continue their work.

Here, the speaker may also be suggesting that since now the two lovers will be devoted to each other, they will have time to observe the details of their lives and thus, they would be able to observe and appreciate his life as a shepherd while enjoying the natural environment of the beautiful countryside. The songs of the birds will be like “Madrigals,” or harmonious pieces of music written for theaters. The birds are being personified.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“And I will make thee beds of Roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;”

The speaker continues to offer more enticements in the hope that his lover will join him in the countryside. He describes how he will “make [her] a bed of Roses.” He will fill her life with flowers by creating for her a “kirtle” or an outer gown, and a “cap,” which will all be “Embroidered…with the leaves of Myrtle,” a common flowering shrub. These are sartorial delights the Shepherd will make for his lady love.

Stanza 4 Lines 13-16

“A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;”

The speaker is confidently hopeful that his love will join him in the countryside and describes how he will prepare for her when she arrives. She will need clothing, so he will spin for her a “gown made of the finest wool” from the lambs that they will tend together. The speaker knows what his lover would like and he promises to offer best of it. He does not neglect her feet and states that she will also have “Fair lined slippers” that she can wear when it gets cold. The buckles on her shoes will be made of the “purest gold.” 

Stanza 5 Lines 17-20

“A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.”

The speaker continues to offer more precious gifts for her lover. She will have a belt made “of straw and Ivy buds.” It will also feature “Coral clasps and Amber studs.” It is clear that the speaker knows what entices her lover’s heart and promises her to provide everything she could wish for. However, it is difficult to imagine how a poor shepherd who tends sheep and goats will the gold buckles, the coral clasps, Ivy buds, and the amber studs. This increasingly fanciful list of gifts could only come from a member of the noble gentry or a merchant in a town.

He already mentioned that if his lover comes by his side, they will idly sit on the rocks enjoying the scenery and observing the day-to-day lives of shepherds.

This is another trait of the pastoral poetry. While the poem celebrates the delights of rural life, the poet, the speaker, and the reader are assumed to be noble, they are not supposed to do the hard work and experience the real hardship of a shepherd’s life.

Stanza 6 Lines 21-24

“The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.”

In the last stanza, the speaker suggests that if his lover accepts her offer and comes to live with him in the countryside, all will be happy. He describes if she comes to live with him, the “Shepherds’ Swains,” or his comrades, will “dance and sing.” All people will “delight” in the fact that they are finally together as they should be. In the last couplet, the speaker repeats his offer and asks that if “these delights” move “thy mind” then she should come “live with [him] and be [his] love.

Symbolism in The Passionate Shepherd to His Love:

The shepherd in the poem is more of the symbol of the speaker, who is a lover. The shepherd is a symbol of the poet himself, a mask that the poet uses to express his desires.

Another symbol is Myrtle. Myrtle is a flowering plant that is often mentioned in Greek and Roman poetry and mythology. Myrtle is a sacred plant to Aphrodite, the goddess of desire and love.

In Line 14, the speaker mentions Lambs, which again is a symbol of purity and innocence. His call for his lover may appear seductive, but it is innocent and pure. In the 17^th line, the speaker mentions Ivy's buds. Ivy again is a symbol for marriage between a man and a woman.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!