Poetry blog #2

First, I love that Mark Strand acknowledge the inspiration for his work and directly points to Andrew Marvell. This also helps the reader understand where Strand is coming from in his work. "To His Coy Mistress" seems to either be a passionate love poem or a poem mocking what people say about love because it goes to such extremes with "deserts if vast eternity" and "they beauty shall no more be found." Such strong phrases suggest he was completely head over heals for this lady or that he doesn't understand when people describe love in such a way. I don't feel as deep as the poem for love, so to me, it came across as a mockery of love. "You, Andrew Marvell" by Macleish responds to "To His Coy Mistress" and has an underlying theme of death, symbolized by "the always rising of the night" meaning that death is always coming. "And ever climbing shadow grow" also shows that death is coming and is contrasting from "To His Coy Mistress" because "To His Coy Mistress" is focused in the present and love of one day whereas Macleish focuses on a whole lifetime and that death is coming. Strand's essay shows his inspiration and what he got out of these two poems. He says, "I no longer wish I had written "You, Andrew Marvell" I wish I could write something like it." This shows he used to aspire to write something as great and still does. This particularly intrigues me because he loved these poems for so long and got so much out of them. They truly influenced his life and later his work.
The poets all say and imply that the experiences of life directly influence their work. If you just lived in a dark room and stayed there your entire life, you wouldn't have much a write about besides the darkness. Most great poets have lived a life full of experiences that give them ideas and inspiration for their work. For example, falling in love and getting your heart broken can be a huge inspiration for writers and poets. I relate more to "You, Andrew Marvell" because I tend to think more realistically and think for the future instead of getting caught up in one day and being so in love that I think I will be with the person for "vast eternity." On the other hand, I don't think of everyday as leading up to death, so that whole symbolism was a little dark, and I feel more like a stranger in a strange land for parts of it.