The Coy Mistress

After reading the Coy Mistress, I thought it was interesting to see the way the author poked fun at the Petrarchan style of romantic writing that was so prevalent in the Elizabethan Age. The author had a number of funny and sometimes disgusting ways of drawing parallels to that style, but none was better than lines 13-15 which say: "An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; two hundred to adore each breast." This was the best line I've read all year in terms of humor. Talk about a slap in the face to so many romantic poets, Andrew Marvell stepped it up a notch in saying that he would spend twice as much time on a single breast as he would on her eyes! Obviously, when trying to woo women this tactic would not be very successful and his sarcasm toward the Elizabethan romantic works was much appreciated.