Theme of "Porphyria's Lover," & "To His Coy Mistress

"Porphyria's Lover" portrays a theme of what love can do to a person. The man portrayed in the story seems to be insane. The two characters were in love and the man didn't want the love to ever end so he killed her, hoping it would last. Another theme is dominance. Usually it is male dominance, but in this poem the woman is dominant. It says that "she shut the cold out and the storm." Then at the end the man reverses the dominance, he kills her, and now he is in control.

“To His Coy Mistress” portrays a theme of time, the essence of time. Time reoccurs throughout the poem and is mentioned by the speaker of the poem multiple times. He is bothered by time and sees it as out to get him. The speaker refers to “carpe diem” or “seize the day.” The speaker is afraid that they are going to run out of time so he wants to make the most of that day and not put it off until tomorrow. He is trying to use this “carpe diem” on a woman he has sexual affections towards. He continues to persuade her throughout the poem to have sex before time runs out, but she is playing hard to get and will not give into his begging. The speaker eventually settles down at the end and realizes that he cannot be afraid of time.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” portrays a theme of death. No one can escape death and the speaker mournfully realizes this throughout the poem. He so wishes that the young deaths could be alive and well, making happy memories. Although these deaths are inevitable, people leave behind a beauty about them, something of permanence. In the poem the speaker says, “When old age shall this generation waste, thou shall remain, in midst of other woe.”

"Barbie Doll"

Both young mean and woman go through that phase in middle/high school where they don't think anything could go worse. It is a tough time for any young man or woman. Although both genders have this rough point in their lives, young woman have it worse, only because of the higher standards that I believe are set for them. Young woman, at all times, have to look smashing, while for young men it just doesn't seem to be as important. Young men still have peer pressure though. They are expected by their peers to "act tough" and not be a "wuss" or baby. If a boy cries, well that is the end of any manlihood that he had in middle school. He will be teased about that happening until they are older and matured. Once again, I believe parents of girls expect more out of them when it comes to schooling, then parents of boys. Boys are more into athletics and therefore when it comes to sports, parents of boys expect more. Like I referred to earlier, a girl is expected to always "look good," when for a boy it isn't as prominent.
If I were to re-write this poem and write it about a boy's life experience, I would title the poem, "Average Joe." There have been references to the "average joe" on television shows before, and it is supposed to be the ideal man a woman would want. I would show the reader what makes a young man act the way they do, and I would use words that a young man would understand. Words that articulate the importance of the meaning I am trying to portray.

"Ozymandias"

Nothing does last. Not even the Everlasting Gobstoppers that Willy Wonka came up with. People are born into the world and the second they are they start to decline. In the poem "Ozymandias," the speaker ends the story on a note that tells the reader that "nothing lasts," which is the theme of this poem. The speaker is reminiscing about a travel that he took to "an antique land" where he saw a statue in ruins. It had been decaying for some time and was now "boundless and bare." The words that are used to describe the state of the statue give the reader a mental image of what it looks like and how things in the world will not last. The traveler that the main speaker met says a few words at the beginning of the poem. These are the words that describe the mental image to the reader. What lasts is the writing that is written on the statue and the "passion" of the sculptor. Words that are written down, in stone, seem to last forever. The words on the statue will and have outlasted man and the buildings. It does not matter who is more powerful or who isn’t, eventually everything will be gone. Nothing is permanent.

Barbie doll

Marge Piecy's poem "Barbie doll" examines how females derive their self-esteem from what others think of them, especially during the years of puberty. The importance of image to girls is well known and many authors have written about this subject, but it is considered somewhat taboo to suggest that young men have it as bad as young women. Young men wish for perfect physical appearance just as women do. If I were to rewrite this poem so that the subject was a man I would name it "Hero Action Figure". Action figures modeled after heroes from TV and movies posses all the physical characteristics a "perfect" man would. They are also a toy that many boys play with and hope to emulate, just like Barbie for girls. Instead of using the images of "a big nose and fat legs"(Piercy 1048), I would use scrawny. Just as every young girl hopes the word fat won't be used to describe her, young men must feel the same way about scrawny.

Ozymandias

In Percy Bysshe Shelley's Poem "Ozymandias" the speaker uses images of a statue in ruins to develop the theme that nothing last. The speaker depicts what, at one time, was a great monument. There is an inscription that reads "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair" (Shelley 765 line 11). The irony is that the statue is now in ruins. The speaker describes it as "half sunk, a shattered visage" (Shelley 765 line4). Using Ozymandias as a subject makes the statement "nothing last" all the more powerful. Even one of the great Pharaohs of Egypt can not halt the effects of time. What does last in this poem is the the sand. The speaker portrays the sand as though it were engulfing the ruins. The last line "The lone and level sands stretch far away" evokes the image of never ending sand (Shelley 765 line 14).