The dialectical structure is probably one of the major characteristics of all metaphysical poetry. Donne was the pioneer of this type of poetry, marked by erudite erudition and difficulty of thought. It is said that an entire book of knowledge can be compiled from the scholarly allusions of Donne and Cowley alone. This perhaps often leads to obscurity, which has been seen as one of the drawbacks of metaphysical poetry, and many of Donne's contemporaries believed that "it confuses the pleasures of poetry with the pleasures of riddles". Indeed, many people approve of this type of complexity, because for them it is thought-provoking and new. But critics generally agree that such poetry places intellectual demands on the reader, forcing him to think logically. Moreover, the very fact that only an erudite audience can properly appreciate this poetry limits its readership. The fact is that Donne and his contemporaries put the mind into play, even when expressing deep emotional or spiritual themes. The very combination of spiritual and emotional subjects and intellectual and logical forms is the essence of the type of poetry that Donne developed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Among all the metaphysical poets, however, none, not even Donne, adheres as closely to the methodology of formal logic as Andrew Marvell. . His poems therefore become as much speculative and imaginative poetry as intellectual exercises based on classical methods of argumentation and analysis. One of his most popular and representative poems in this regard is "To His Coy Mistress", a poem which can be used as a supreme example of the method of metaphysical dialectic. The two logical methods employed by Marvell in this poem are taken from formal logic and philosophy. The first is the formal method of argument known as the syllogism. The second is a philosophical premise that is part of ancient hedonistic doctrines and is commonly known as the Carpe-diem theme. Use of SyllogismLogic, basically, is of two kinds: inductive and deductive. Inductive logic is instilled in us by daily experience, such as the logic contained in the sentence: "The sun rises in the east." It disrupts our sense of logic to say that it is growing in the West, for no other reason than that it is not natural. Inductive logic, however, can change over time under the assault of deductive logic, such as when people changed their minds from "The earth is flat" to "The earth is round." Deductive logic, however, forms the core of all logical treatises and consists of several methods and types of inferences. Syllogism is a component of deductive logic, in which there are three categorical propositions, consisting of two premises and a conclusion. The conclusion that emerges is true IF both terms are true. A common example is: all men are mortal; The Indians are men; So all Indians are mortal. We must accept the first two premises of inductive logic, namely that men are mortal and that Indians are men. Only then can we reach the conclusion that emerges from these premises. Often, when it is unclear whether the first two premises are true, the syllogism is represented by the structure If....But.....So, such as the following: If man could fly, he would be a bird; But man cannot fly; Man is therefore not a bird. It isthis structure which is followed in To His Coy Mistress. To His Coy Mistress is a typically metaphysical poem, which was heavily influenced by Donne. Yet no Donne poem is so rigidly logical in form. The poem is written entirely from the man's point of view, and the rigidly logical analysis focuses almost entirely on the lover's desire, ignoring any analysis of the lady's shyness. As such, being totally intellectual in nature, the general public finds a lack of true and deep emotion, even though it is a poem about love, and the nature of love focuses almost entirely on the physical. In this respect, he can even be considered coldly calculating. Syllogistic in structure, corresponding to the format If.....But.....So, the poem has three distinct parts – 1) What he would do If he had enough space and time; 2) BUT time flies; 3) THEREFORE, we must seize the moment while it lasts. Donne is also argumentative and persuasive, but never in such an extreme form. The first section of the poem is a speculation on what the poet would have done Had he had enough time and space. In fact, the entire poem is based on the space-time continuum, and each line contains words or references to space or time. If the poet had had enough time, he would have courted his mistress ten years before the Flood (which, incidentally, refers to both the biblical flood in which Noah was saved by means of his ark, and the classical flood , in which Deucalion and Pyrrha remained alive amid the general catastrophe), and she would have enough time to refuse him until the end of the world. In other words, the entire range of time, from Creation to the Day of Judgment, would be at his disposal, during which he could prolong his lovemaking at will. With so much free time, he would have spent a hundred years praising her eyes and her forehead, and two hundred years worshiping her breasts. Thirty thousand years would be spent worshiping the rest of his body. Likewise, if he had the whole world as his own space, he would allow his love to grow more widely and more slowly than the great empires – in this case, the ancient Jewish empire. In this respect, his love is truly a "plant love", which grows on its own, filling all surrounding space if left uncontrolled, and has a completely Platonic and non-physical character. BUT, says the poet in the second section. , Unfortunately, time is not so generous and is always behind him, pushing him. Marvell uses a telling conceit here to imagine Time rushing quickly on a winged chariot, soon to defeat them. Before them lies Eternity, like an immense desert, arid and austere, into which there is no point in running to escape the rushing chariot of Time. The idea is that even if the mistress manages to preserve her virginity until death, she will not be able to escape the ravages of time, because in the grave her body will slowly crumble into dust, and her virginity, which she had so carefully guarded. preserved all these years, will be penetrated by worms. As such, she will ultimately be unable to retain her precious virginity, for even if she remains celibate throughout her life, she will lose it to worms after she dies. This is an overtly sexual image, but it is intentionally used by the poet to arouse a feeling of disgust for death, which is his goal. The space-time continuum is approached here from a different angle. The infinite space and time of the first part of the argument are reduced to the space of a small tomb and the uselessness of time in death in the second part. The third section, dealing with the “GIVING” part of the argument, is devoted toconvince the lady that she must use all the time she has. The poet's suggestion of how this fleeting time should be spent is essentially sensual and is based on the fact that the mistress possesses the two things necessary for the sensual enjoyment of life: youth, which rests on her skin like morning dew , and the burning fire of passion, with which each of its pores exudes. The lovers are like birds of prey who “tear apart” their “pleasures in harsh struggles,” thus devouring the Time that poses so many problems – an image where sexual connotations are predominant. In this way, says Marvell, they might perhaps be unable to stop "the sun," that is, to lengthen time; but they will certainly force the sun to "run," that is, to use time so completely that awareness of time itself can be minimized. Additionally, since the sun represents life and energy outside of time, "running" it also means using life and energy to the fullest. The poem thus gives us an idea of ​​the wide gap between the ideal and the real, between what is imagined and what is actually possible. Syllogistic logic, although belonging to the deductive type, can be easily used for purposes of mockery or satire, making the lines seem logical, while the logic is constantly undermined. Such distortion of logic is common, and through the syllogistic method false premises can be categorically formulated and conclusions drawn that do not follow directly from them. False syllogisms have been the mark of many swindlers, but also of many poets, and they have been widely used by lawyers and philosophers alike. Indeed, “State a False Syllogism” was the twenty-fourth of Schopenhauer’s stratagems. From this point of view, it can be confidently stated that To His Coy Mistress is an excellent example of false logic through the use of the syllogistic method. Apparently, this poem is strictly formulated according to the If... But... ..So structure. However, the first rule for an acceptable syllogism is that the conclusion must be drawn from the two premises provided previously. In this poem, the "If" section describes a speculation about what the poet would have done If he had infinite space and time. The second section states the obvious: it does not have this infinity. The third section, however, does not automatically follow from these two premises. Not having enough space and time, the lover advises his shy mistress that they will have to use the time they have to make wild love and tear their "pleasures with harsh conflicts" - a conclusion which can be countered by several other conclusions regarding how a couple might spend their time. As such, the last section is completely individualistic and not a general rule. The conclusion we readers can therefore draw is that Marvell is fundamentally a poet writing poetry, not a logical treatise. The tone of the entire poem is light and pleasant, aiming for mockery, rather than passionate and affectionate, aiming for true emotion. The logic is therefore also mocking, constructing an argument that is fundamentally hollow. This is why the poem has always been appreciated as one of the best examples of metaphysical poetry, not puritanical logic. The theme of Carpe-diem: Hedonism has always been formulated under a cover of logic. There are several modes and schools of hedonistic philosophy, and all of them essentially attempt to argue that pleasure is man's only goal and purpose, because his life is short and there is not much to look forward to once he that it is finished. The Epicurean philosophy of the Greeks, for example, attempts to analyze the truism ofproposition “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”. The very word “for” suggests a logical analysis. We should enjoy life not because that's what we want, but because time flies and we won't have time left to enjoy the pleasures of the world. Usually, hedonistic philosophies are strongly materialistic, often rejecting any belief in the afterlife, as the idea of ​​heaven and hell does not really lead to viewing pleasure as the ultimate good, as too much pleasure is usually discouraged by established religions. various branches of hedonistic thought gave rise to the Carpe-diem theme, originally used from an ode by Horace, but developed as a password to pleasure. The word loosely means "Seize the day", that is, to seize time before it passes. This is, moreover, linked to later themes, such as Carpe-florem ("Gather the rosebuds while you can" from Herrick's famous poem), which all ultimately mean the same thing. All of these elements have become popular motifs in lyric poetry. The speaker of a carpe-diem poem emphasizes that life is short and time is fleeting, in order to convince his mistress to make the most of the pleasures immediately available to her. Later, when the carpe-diem is combined with the carpe-florem, the rose becomes the symbol of the beauty and transience of life, as in Spenser's The Faerie Queene – "Gather the rose again while it is still first”. In Marvell's Coy Mistress, the lover expresses his desperation to pursue pleasures, because of the inevitable death sentence that is man's sure end. The first section, in which the poet lists the ways in which he would use time and space if he had infinite measures, serves as a prelude to the actual development of the carpe-diem theme. It is notable that even if he had all the time in the world in his hands, he would only use it to enjoy the pleasures of love – to praise and adore his mistress for as long as possible. It is the second section in which the true meaning of the theme becomes clear. Here, in contrast to the speculative infinity of time and space of the first section, the other extreme is described: the narrowness of space and time. The image of the virgin, dead in her coffin, eaten away by worms, is deliberately unromantic, because the poet's goal is to make death as unattractive as possible in comparison with life. In fact, the theme of carpe diem automatically leads to speculation about what will become of the lady when she becomes old and ugly. In addition, the space-time continuum is carried out here from a different angle. The infinity, space and time of the first part of the argument are reduced to the space of a small tomb, and to the uselessness of time in death, in the second part. It is also interesting to note that the view of death presented in Part II is in direct contradiction to the Christian doctrine of life after death. Coming from a puritan like Marvell, this is truly astonishing. We can accept that such a view is willfully non-Christian for the sake of argument, but it is positively pagan in its celebration of life, totally ignoring considerations of morality or faith. Death appears as the end and, as such, the value of life becomes greater – which is generally the logic of all hedonistic doctrines. Instead of seeing death as a stepping stone to a better life, it is presented as scary and disgusting. The concept of the verse penetrating the mistress's virginity emphasizes the intense sensuality of the lover's argument. The third part deals with the present –..