Contrasting Love in To His Coy Mistress and Elegy for Jane Essay

Contrasting Love in To His Coy Mistress and Elegy for Jane  Ã‚      If one is interested enough to look, one can find twenty-eight definitions for the word "love" in the dictionary. Such a broadly-defined word has no doubt contributed to the diverse array of poems which all claim (legitimately) to be about "love". Two such poems are "To His Coy Mistress", by Andrew Marvell, and "Elegy for Jane", by Theodore Roethke. Both poems are clearly love poems; however, the types of love that each one represents are quite different. "To His Coy Mistress" is written in a very amorous tone, while "Elegy for Jane" is written with a tone of deep, personal affection and loss. Dictionary definition number three for love is "sexual passion or desire". This is the stance from which "To His Coy Mistress" is written. Marvell spends the first twenty lines of the poem lauding such female attributes as coyness and virginity (lines 2 and 6). The first twenty lines of the poem are Marvell’s attempt to gain the trust of the object of the poem (for it is clearly written for a young lady). He assures her that if he had the time, he would love her as she deserves to be loved (line 19). He assures her that he could spend over thirty-thousand years praising the parts of her body. He would also wait a time of biblical magnitude (lines 8-10) for the young lady to bestow her sexual favors upon him, if he had the time to wait. However, even in this sort of "you can trust me because I love you and fully appreciate you for who you are" set-up to gain the confidence of the girl, it is clear that his intentions are amorous: the fact that he would spend a mere hundred year s praising her eyes, yet spend a collective four hundred years on her breasts (lines 13-15) is... ...ither father nor lover"). Their bond, ostensibly teacher/student, grew into a friendship far stronger than an academic one. The tone is nostalgic, yet mournful the loss of one for whom the speaker had a deep affection. Love comes in many forms, and poets have likely described them all at one point or another. With so many different types of love, it is quite possible for two "love poems" to be written in completely different tones. Marvell’s "To His Coy Mistress" is a very amorous poem, spoken by a fiery young man, while Roethke’s "Elegy for Jane" is a mournful look back at a life lost too soon, spoken by a deeply affected friend. Both poems are as poignant as they are distinct from one another, and they serve as an interesting lesson in love. Works Cited: Marvell, Andrew. "To His Coy Mistress" and Other Poems. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1997.

Analysis of Major Characters in Great Expectations Essay

Pip is the main character of this story. The whole plot of the novel revolves around him and his metamorphosis into an adult from an immature adolescent.  1. Immature: pip was highly immature. This characteristic in him can be clearly seen in pg 59 where he says † but when she was gone, I looked about me for a place to hide my face in and got behind one of the gates in the brewery lane and leaned my sleeve angst the wall there, and leaned my forehead on it and cried. As I cried, I kicked the wall and took a hard twist at my hair; so bitter were my feelings so sharp were the smart without a name that needed counteraction.† Pip cries so much, suddenly begins to have such a low self esteem, why? Just because a girl came and commented that he had coarse hands, wore thick boots and â€Å"called the knaves Jack.† Instead of standing up for himself, pip simply cries. This goes to show how immature pip was.  Pip’s immaturity is also seen in his â€Å"romantic idealism.† Ever since his first meeting with beautiful Estella, he always thought of her in page 101 he says, â€Å"often after dark, when I was pulling the bellows for Joe, and we were singing Old Clem, and the thought how we used to sing at Miss Haveshams would seem to show me Estella’s face in the fire, with her pretty hair fluttering in the wind and her face scorning at me. Often at such a time I would look towards those panels of black night in the wall which the wooden windows then were, and would fancy that I saw her drawing her face away and would believe that she had come at last.† In spite of Estella being s o insulting he instantly falls for her, rather for her looks. This again shows the immaturity in pip. 2. Generous and sympathetic: pip was generous and sympathetic, a fact that can be seen in his numerous acts of kindness throughout the novel. In page ___ he sympathizes with Magwitch and helps him escape. A small boy going out of his way to help a wretched convict! This goes to show how sympathetic pip was.  Not just sympathetic, pip was large at heart. He was generous. This can be witnessed in page _____ where he secretly buys Herbert’s way into business. The third example to show that pip was generous is in page 137where he says, â€Å"as I passed the church I felt a sublime compassion for the poor creatures who were destined to go there, Sunday after Sunday, all their lives thru and to lie obscurely at last among the low green mounds. I promised myself that I would do something for them one of these days and formed a plan in outline for bestowing a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding, a pint of ale and a gallon of condescension upon everybody in the village.† 3. Had a great desire for self-improvement: pip always wanted to better himself, better his condition and better his status. This trait in him can be witnessed in page 66 where he tells Joe, â€Å"and that there had been a beautiful young lady at miss Havesham’s who was dreadfully proud and that she had said I was common, and that I wished I was not common, and that the lies had come of it somehow, though I didn’t know how.† Moreover his deep desire to improve in life, to be â€Å"Uncommon† is also seen in page 68 where he goes to one of his relatives, Biddy to get educated from her. He says, â€Å"when I woke up the best step I could take towards making myself uncommon was to get out of Biddy everything she knew.†Ã‚  In page 164 he asks Herbert to correct his mannerisms if he found them un-gentlemanly. He says, â€Å"I further mentioned that as I had been brought up a blacksmith in a country place, and knew very little of the ways of politeness, I would take it is a great kindness in him i.e. Herbert if he would give me a hint when ever he saw me going at a loss or going wrong.†

Christianity And Islamic Influences On Sexism - 1790 Words

Steven Egbalic Sociology 381 Professor Cretney 12/06/2014 Christianity and Islamic Influences on Sexism Introduction The language of the written principles in both Christianity and Islam is gender bias, written in the masculine voice. The idea being argued is that sexism is fueled by the continual desire to place one gender as dominate to another. The Bible has clearly referred to gender in the male context, whereas the Quran is not as open regarding the male references in their religious teachings, but more so in their practices. Despite many attempts to modernize the religious practice, teachings, and doctrine of both religions, the masculine dominance is still extremely present. It is a concern that is growing more apparent as†¦show more content†¦The structure of the existing religious institutions focuses on promoting leaders who validate the need to promote the male domination, and stifle those who fail to comply. This practice is common in the Muslin world, extreme religious interpretation being used to oppose them. They enshrined their gentleman s agreement in the real m of the sacred by elevating their religious family laws to state laws. Women and children were the inevitable chips with which the political and religious leaders bargained. (Fisher). Christianity also has its role in sexism based upon the religious context of the written word. â€Å"The Bible is a thoroughly patriarchal text, not at all written in a gender-inclusive language and in order to understand the Bible, women have to read most of it as if they were men† (Durber 1992). God’s gender is unknown yet is still continually referred to in the masculine context. Many have argued the need to remove gender from the context in efforts to remove sexism for the religious structure. However, â€Å"changing the language does not necessarily remove the bias or the sexism that remains embedded in the thought patterns, images and metaphors which, with language, combine to form a given text ... The masculine bias has not been removed; it has simply been rendered more subtle and therefore more dangerous, because more difficult to discern and expose (Marlowe). The structure of the institution would still promote sexism because the masculine