Carpe diem: A semiotic metaphorical representation of LOVE, SEX, and SEDUCTION in Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”

Abstract

Studies have shown that the use of metaphor as a poetic device, which allows writers to convey vivid imagery that transcends literal meanings, plays a vital role in the representation of meaning-making employed by poets to create images in their minds to convey their ideals. As Baake (2003) notes, metaphor plays an essential role in a mysterious person’s knowledge process. This paper explores a semiotic metaphorical representation of Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”. It examines its use of symbols, language choice, allusion, lexical items, and allegories and how they are recontextualized as semiotic resources to create a multi-layered representation of these concepts. The study relies on Halliday’s notion of Social Semiotics and Matthiessen’s concept of applicability in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Via this framework, the study sheds light on the poem’s complex representation of love, sex, and seduction through the use of semiotics and metaphor. Findings from the study show a deeper understanding of how linguistic clues contribute to the teaching and learning of literary text. The study, therefore, provides insights into the complex relationship between linguistics and literary analysis and reveals how such a relationship enhances the teaching of stylistics from an SFL perspective. The study is significant in providing a resource for teachers and students of linguistic stylistics in teaching and learning literary discourse.