Carpe Diem Poems A Fine A Private Place By Diane Ackerman example essay topic

The words care diem mean "seize the day" in Latin. It is a theme that has been used throughout the history of literature and has been a popular philosophy in teaching from the times of Socrates and Plato up to the modern English classroom. Carpe diem says to us that life isn't something we have forever, and every passing moment is another opportunity to make the most out of the few precious years that we have left. In the poems "A Fine, a Private Place" by Diane Ackerman and "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell, care diem is the underlying theme that ties them together, yet there are still a few key differences throughout each of these two poems that shows two very different perspectives on how one goes about seizing their day. The first poem by Ackerman is about two lovers who find their own special place to make love: under water. The writer describes the captured moment over four stanzas of the undersea world, describing physical attributes and actions with marine life.

The woman in the poem is described as "his sea-geisha / in an orange kimono / of belts and vests, / her lacquered hair waving" (Lines 24-27) and the man with "his sandy hair / and sea-blue eyes, his kelp thin waist / and chest ribbed wider / than a sandbar / where muscles domed / clear and taunt as shells" (Lines 34-40) Ackerman's poem has a feeling of tranquility and patience, capturing the moment and enhancing it to its fullest extent. She portrays sex as a beautiful act, saying "he pumped his brine / deep within her, / letting sea water drive it / through petals / delicate as anemone veils / to the dark purpose / of a conch-shaped womb" (Lines 68-72). The love between the two seems that it will be eternal. Time seems to stand still in this poem, seizing a moment between two lovers and accentuating it with nature's majesty. The second poem by Marvell isn't quite as flowing and pretty. Marvell writes about a man who is completely infatuated with a woman and must have sex with her before time catches up with them.

The woman is shy and refuses the man, but he tells her that if he had all the time in the world, they "would sit down, and think which way / To walk, and pass our long love's day" (Lines 3-4) and she would sit by the Indian Ganges river and collect rubies while he sang her love songs by the side of the Humber river. His love for her is temporary however, feeding only on her physical attributes, whereas in Ackerman's poem, the love shown is precious and makes time stand still. In the next stanza he tells the woman that one day her beauty will no longer exist and that his "echoing song" (Line 27) will no longer sound in her "marble vault" (Line 26). He warns her to seize her opportunity to have sex with him right away before she dies a virgin and the worms devour her. The man in Marvell's poem says whatever he can think of to make his coy mistress sleep with him, anticipating throughout the entire poem that she will finally give in. She never does, and the poem ends in desperation and dissatisfaction.

It seems as though Ackerman writes her poem in direct response to Marvell's by her title. Marvell says the "The grave's a fine and private place, / But none I think, do there embrace" (Lines 31-32). He uses cynical humor here, saying that the grave is private, but only the dead reside there and the act of love making will never be found there. Ackerman titles her poem "A Fine, a Private Place", to show that if a person's love is bona fide and true, their heart will always be the perfect place to make love.

Satisfaction is also another element that contrasts the poems. In Ackerman's poem, both people are satisfied in the end. The man leads the women to a secluded area and strokes her arm gently, signaling his intentions. She acknowledges what he wants and gives in to him, not because time is running out, but to make time stand still for the two of them. The man in Marvell's poem tries to convince his mistress with every tactic he can think of, even telling her that her "willing soul transpires" (Line 35) but she is in mortal denial of him. In the end, the man most likely scared the mistress away because she never gives in to him.

The theme of care diem is very obvious in both of these poems, but the way the authors go about showing that is very different. One takes a leisurely and intense approach, while the other takes a quick and threatening one. Time in these poems can work with or against someone. It can be a threat or an embrace, a friend or foe, depending on how one goes about using it.