First of all, let me state up front that I'm somewhat of a poetry geek. In fact, and I personally find this fortuitous, my Performing Literature class is using the same textbook of poems from which to draw performance pieces. I'm excited to study the performative aspects of the art form in that class while reading about it with you guys in here. Should be interesting!
I really enjoyed this poem in particular, because it embodies the sort of back handed sweetness that I personally enjoy most in poetry: it's a sweet ode to his lady's virtues, showering her with love and promising to spend "An age at least to every part" in his adoration. However, after the flowery and admittedly lovely promises and adulation, there's a sense that the poet is trying his hardest to talk the the lady into abandoning her coy manner. It's almost a completely contradictory message to the first part of the poem, which implies they have all the time in the world to spend in each others' company. However, the delicacy with which he handles this transition makes it seem smooth and fitting.
I enjoyed the switch also from the intellectual nature of the first stanza, rife with historical and geographical allusions, to the somewhat baser nature of the imagery in the second part. It's as though the poet is moving from mental and emotional state to physical desires as he speaks. He says that, contrary to the languid and unhurried pace of the first part, the onward rush of time will turn "into ashes all my lust". This switch in imagery styles is, I think, a beautiful and skillful way to reinforce the switch in subject of the poem. Did you guys find this switch appropriate, or did you think it distracted from the emotional content of the piece?
