Title – The Art of Seduction in Poetry

By – Nelson Trias

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – 11, 12

Ode I-XI “Carpe Diem”

Quintus Horatius Flaccus

Carpe Diem and the art of seduction in poetry

Latin: “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”

English: “Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!”

Ode 1.11: Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibifinem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonio stemptaris numeros. ut melius, quicquid erit, pati, seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum: sapias, uina liques, et spatio breuispem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit inuidaaetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Ode 1.11: Don’t ask (it’s forbidden to know) what final fate the gods have given to me and you, Leuconoe, and don’t consult Babylonian horoscopes. How much better it is to accept whatever shall be, whether Jupiter has given many more winters or whether this is the last one, which now breaks the force of the Tuscan sea against the facing cliffs. Be wise, strain the wine, and trim distant hope within short limits. While we’re talking, grudging time will already have fled: seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.

I’ve been really tryin’, baby

Tryin’ to hold back this feelin’ for so long

And if you feel like I feel, baby

Then come on, oh come on

Let’s get it on, oh baby

Let’s get it on

Let’s love, baby

Let’s get it on

Sugar, let’s get it on

We’re all sensitive people

With so much to give

Understand me, sugar

Since we got to being

Let’s live

I love you

There’s nothing wrong with me

Lovin’ you, baby no no

And givin’ yourself to me could never be wrong

If the love is true, oh baby

Don’t you know how sweet and wonderful

Life can be

I’m asking you baby

To get it on with me

I ain’t gonna worry

I ain’t gonna push

I won’t push you baby

So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on baby

Stop beatin’ ’round the bush

Let’s get it on

Let’s get it on

You know what I’m talkin’ about

Come on baby, hey girl

Let your love come out

If you believe in love

Let’s get it on

Let’s get it on, baby

This minute, oh yeah

Let’s get it on

Please get it on

So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on darlin’

Stop beatin’ ’round the bush

Gonna get it on

I wanna get it on

You don’t have to worry that it’s wrong

If the spirit moves ya

Let me groove ya… good

Let your love come down

Get it on, come on baby

Andrew Marvell. 1621–1678

HAD we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love’s day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side

5


Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

10


My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

15


But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

20


But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

25


Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

30


The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

35


At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

40


Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

45


Stand still, yet we will make him run.

GLOSS: slow-chapt, slow-jawed, slowly devouring.

EXTENSION ASSIGNMENT

·

Find one poem and one song that attempt to woo a love interest.


·

Apply the above questions to your song and poem


·

Present to the class (5 minutes maximum)

FOR THE TEACHER: MY STUDENTS LOVED THIS ACTIVITY

Most students know what Carpe Diem means, however, we read the poem in class. I also provide the original Latin form as many of my students have taken Latin and are reasonably proficient in reading the text. I leave it up to my students to find out information about Horace and his works.

It’s amazing how many kids are familiar with Marvin Gaye’s music. I play the CD in class while the students read along. During their reading I ask them to highlight the most important lines in the song. Likewise, as we read Marvell’s poem in class, I ask them to highlight important words and phrases.

Equally important for students to discover about Andrew Marvell is that he was a Puritan. I have my students find out on their own what Puritan values are and if the values and beliefs are evident in his poem.

E-Mail

Nelson Trias

!