Jasmitha’s Blog

“To His Coy Mistress” – Andrew Marvell

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.

    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.

    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.

In Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress”, the narrator tries to persuade a young lady to sleep with him by describing a utopia in which time is limitless and then comparing it to our true reality in which time is fleeting. This reveals the importance of enjoying life to the fullest before time runs out.

The narrator begins with his imagination of a hypothetical world with unlimited time. He tells the lady that if they had all of the time in the world, there would be nothing wrong with acting shy and waiting until she was ready to have sex with him. He even says that they “would sit down, and think which way / To walk, and pass our long love’s day”. This line uses polysyndeton, which makes the list of things they would do together seem even longer, giving the illusion of slowing down time. Afterward, he uses juxtaposition when he states that she would be “by the Indian Ganges’ side” while he would be near the “Humber” river. The Ganges River is usually described as being beautiful and sacred, while the Humber River is thought of as boring and usual. This contrast shows how much he admires and desires to be with the lady, who he views as a prize. Both rivers are also on opposite sides of the world, highlighting the large metaphorical distance between them. This great distance is also depicted by a caesura, which is indicated by the semicolon between both lines. The narrator is implying that he is willing to spend as much time as needed to bridge the gap between them and become closer to the lady, even if it takes centuries to cross continents. He even adds Biblical allusions when he says that he would love her “ten years before the flood” and that she could refuse him until “the conversion of the Jews”. Both are significant events in the Bible, referring to the flood that wiped out all corrupt humans except Noah and the adoption of Christianity among the Jews. These occurred very far apart, showing how the narrator would be willing to wait even thousands of years for the lady to accept him. He then states that “his vegetable love”, which serves as both a phallic symbol and a metaphor, “should grow / Vaster than empires”. Since vegetables take a long time to grow and empires take a long time to build, the narrator is exaggerating that his love for her will continue to expand forever. He finally goes on to describe her body, saying that he would spend “hundred years” to admire her eyes and forehead, “two hundred to adore each breast”, and “thirty thousand to the rest”. He then ends by saying, “The last age should show your heart”. This use of hyperboles and the contrast between her body parts to her heart, which is stated last, emphasizes that he values her body more than her actual personality, showing that this is just lust, not true love. All of these techniques work together to reveal that if time really was infinite, it wouldn’t be a problem, so the narrator wouldn’t mind waiting even centuries to have sex with the lady. However, this is meant to be a contrast to the real world in which time is an important factor to be considered. Since they will all die one day, the narrator uses this fact as a justification when teaching the lady that she should enjoy the short time that she has and just sleep with him.

The narrator then shifts back to reality. When he says, “Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near”, he personifies time as an evil entity coming after them. This is also an example of enjambment, which makes the poem seem more fast-paced and creates a sense of urgency. He also says there will soon be “deserts of vast eternity”. These deserts are juxtaposed with the Ganges and Hudson Rivers from earlier, and both serve as metaphors. He is, in other words, telling the lady that as she gets older, her beauty will fade and she will become ugly, just like the rivers will eventually turn into deserts. Then, he refers to death by mentioning her “marble vault”, which is another word for a tomb. The use of this word shows how lonely she will feel after death, and describing her casket as “marble” is an example of positive connotation diction which shows how much he admires her beauty. When he says that the “worms shall try / That long-preserved virginity”, he is scaring her into believing that if she doesn’t give her virginity to him now, the worms will eventually take it anyway when she dies. In other words, it will go to waste. He further argues this by stating, “The grave’s a fine and private place, / But none, I think, do there embrace.” When he says this, he means that while her grave is a perfect spot to have sex due to its privacy, no one will want to do it anyway. In other words, there is no sex after death. By saying all of these things, the narrator is trying to make the lady believe that if she does not sleep with him right now and instead decides to wait, she will eventually become the victim of time and die without ever losing her virginity. By painting an image of what will soon happen to her, he tries to scare her into thinking that she should just “go for it” and do what makes her happy, which is having sex with him, instead of worrying about what society will think since time is limited and they will all die at the end anyway.

The narrator finally concludes his argument by directly telling the lady what she should do. He says that they must have sex “while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew”. This simile comparing her youth to morning dew not only shows how the narrator only admires her for her beauty, but it also shows how fleeting it is. Just like morning dew doesn’t last long and disappears quickly, her beauty and youth will also eventually disappear as she ages. When she gets older, the narrator believes that it will be too late to have sex because she will “turn ugly”. He also thinks that her “instant fires” will be gone, which is a metaphor for lust. He also uses the word “devour” and compares them to “amorous birds of prey”. This use of diction and a simile shows how animal-like the narrator views sex. He believes that it’s just like animals following their primal instincts, so there is more lust than love. He uses this to justify sex by explaining that it is natural and “only for fun”. He also wants them to pass “through the iron gates of life”, which is a metaphor for change. It symbolizes them becoming more open-minded about the taboos of extramarital sex. In the end, the narrator concludes by stating, “Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run.” This use of enjambment creates a rushed pace, symbolizing how fast time is moving. It also personifies the sun, or time, as powerful. With these lines, the author aims to convey the idea that while they cannot make time stop, they can still make the most of whatever time they have, reflecting the theme of carpe diem.

“Partition” – Fatimah Asghar

you’re kashmiri until they burn your home. take your orchards. stake a different flag. until no one remembers the road that brings you back. you’re indian until they draw a border through punjab. until the british captains spit paki as they sip your chai, add so much foam you can’t taste home. you’re seraiki until your mouth fills with english. you’re pakistani until your classmates ask what that is. then you’re indian again, or some kind of spanish. you speak a language until you don’t. until you only recognize it between your auntie’s lips. your father was fluent in four languages. you’re illiterate in the tongues of your father. your grandfather wrote persian poetry on glasses. maybe. you can’t remember. you made it up. someone lied. you’re a daughter until they bury your mother. until you’re not invited to your fathers’ funeral. you’re a virgin until you get too drunk. you’re muslim until you’re not a virgin. you’re pakistani until they start throwing acid. you’re muslim until it’s too dangerous. you’re safe until you’re alone. you’re american until the towers fall. until there’s a border on your back.

The poem, “Partition”, is about Fatimah Asghar’s struggle with her identity. She has multiple identities, but at the same time, she doesn’t fit into any of them. This feeling is reflected in the title itself. The word “partition” refers to the Partition of India in 1947 which divided the country into two separate regions: India and Pakistan. This event relates to Asghar’s own personal life since her mother, who was from Jammu and Kashmir, had escaped to Pakistan to get away from the violence occurring during the Partition. This is how she met Asghar’s father, a Pakistani man, so if the Partition had never occurred, Asghar would have never been born. Therefore, this event has major significance in her life. The word “partition” also reflects how Asghar feels split among her different identities – Indian, Pakistani, and American. 

The format of the poem remains the same throughout. Each sentence begins with a lowercase letter, and none of the letters are capitalized, not even the proper nouns. Each sentence is also short and simple and ends with a period. The purpose of this style is to make it seem like a “rough draft”. By disregarding the rules of grammar and mechanics of writing, the author solely focuses on purging her feelings onto the paper, which is what gives the poem its emotional aspect. In addition, the shape of the poem forms a boxy structure. This represents confinement, and it reflects how the author feels trapped with no way out.

 The word “until” is repeated multiple times throughout the poem. In the beginning, Asghar calls herself Kashmiri “until they burn your home, take your orchards, stake a different flag, until no one remembers the road that brings you back”. She is referring to the wars and violence going on in this region. She also calls herself Indian “until they draw a border through punjab” as well as Pakistani “until they start throwing acid”. In the end, she calls herself American “until the towers fall, until there’s a border on your back.” She is referring to the 9/11 attacks. This reveals how all of her multiple identities are only temporary, and it shows how each side of her – whether it be Kashmiri, Pakistani, Indian, or American – is equally flawed. She is all of them but none of them at the same time. She has no true identity.

Contrast is also prominent in the poem. Asghar contrasts the words “Seraiki” with “English” and “Muslim” with “virgin”, meaning that she can’t be both at the same time. She even states, “the british captains spit paki as they sip your chai, add so much foam you can’t taste home”. This not only creates rhyme but also shows the effects of colonization and stealing one’s culture.

Asghar talks about how she is cut off from her roots. She says, “you speak a language until you don’t. until you only recognize it between your auntie’s lips, your father was fluent in four languages, you’re illiterate in the tongues of your father. your grandfather wrote persian poetry on glasses.” She is talking about how although she could speak her mother tongue when she was little, she lost her fluency and can no longer speak it. I can relate to this myself. When I was younger, I was very fluent in my mother tongue, Telugu. However, as I grew older, I started to speak more English to fit in with my American classmates, causing me to lose this fluency. I now find it hard to communicate with my family members in Telugu, and it saddens me because it is the language of my parents. Just like Asghar, I can only understand my native language when others speak it, but I am still incapable of reading or writing it.

“For Peshawar” – Fatimah Asghar

From the moment our babies are born
are we meant to lower them into the ground?

To dress them in white? They send flowers
before guns, thorns plucked from stem.

Every year I manage to live on this earth
I collect more questions than answers.

In my dreams, the children are still alive
at school. In my dreams they still play.

I wish them a mundane life.
Arguments with parents. Groundings.

Chasing a budding love around the playground.
Iced mango slices in the hot summer.

Lassi dripping from lips.
Fear of being unmarried. Hatred of the family

next door. Kheer at graduation. Fingers licked
with mehndi. Blisters on the back of a heel.

Loneliness in a bookstore. Gold chapals.
Red kurtas. Walking home, sun

at their backs. Searching the street
for a missing glove. Nothing glorious.

A life. Alive. I promise.

I didn’t know I needed to worry
about them
until they were gone.

My uncle gifts me his earliest memory:
a parking lot full of corpses.

No kafkan to hide their eyes
no white to return them to the ground.

In all of our family histories, one wrong
turn & then, death. Violence

not an over there but a memory lurking
in our blood, waiting to rise

We know this from our nests–
the bad men wanting to end us. Every year

we call them something new:
British. Sikhs. Hindus. Indians. Americans. Terrorists

The dirge, our hearts, pounds vicious, as we prepare
the white linen, ready to wrap our bodies.

In her poem, “For Peshawar”, Fatimah Asghar describes the daily terrors that the citizens of Peshawar, a city in Pakistan, are forced to endure. For context, this area is ruled by the Taliban, a militant group that enforces strict laws upon its inhabitants. In order to instill fear among its people, they regularly commit acts of violence and abuse, especially against women.

One of their major forms of psychological terror is sending a white cloth as a warning before they attack schools. This white cloth called a kafkan is wrapped around the body of a dead person and is traditionally used in Muslim burials. It, therefore, not only serves as an act of foreshadowing of the deaths to come, but it is also a prevalent motif in the poem. Asghar mentions the color white multiple times when she states, “to dress them in white”, “no white to return them to the ground”, and “the white linen, ready to wrap our bodies”. The purpose of this motif is to reinforce the theme seed of death throughout the poem since that is what the color white symbolizes.

The poet also includes major shifts in her work. The first shift occurs in the beginning, between the lines “I collect more questions than answers” and “In my dreams, the children are still alive”. It marks when Asghar goes from describing the horrors of burying children to the dream she has of the children still being alive and happy. The second shift then occurs in the middle, between the lines “A life. Alive. I promise” and “I didn’t know I needed to worry”. This is the point when Asghar stops talking about her dream and cuts back to the terrors her family has experienced. This changes the tone of the poem from despairing to peaceful and then back to fearful. It also creates a break from the harshness of reality and carries the reader’s focus to an imaginary world where everything is normal and everyone is content with their lives.

This dream of hers is full of imagery. She states, “Chasing a budding love around the playground. Iced mango slices in the hot summer. Lassi dripping from lips.” Another example is “Loneliness in a bookstore. Gold chapals. Red kurtas. Walking home, sun on their backs. Searching the street for a missing glove.” These scenes paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind and show the daily experiences of an average person. They do not include any great achievements or notable events, but rather simple, joyful moments. Asghar even states that it is “nothing glorious.” She contrasts it with the recurring idea of death apparent in other parts of the poem, showing how living even such a simple life is much better than being dead. It makes the reader realize that many of the citizens who suffer because of terrorism do not wish to live a perfect life. They just want one that is normal, a life that is alive. It also teaches the audience to never take the little things in life for granted and to enjoy their life as it is since many of them are much better off than the victims of terrorist attacks.

In addition, Asghar also uses juxtaposition various times throughout the poem, especially when she states, “From the moment our babies are born are we meant to lower them into the ground?” These lines contrast the birth of the babies to their death, which creates a sense of horror since the Taliban would not even spare babies. They even function as a hook, pulling the readers in and gaining their attention. 

Asyndeton is used when Asghar states, “Every year we call them something new: British. Sikhs. Hindus. Indians. Americans. Terrorists.” She purposely does not include any conjunctions to make the list of “abusers” seem longer, even never-ending. It shows that when one leaves, another comes in. This creates a sense of hopelessness and shines a light on how terrible their situation is.

A couplet that I thought was significant is “not an over there but a memory lurking in our blood, waiting to rise”. Asghar included this to show that the events occurring in Peshawar are not something that her family views from afar like the audience does. Instead, they are something her family directly experiences and is impacted by. This creates a sense of urgency and makes her poem sound even more emotional and frightening.

Asghar is a South Asian-American Muslim poet, director, and screenwriter. During the Indian Partition, their mother was forced to flee Jammu and Kashmir with her family and seek refuge in Lahore, a city in Pakistan. This was where she met Asghar’s father, and they both immigrated to the United States. Asghar was born in 1989 and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but their parents died before they turned five, making them an orphan. Their family’s experiences during the Partition and their experiences as an orphan greatly influenced their work. They attended Brown University and majored in International Relations and Africana Studies, and they later went on to co-create and write Brown Girls, an Emmy-nominated webseries. One of their most famous poetry collections is If They Come For Us.

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