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In writing the essay, "Marvell's Use of Sound in 'To His Coy Mistress'",
I went through several steps. You may prepare for your essays
in any of a number of ways; you don’t have to use all of these suggestions,
and you may arrange them in any order that works for you.
- Read the poem several times, looking up words you don’t know or
whose meaning seems unusual.
- Read the poem aloud; mark any passages that catch your ear.
- Paraphrase the poem; if the poem is divided into sections or stanzas,
you might paraphrase each section separately. "To His Coy
Mistress" consists of three sections. I paraphrased them as
follows:
- If we had enough time, it would be all right to postpone physical intimacy.
- But since we’re going to die, we dn't have much time, and we will lose
the opportunity to enjoy any pleasures we don't partake of while we're
alive.
- Therefore, even though we can't avoid death, we should control the time
we have, and should enjoy ourselves now.
- Once you know what the poem is saying on the surface level, generalize
on the universal meaning (theme) you believe most readers would get
from the poem. Remember that if the speaker's values differ from
those of the poem or author (as in "My Last Duchess"), the theme may
have an entirely different moral from the plot or surface meaning.
In this case, I decided that the author is probably not being ironic
or critical of the speaker (there is little evidence of sarcasm,
and the values of the speaker are not too unusual, although they
may seem old-fashioned today). On the other hand, I felt that the
author was not concerned about whether or not the speaker had sex
with the coy mistress. Instead, I saw the author as being concerned
about time and enjoying the moment in a more general sense.
After several drafts, I came up with the theme: "instead of dividing
our lives or our values into mathematically neat but artificial
categories of present and future, we should savor the unique
experiences of each present moment."
- Once you’ve identified the theme, decide on a particular focus or
technique that conveys this theme. I chose sound here because I
had noticed the phrase "rough strife" in my reading of the poem
aloud, and I wanted to see what other use Marvell made of metrical
irregularities.
- Go back to the poem and mark any significant passages that use the
technique you’ve chosen. Make notes in the margin, not just about
technique but your interpretation of the poem.
- Look for patterns of technique; patterns may help you decide on the
structure of your paper (content of the paragraphs). I noticed
that the sounds I marked were irregularities or exceptions and
that they tended to fall into the categories of rhyme, rhythm,
and meter. These three categories became the subjects of my
supporting paragraphs. At this point I had the equivalent of a
jot list with three subtopics.
- Decide on how the technique does support the theme. I felt that the
author's irregularities of rhythm matched the speaker's refusal
to accept a conventional morality that insisted on the postponing of
temporal pleasures. By combining the theme with the technique
that supports or develops that theme, you have a preliminary
thesis sentence.
- Now that you know what you want to say and how you want to organize
your essay, re-read the poem again for further evidence. If there
are passages or interpretations that contradict your thesis,
you might look at those in more detail as well.
- Write the essay, following your basic organizational plan; don't
hesitate to change the structure if a better strategy occurs to
you.
- Re-read your paper several times, checking for consistent content
(making sure that each supporting paragraph clearly supports the
thesis),smooth flow (are there transitions between major points,
especially between paragraphs?), and correct grammar.
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