"To His Coy Mistress" A Player from the 17th Century Shows Us How It's Done

"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."
When I was reading this poem I got the sense that something wasn't right. I mean what guy wants to spend forever admiring the beauty of one girl? Exactly. Apparently I'm not the only one who believes this either because as I turned the page to continue reading, in the margin of my book the comment "Basicaly he is trying to get him sum" was written. Though I might not have put it in those words this anonymous commenter is dead on. First he flatters her by praising her beauty and claiming that if he could he would just gaze at her and praise her forever. Then he points out the obvious that he does not have forever, so because of this they must be together right this instant. He is using the same method that guys today still use to get in a girl's pants. They compliment you, tell you they love you, and then insist you must do it right now because there is so much love and passion it would be wrong not to. The only thing this poet did that was a small step up from being a horny pig is that he wrote his pickup lines in poetic stanzas that sound very in love and romantic. It's sort of funny how this poem seems to be the exact opposite of the Shakespeare poem we read in this unit. The Shakespeare piece focuses on true love and honesty while this one just focuses on scoring with his mistress by giving out shallow compliments. Personally I'd take Shakespeare over Andrew Marvell any day.