English Literature Essay: Love in Shakespeare and Marvel's Poetry

This essay undertakes a comparative analysis of the theme of love as presented in William Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18' and Andrew Marvel's 'To His Coy Mistress,' exploring the evolution of this concept within English literature from the Elizabethan to the Commonwealth periods. The study examines the distinct approaches of Shakespeare, who adopts a platonic and idealized view of love, and Marvel, who presents a more physical and immediate understanding, reflecting the metaphysical poetic tradition. The essay contrasts their use of metaphors, the settings of the poems, and their differing perspectives on the timelessness of love versus the urgency of seizing the moment. It concludes that while both poems offer unique perspectives, they contribute to a holistic understanding of love, acknowledging both its potential for eternity and its grounding in human experience.

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EVOLUTION OF THE IDEA OF LOVE IN ENGLISH
LITERATURE
SHAKESPEARE’S SONNET 18 AND MARVEL’S TO HIS COY
MISTRESS- A COMPARATIVE STUDY
The theme of love has been probably the most popular subject for the poets of every
literary age. However, probably this has also been one of the most experimented themes found in
English literary history other than death, nature and so on. This study has revolved around the
different representation of the theme and conception of love through a theme analysis of the
Shakespearean ‘Sonnet 18’ and the metaphysical poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew
Marvel. For that reason, the Shakespearean and Metaphysical approach on love has been
illuminated in this study. The aim of this study is to show how the concept of love has evolved
from the Elizabethan age to the commonwealth period in English literature. Moreover, the study
has focused on a reflective judgment on which depiction of love seems to be more effective and
accurate than the other. For that purpose, the ways of developing the theme of love have been
explained in the context of the above mentioned poems.
It is known that Sonnet 18 has been dedicated to certain Mr. W.H. who happened to be an
intimate friend of the poet at that time. On the other hand, the chosen poem by Marvel has been
dedicated to his lady love. The different era, to which the poets belonged to, contribute to the
depiction of love in their respective poems. For that reason, Shakespeare has presented a platonic
approach to love where loving has been more of an idea than being a loving a real person
reciprocally. On the contrary, Marvel, belonging from the metaphysical school of poetry, has
given a metaphysical approach to the notion of love where love has been very closely connected

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to the flesh and blood and very humane. For that reason, Shakespeare’s sonnet is full of
metaphors that have been used to compliment the worth of the loved one of the poet. For
example, the poet has compared his lover or friend to ‘a summer’s day’ and sometimes the poet
says that his friend is ‘more lovely and more temperate’ than a summer’s day. On the other hand,
Marvel has not wasted a single minute to compliment his lover as there not much time left to
‘talk, and pass our long love’s day’. However, it does not mean that Marvel has perceived
compliments as an unimportant part of loving someone. Thus, he wrote, ‘an hundred years
should go to praise thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze’. This implies that both of the poets
have perceived love from a somewhat similar angle but still have managed to move to two
different directions while stating their subjective notions on love.
However, one thing that is common in both of these poems is that both the poets have
realized that love is like a summer’s day that does not stay for long. It is not like that the fear of
decay has not shaken Shakespeare. For that reason, he admitted that ‘summer’s lease hath all too
short a date’. This realization is strongly present in the poem of Marvel as well but from a
different perspective. This is because Marvel has not recognized any abstract notion of love that
can exist even after the lovers are dead. Hence, Marvel thinks that Love has no existence except
the people who love. So, he has written, ‘yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity’. This
eternity is not that of a happy state but that of a barren state where nothing exists anymore.
Another striking difference between the chosen poems can be traced from how they have
set the setting of the poems. From the tone of the Sonnet 18, it can be assumed that the poet has
written a monologue where there is no scope for conversation. For that reason, the poem shows
an uninterrupted flow of thought where it seems like the poet was just looking at his friend and
the words came spontaneously to his mind. It is also probable that the poem has been written in

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solitude as a form of poetic letter dedicated to his friend. On the other hand, presence of
Marvel’s coy mistress has been very much traceable from each and every line of this poem
despite the fact that this poem is also structured like a soliloquy. However, there is no
uninterrupted flow of thought because the thoughts have been logically reasoned and have not
just been spontaneously woven by the poet. So, the reactions of the lover of the poet are visible
from the poem when the poet switches his stand on the un-eternal love with the purpose of
wooing the lover into loving him. For example, the poet has said, ‘had we but world enough..we
would sit down, and think’. This implies that the poet has been trying to convince his lover as if
his lover was not reciprocating to love-making.
From this point, another thought comes to mind that includes how both the poets mean by
love. On one hand, Shakespeare perceives love as something that is the only eternal feeling that
cannot be washed away by the wave of time. For that reason, he has said, ‘but thy eternal
summer shall not fade’. It does not imply that Shakespeare was not aware of the fact that every
beautiful thing in the nature loses its beauty and youth one day. So, Shakespeare has recognized
that ‘every fair from fair sometime declines’. Similar thought can be seen in the beauty and
youth of the coy mistress whose ‘long-preserved virginity’ would be eaten by the worms after
her death. So, where did they separate their ways on presenting love?
Shakespeare gives love and the lover the status of being timeless whose existence is not
threatened by the ‘time’s winged chariot hurrying near’. Thus, Shakespeare is not in hurry even
when he knows that his friend would die any day now. However, the poet has faith on his words
that he thinks can eternalize the name and beauty of his loving friend for the limitless time ahead.
Contrarily, Marvel does not show a laid back attitude towards the uncertain human lives. Thus,
his way of loving shows restlessness and also a desire to love not platonically but sexually. The

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presence of the bodily love does not fall short when comparing this to a love of a distant lover.
Because, this bodily love has the fear of death and thus the poet has the courage to accept that his
poem would not be enough to eternalize their love. Their time would end when their bodies
would be turned into dust.
In conclusion, it can be said that both the poems have excelled in portraying two different
kinds of love. However, after analyzing the themes of these poems, it can be said that both the
portrayals are two parts of one whole and the notion of love cannot be understood without
understanding each one of them. Love is undoubtedly eternal and that aspect has been effectively
fore-grounded by the timeless poet Shakespeare but it is also undeniable that love, like any other
beings in the world, exists until we exist. So, Marvel’s poem seems to be more satisfying that
acknowledges that human beings need to seize the day until time does ‘tear our pleasure with
rough strife’.