Study Questions

1. This poem, like the poems we've already read from the Victorian period, is a dramatic monologue. Who is the speaker of this poem? Who is he speaking to? What is the dramatic situation that the speaker presents? What does he want from the listener?
2. Does the speaker in the first stanza think that he and his lover have "world enough and time"? If they did, how would he choose to spend that time?
3. In the second stanza, the speaker describes his awareness of time and immanent death. How does time influence his relationship with his lover?
4. If we view this poem as the speaker's attempt to create a logical argument (1. "If we had"; 2. "But"; 3. "Therefore") to persuade his lover, the third stanza presents the final statement of that argument. What does the speaker offer as the logical conclusion to be drawn from the ideas presented in the first two stanzas?
   Theme: carpe diem (seize the day)   The poem is a carpe diem poem with some major differences from the convention in 1. the praise of the lady--exaggerated to be ironic of the convention, 2. the macabre image of death, 3. the intensification of pleasure.  What do you think about the poet's offer ("devour our time"; " Let us roll all our strength, and all/Our sweetness, up into one ball"; "tear our pleasures with rough strife"; "make [the sun] run")?

• If you were the speaker's lover, how would you respond to this poem?
• Compare and contrast this poem with Donne's "The Flea."
• Re-collect in your mind the poems we have read about women & courtship ("She Walks in Beaut"; "On Stella's Birthday"; "Upon Julia's Clothes"; "To His Coy Mistress" & "The Flea."),  and love ("Valediction").  What similarities and differences do you find among them?